This time Chuck Norris stars as an undercover cop, presumed dead after his partner betrayed him by shooting him multiple times during a routine sting operation. He infiltrates an Italian mob organized in Seattle. Meanwhile, two other criminal organizations, the Arabs and French mobs, desire to operate exclusively in Seattle. Well as Danny Grogen, Chuck's job is to align Andre Lacombe(Marcel Sabourin), the French mobster working in Vancouver, with Marco Luganni(Al Waxman)so that the police can nab them together..but Grogan's old nemesis, Del(Michael Parks)is working with the Arab mob and this will make things particularly difficult. Del is an opportunist and uses Marco(..who believes Del is on his side) to take out Lacombe, but Grogan has other plans for him. When Del attempts to blow up Grogan's neighbor's boy, it gets REALLY personal.
Despite what seems like a complex story really is still your basic tale of revenge and retribution. Grogen is the only, except the little black boy he befriends, character who isn't a dirtbag so when he shoots somebody or beats some scumbag to the pulp, you root for him if just by default. I found it amusing that Chuck not only has one mob to contend with, but three! I enjoyed how Chuck's Grogen could just walk up on his adversaries, often with the result being some mob goon laid on his back, bleeding or seriously harmed. My favorite sequence has Chuck wiping out a dinner table full of Arabs in their own restaurant. There's a ton of mob violence with men from each organization setting the others up, with bullets riddling bodies. And, boy, does Grogen get him some of Del! That's quite a BLAST of a finale! The film finds time to include a sub-plot where Chuck helps out a little black boy being bullied by white racists, for which he teaches him the fundamentals of defending yourself. As you'd expect, Chuck lands a pretty loud punch to the bastard father's face(..he's your typical thuggish, foul racist white trash monster, abusive towards his son if the kid doesn't bully those supposedly inferior), breaking his nose in the process to the delight of the audience, I'm sure.
"The Hit-man" isn't exactly up to par with Chuck's 80's stuff, but it delivers plenty of violence and Norris does get to conduct his usual "one man army" shtick, blowing apart the legs, chests, and faces of mobsters in the warehouse climax with a small shotgun, as all three organizations buck for supremacy, falling short due to their inabilities to "share turf". Michael Parks, who many recognize as a consistent face in QT / Rodriguez joints, has a small but pivotal part as the slimy, vulgar antagonist who(..as many villains in these films often do)leaves Norris alive when he had him right where he wanted him. This will come back to bite him right on the ass. To provide motivation for fans of ultra-violence, a victim is rope-tied to a chair, hung outside a window, with a bomb that detonates exploding his body into millions of pieces!
Despite what seems like a complex story really is still your basic tale of revenge and retribution. Grogen is the only, except the little black boy he befriends, character who isn't a dirtbag so when he shoots somebody or beats some scumbag to the pulp, you root for him if just by default. I found it amusing that Chuck not only has one mob to contend with, but three! I enjoyed how Chuck's Grogen could just walk up on his adversaries, often with the result being some mob goon laid on his back, bleeding or seriously harmed. My favorite sequence has Chuck wiping out a dinner table full of Arabs in their own restaurant. There's a ton of mob violence with men from each organization setting the others up, with bullets riddling bodies. And, boy, does Grogen get him some of Del! That's quite a BLAST of a finale! The film finds time to include a sub-plot where Chuck helps out a little black boy being bullied by white racists, for which he teaches him the fundamentals of defending yourself. As you'd expect, Chuck lands a pretty loud punch to the bastard father's face(..he's your typical thuggish, foul racist white trash monster, abusive towards his son if the kid doesn't bully those supposedly inferior), breaking his nose in the process to the delight of the audience, I'm sure.
"The Hit-man" isn't exactly up to par with Chuck's 80's stuff, but it delivers plenty of violence and Norris does get to conduct his usual "one man army" shtick, blowing apart the legs, chests, and faces of mobsters in the warehouse climax with a small shotgun, as all three organizations buck for supremacy, falling short due to their inabilities to "share turf". Michael Parks, who many recognize as a consistent face in QT / Rodriguez joints, has a small but pivotal part as the slimy, vulgar antagonist who(..as many villains in these films often do)leaves Norris alive when he had him right where he wanted him. This will come back to bite him right on the ass. To provide motivation for fans of ultra-violence, a victim is rope-tied to a chair, hung outside a window, with a bomb that detonates exploding his body into millions of pieces!