At first glance, the direct-to-home-video Roddy Piper vehicle "Last to Surrender" threatens to be resolutely routine. You have your typical rogue cop hero, a partner who gets killed, and an antagonistic relationship between the xenophobic hero and the foreigner (in this case, a Chinese detective) with whom he's forced to work. The target is The Tiger (Andy Yim), a slippery and slimy drug lord.
"Last to Surrender" doesn't exactly get off to a great start, but it's lifted a bit by its second half. Filmed on location in Indonesia, it has the two good guys stranded in the wilderness after a helicopter crash. So they HAVE to learn to get along, and survive, before they can even think of combating the ruthless villain.
"Rowdy" Roddy has a typically solid screen presence (even if his character is pretty much pure cliche), and he has genuine odd-couple chemistry with Ong Soo Han (who plays Wu Yin, the aforementioned Chinese detective). He also has some good chemistry with pretty female lead Angela Ying-Ying Tong, who plays a villager named Chat Chai who rescues Piper. Yim makes for a decent-enough bad guy, and fight choreographer Qingfu Pan also appears on screen as a comedy relief lowlife named "Bong Bong".
"Last to Surrender" is still largely average as far as these kinds of movies go, but it has enough going for it - including a literally explosive finish - to make it a modestly acceptable diversion.
My favorite bit: Nick Ford explaining to Wu Yin how the "good cop / bad cop" routine works.
Six out of 10.
"Last to Surrender" doesn't exactly get off to a great start, but it's lifted a bit by its second half. Filmed on location in Indonesia, it has the two good guys stranded in the wilderness after a helicopter crash. So they HAVE to learn to get along, and survive, before they can even think of combating the ruthless villain.
"Rowdy" Roddy has a typically solid screen presence (even if his character is pretty much pure cliche), and he has genuine odd-couple chemistry with Ong Soo Han (who plays Wu Yin, the aforementioned Chinese detective). He also has some good chemistry with pretty female lead Angela Ying-Ying Tong, who plays a villager named Chat Chai who rescues Piper. Yim makes for a decent-enough bad guy, and fight choreographer Qingfu Pan also appears on screen as a comedy relief lowlife named "Bong Bong".
"Last to Surrender" is still largely average as far as these kinds of movies go, but it has enough going for it - including a literally explosive finish - to make it a modestly acceptable diversion.
My favorite bit: Nick Ford explaining to Wu Yin how the "good cop / bad cop" routine works.
Six out of 10.