2 gibbles outta 5

Directors: Al Adamson (“Kill Factor”), Rolf Bayer (“Pacific Inferno”), Jean-Marie Pallardy (“White Fire”), Robert Tai (“Mafia vs. Ninja”)

What to say about these types of films? This is more than a curiosity rental, for sure. You’re checking this out because you like cheesy kung-fu action, or 70sish-era action in general. If you’re a genre fan, there’s good fun here. Not top of the line, of course, but you’ve seen that stuff already.

The first and last movies out of this collection are the most addictive, with Jim Kelly in good form and “Mafia vs. Ninja” going all out laughably ridiculous, ending the movie package well. If you truly are curious, though, just getting a taste of what’s out there in the world, this is entertaining enough. To be expected are some slow bits in each movie (particularly the second one), but as semi-distracting stupid entertainment these work well.

The first film of the bunch (Kill Factor with Jim Kelly) is the most “plot heavy,” with a bit of setup before it gets to the quality chop-socky. This goes all out the window, of course, but it was interesting to see the effort. And the martial arts / light comedy add up for a mostly worthwhile experience, through to the overblown end. The second film (Pacific Inferno with Jim Brown) I found to be worthless. The transfer is awful, with incredibly murky color quality. The plot similarly drags (I guess this one is technically more plot heavy than the first but I didn’t care), and there’s not really any “action” per se. After watching it I didn’t remember it. “White Fire” is the most “movie” feeling one here, with mustached Robert Ginty leading the way through an odd gem of weirdo cheeseball action. I think they kept forgetting the plot and rewriting it, but the strange incestual themes happening here make this worth laughing at at least once.

“Mafia vs. Ninja” is effing awesome. I don’t really remember what happened, sort of, but there were so many ridiculous fights that I didn’t care. I know that’s not helpful, but look at the title of the movie. Do you really need more info?