Instant Justice (1986) User Reviews

Decent action movie, but some of the talkier/unnecessary bits could have been trimmed.

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 16 May 2011]

Scott Youngblood (Pare) is a Marine with an impeccable record - a true American hero. When he hears that his sister Kim (Bridges) is in trouble and mixed up with evil gangsters/drug runners Dutch (Del Amo) and Silke (Avoth), he travels to Madrid to save her. Sadly, he's too late. Dutch and Silke killed her, as part of their phony modeling/prostitution scam. Now burning with revenge, he finds a contact in Spain, Jake (Crook) and together they go looking for Dutch and Silke.

Meanwhile, since the death of Kim, a new model has come in to take her place, Virginia (Kitaen), but Youngblood tries to rescue her from her dismal fate. Because Youngblood is a model Marine, he realizes some of his tactics may be contrary to the code of ethics of the Corps, so he goes to Maj. Davis (Napier) and resigns. Davis is confused, but warily trusts Youngblood. Now totally rogue, Youngblood is free to dispense some INSTANT JUSTICE.

You've heard of Instant Oatmeal. Now prepare yourself for Instant Justice. Pare puts in a Dolph Lundgren-esque performance as the wooden, no-nonsense Youngblood (you gotta love those hero names). The fact that he's the ultimate Marine allows for some classic 80's patriotism along with the barfights and one-liners. Not to mention the car chases with rockin' guitar solos. It's nice to see Tawny Kitaen, who doesn't appear in a lot of these types of movies, along with familiar faces like Napier and Pare. Kitaen's hair certainly typifies the "big" style of the time.

This was Director/writer/producer Craig Rumar's only film to date. Surely he was inspired by the action boom of the day. His story of a lone hero who tries to go to the authorities and go through the proper channels but comes up against maddening bureaucracy and has to take on the baddies alone is always a nice story to see. But, it must be noted that one Anthony Bingham steals the show as Sgt. Walker. For no conceivable reason, Pare tells him he has stains on his uniform. Bingham's line, delivered in a way that is a classic for the ages, replies, and I quote, "My hamburger spilled ketchup". I'll just let you mull that over in your mind for a while. We rewound that great cinematic moment.

Youngblood is a man of action with an 80's soundtrack behind him (not the least of which is "Danger in the Streets" by Lee Hart). While maybe some of the talkier/unnecessary bits could have been trimmed, making the movie just a bit leaner and meaner, Instant Justice is a decently entertaining and typically-80's action film - and that's just what we're normally after.

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Pretty good movie for an action movie !!Overlooked gem!!!

[Doc_Who · 4/10 · 30 September 1999]

This movie is about a young marine who goes off in search of his sister's killer in Spain. The Marine is played by Micheal Pare. He gets help from a few friends and the miltary. The young man eventually finds the killer and gets his instant justice. The story is well put together and the action is fast !!Instant Justice is ok if you like Micheal Pare or off the beaten path action movies!!This is an overlooked gem of action movie overlooked the year it was released!!!

Instant Justice? It took 100 precious minutes!

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 18 April 2017]

The title 'Instant Justice' had me in mind of the gritty vigilante thrillers of the late '70s and early '80s—movies like Death Wish and The Exterminator. This film, though, is from the latter half of the '80s, a time when cheezy action movies were at their most prevalent; as such, it is packed full of poorly staged shootouts, naff car chases and unconvincing fisticuffs, all accompanied by a horrible synth-driven soundtrack. Star Michael Paré gives one of his least accomplished performances (which is saying something) and token babe Tawny Kitaen sports massive hair and shoulder pads to match as the feisty call girl that our hero falls for (I hope he's had his shots).

Dumb, not-in-the-least-bit-exciting 'highlights' include Youngblood leaping through a plate glass window onto a car roof (sustaining not even so much as a scratch), a hilarious encounter with a kung fu cook, a close escape from a load of bulls (load of bulls… sums up this film rather nicely!), and Paré driving a Trans Am at high speed while firing his machine gun (after crashing the car through Spain's flimsiest gate).

Stupid? Oh yeah - stupid good!

[therews-1 · 2/10 · 18 September 2006]

This movie is fantastic in its abysmal awfulness. Sure, there are bad movies, but then there are movies that are fun to watch specifically because they're so bad. Instant Justice is one of those movies, especially when you throw in the massive doses of pure '80s trashiness. Tawny Kitaen's hairdo is the biggest tease I've ever seen! There's a shower scene (not really spoiling anything here) that should win some sort of super-schlock award. Definitely worth renting for the big hair and idiotic one-liners alone (assuming, of course, you don't have to spend more than 99 cents). Have a few drinks and fade away into classic '80s B-tainment.

Instant bomb

[goya-4 · 1/10 · 8 September 2000]

Michael Pare plays a marine who goes after the bad guys who murdered his sister in this schlock fest that has no real value. Horribly acted this is a really bad movie. Even the action scenes are horrible. Cliches abound. Tawny can't save it and she stays clothed... so there's really no point to watch this garbage..on a scale of one to ten..a 0

Had high hopes as a pare fan...big let down

[ManBehindTheMask63 · 7 February 2011]

Instant Justice was suppose to be Michael Pares big break-action film...produced by mega studio Warner Bros....the film bombed and it deserved to. Pare has made some classics (Streets of Fire, Bad Moon, Eddie and the cruisers I & II) but this film is not one of them. It was a sign of things to come from his uneven and often wooden career. Pare is good shape and still has the charm but the action is poorly staged, the supporting actors are terrible, and the film just feels cheap. Check it out for some old school Pare but don't expect much. Maybe you will enjoy it more going in to it expecting less than i did. Pare is in great shape though.

Instant Nausea

[JessT · 1/10 · 9 August 2001]

The total point of renting this sack of garbage was to feast on something terrible. My friend and I obviously overestimated our tolerance for this movie, which was a film equivalent of a venereal disease.

Acting? No, of course not, there was NO acting. (Although I suppose the shower scene has made it on one of my top ten "best of the worst" lists...our protagonist apparently had forgotten he was naked in a shower with a fully clothed prostitute long enough to fall in love with her and call her "babe" at least once.)

I had my eyes covered in shame for most of the movie. We fast-forwarded it through a good deal of the end, including the blah-blah chase scene where the token English guy was dropped off in the middle of the Spanish desert.

All in all, I'd like my hour and a half back.

I'm going to go translate some manuscripts out of their original ancient Greek to reward myself for having sat through this mind-numbing movie.

Good in a bad way

[Driver-5 · 1/10 · 26 February 2000]

Watching the Reagan-era action movies such as MISSING IN ACTION, COMMANDO, DEATH WISH III and RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II 15 years later, it's hard to keep a straight face. With their high bodycounts, corny one-liners and straight attempts at storytelling, these films will always be fun. MARINE ISSUE is no exception, although this time everything is just a little funnier (unintentionally, of course). The acting is atrocious, direction uninspired, and the action scenes, usually the saving grace in these movies, are badly staged, poorly edited and have some of the funniest sound effects you'll ever hear. It's not often you see a movie from Gibraltar, let alone an unintentionally funny action movie from Gibraltar, so enjoy!

A Contender for Worst Film Ever Made

[pagrn1-1 · 1/10 · 2 May 2007]

It is hard to imagine a worse film, and equally hard to believe that Craig T. Rumar did not know that he was making a turkey. There are only two stand-out things in this movie and both belong to Tessa Hewitt, otherwise there can only be interest for connoisseurs of timber as represented by Michael Pare and Tawny Kitaen who's acting might be called wooden if one were not worried at receiving complaints from Pinocchio. Dialogue is not helped by Mr Pare needing a 5 second pause before he can deliver his lines so that his scenes with Ms Kitaen have all the spontaneity of a State Funeral. Mr Pare has less acting ability than Arnie but an equally impressive physique, unfortunately when asked to do anything other than adopt a statuesque pose it all goes horribly wrong as he minces across the screen. Action sequences and special effects are laughable, the editing probably done with a chain saw, the sub-disco intrusive 'background' music unremitting. Other than Tessa Hewitt's 30 seconds on screen the film has no redeeming feature.

Marine issue...

[fmarkland32 · 6/10 · 15 June 2006]

Michael Pare stars as Scott Youngblood(A not so cool action star name) who goes to Spain to get vengeance on the pimp who killed his sister. The pimps of course shrug off big brother but what they don't know is that Scott is one of the best marines in his unit and his one man army antics will have the bad guys praying for a quick death. I saw this movie on WGN a couple of months ago and I still had it recorded on my Teevo when I decided to watch it again. It's one of those stupid action movies that could only be made in the 80's and for the life of me I don't know why I missed this one in theaters but I did. It's a dumb movie but I loved the action sequences as well as Michael Pare's heroics. Tawny Kitaen was a lot hotter then I remembered and the action sequences were well staged. The movie is of course wonderfully stupid but anyone who hears of a movie made 20 years ago, called Instant Justice, knows what to expect.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)

Semper Fi of Bad Acting and Plot

[smithgoes · 1/10 · 6 November 2009]

Michael Pare's acting is as bad as Scott Del Amo (Dutch the bad guy). Both could compete for the worst actor of 1987. Tawny Kitaen is only slightly better given her snappy but out of place dialog which probably fits the 1980s for an uppity call girl. Peter Crook has the most potential as a character actor but not in this movie which as poorly written. This is definitely a must for those who enjoy the worst of the worst movies (tinge of masochism). Hilariously bad scenes include the keystone marine kops chasing Pare around the US Embassy with the anybody can get into arms locker. The initially chase scene with the mad taxi driver chase Pare through the streets and parks but can't quite catch him since Pare can run faster than a taxi. Finally the release of the bulls by Jake to help Pare and the girl escape shows you how bulloney this film is.

The Greatest Movie In History... of the earth

[scottmaloney83 · 10/10 · 4 September 2005]

It's the king when it comes to cheese, it's so poorly made that it is actually fun to watch. The mistakes, poor acting and bad editing make it the undisputed king of all drinking games, just drink once for every mistake you find and by the end of the movie (if you even make it that far) you'll be wasted. This film has all others beat when it comes to it's poor quality. It's gratuitous nudity, horribly put together action sequences, terrible dialog make it a film not forgotten... unfortunately. There are no words to describe this films brilliance at being complacent with itself. It just gets to me that this movie wasn't used for the movie "Mystery Science Theater 3000" because they're are so many references to the movie made throughout the course of this movie, making fun of its cheese that it's ridiculous.

This is the stupidest action movie ever

[m_hebner · 8 July 2001]

I saw this movie a little while ago because my brother always tortured me with it. I think this movie is stupid I'm suprised it was even made. I don't know what my brother liked about this movie. One thing is for sure I haven't seen this movie since then and I don't plan on seeing it again. a little bit of advice you'll be wasting your money if you decide to rent this because it is total garbage take my advice and don't rent it.