Ultimate Justice
The movie I have been looking forward to Ultimate Justice for a while, the combination of Mark Dacascos Mike Möller and Matthias Hues spells a lot of broken necks. As far as tears, violence and action great body counts are concerned Ultimate Justice lives up to the expectations even though some of the cast do not get enough time to showcase their skills.
What bothered me was more of Hues kicking some ass, but he gets a few moments to shine, and it is good to see him playing a good guy for a change.
I think Mike Möller is quite a find and has brilliant fighting skills on screen where he captures most of the action sequences, it will be interesting to see how his career advances because he really has remarkable skills. We also see Mike Leeder in a budding role where it is possible to classify him amongst this mini-Expendables, giving us a varied and amusing ensemble who do their best with what they can.
There was very poor dubbing for some actors that was quite disturbing at some point in time, I understand the film has a low budget and there was apparently very low time limitation for the shooting of the film but even then it took me out of some scenes.
The second half however was better for me and I believe I just got used to it as I was more into the plot, there was a lot of action and great fight scenes (almost all involving Mike Möller) but it was a pity that we did not witness more of Dacascos in his zone. I am also not certain if I believed the twist towards the end of the movie which was somewhat unexpected but was somewhat more of a disappointment than anything else.
Characters never feel safe in the world of Ultimate Justice because the film is ready to take risks as opposed to films such as The Expendables series which have shied away from committing to such big chances.
In essence, Ultimate Justice is the best it can be with such a low budget and is quite the action packed movie; it is however too bad the dubbing was so poorly made that it felt like the film was unfinished on several occasions but its still an enjoyable experience.
After several years of struggle in post-production, the second feature from Silent Partners film industry veteran Mike Leeder and German producer Ruediger Kuemmerle was finally released in the US on DVD in 2017 as Ultimate Justice. Their first German-speaking production called One Million Kicks was focused around Mike Möller Ultimate Justice, on the other hand, is a concept that required more than just one person and features a cast that is bi-lingual.
One should remember that Ultimate Justice was never released in its original version and received the same treatment from Sony Pictures as One Million Kicks, which meant all the German actors voices were changed into English. Whether the original language track will be used in future releases is still an open-ended question, but at the moment it is possible to speak only about the version that was dubbed and is reviewed in this article.
Ultimate Justice is an ensemble piece, but let me ease the pain a bit, the previously mentioned martial arts prodigy Mike Möller is still in it, well this time he portrays a member of some A team like soldiers for hire. This group is in turn under the leadership of Mark Dacascos, and it seems Dacascos made a routine of being part of large ensembles in recent years, just check out the cast lists for Beyond the Game and Showdown in Manila.
Most if not all, the rest of the team have collaborated with one another working on other projects beforehand. Producer Mike Leeder plays a shot gun totting Brit, Brandon Rhea plays a torture specialist who got featured in Möllers’s One Million K(l)icks, as well as worked with Leeder previously in the role of the Belgian fighter in Fearless. Martin Baden too, who is cast as a computer expert, is another cast from One Million K(l)icks and not to forget a big German Matthias Hues, who has a history working with Dacascos on both these mentioned films.
All seems good with the group until, during a mission one of them is killed which makes Dacascos dismantle the team and the agency they were working under. Everyone appears pleased about going their own ways except their commander played by Wolfgang Riehm who reluctantly agrees to it and says that it is for the best. As parting drinks are taken Dacascos along with Riehm tries to impress a lady who probably at the end of the day finds Riehm a much better player. The story goes 8 years into the future where people have been parted Riehm is already married to that lady that has now a small daughter, Leeder owns a bar, Rhea has become a quiet monk, Hues owns a burger truck (!?).
But when Riehm’s land is trespassed by masked attackers who kill his wife and kidnap the daughter and leave Riehm for dead, Maak makes the move to reassemble the team and look for (you guessed it) the Ultimate Justice!
The film’s started with a few particulars to be one of those classic B-movie action caps and to some extent the film knows how to deliver the crown Ultimate Justice.
Just like in One Million K(l)icks, every moment that Möller the actor is on screen, he steals the show. Möller also acts as the fight choreographer and his segments are truly fun to watch. Hardly have 5 minutes gone by, and already he’s pulling off some moves, shoryuken and a Won Jin double footed flying kick. The same can also be said about fellow German co-star Matthias Hues who stands at 6’ 5”, where such physical stature was expertly used.
The man mountain often gets the chance to kick and to toss and tumble many attackers around with a good enough weight of impact, and they both add a fair share of physical chaos to the proceedings. What irks many is Dacascos himself being almost entirely limited to the use of guns with only the occasional kick here and there even with such ability at his fingertips.
Away from the action of the film, however, Ultimate Justice gets brought down by absurdities in its editing and cuts that have some significant plot holes that suggest some important parts are missing from the final cut. One of the team’s integral members dies in battle during a melee scene, and in the very next scene, the said death is completely forgotten, and things are continued as if the person never existed at all.
But my favorite inappropriately cut scenes comes when Möller is asked to check on the prisoner. He did that, but he did not allow them to go to the restroom though they begged to do so. Then in the next scene, the prisoner wakes up, has knocked out one of the team members and looks lost, not knowing what has happened when Möller comes in. Trust me, he isn’t alone in this.
I am loath to mention the dubbing as one of the concerns since it was probably not included in the intentions of the producers. Regardless, it is rather annoying to hear a Möller or a Baden speak American accents. The person who voiced Riehm on the other hand tried to sound as a strict militaristic figure, which sounds bizarre when looking at it this way someone who does seem to fit into a generation of kung fu actors, but somehow fits quite well in Riehm’s portrayal. It is especially the case in the outdoor scene where his voice is projected as if he is in an unsuited comfortable manner, rendering the audience to think that all is mocked up. Numerous people in the film many such as Dacascos don’t need the dubbing, nor does Rhea who also does not require it as she speaks English.
While the poor dubbing and sloppy editing might get some skeptics, they won’t be worrying as Ultimate Justice has enough good moments to keep them smiling. Even Mike Leeder has his fight scene, tackling a true supporting character role in recent titles like Helios or Tracer. One of the highlights is how effective his shotgun blasts are at tossing people who are on the receiving end around. Möller stands out in several, bringing his presence to the petrol station when he reprises the “2 vs 1 steel bat” brawl, not to mention Möller bashing 4 goons at a gas station. Who, ultimately validly in many respects, would make one feel if Ultimate Justice was about Möller with Octagon as the only supporting actor. For that, however, we will have to wait for Two Million K(l)icks.
In the conclusion, the makers choose what I like to call ‘China Strike Force Syndrome’: the idea of erasing any useful action-based character before the expected final conflict. This is quite comical since even in that film, it was Mark Dacascos who was characterized far too early, and although that is not the case here, I feel comfortable stating that, considering how poorly his martial arts background is costed out. What was a shock though, is that such a choice does not bring any misfortunes to the end of Ultimate Justice mainly because there is a twist which I could hardly believe when it came.
As an action B-movie, its last revelations look almost like if they belong to a different picture but that’s not a complaint in any sense. The twist works, and gives believable strength to almost everything that is quite interesting to witness and introduces a significant enough structure into how everything that has happened up to this point ties into it.
Ultimate Justice almost lasts for ninety minutes which happens to be the full length directorial debut of Martin Christopher Bode. For better or worse, he’s directed a film that will not leave viewers bored. Despite the continuity problems, and the awkward circumstance that Mark Dacascos has not fully been used in his martial art skills, the film comes out to be a good viewing experience. After all, who would not want to dwell in a scenario in which Mike Möller can fill one’s car, grab a burger from Matthias Hues, and later on have a beer with Mike Leeder?
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