'Cartel" is a severely disjointed attempt to tell a tale of revenge. It's greatest short coming is that the film tries to do way too much with the totally non-believable script, and the mostly bad acting doesn't help either. Two strong villainous performances from Don Stroud and Gregory Scott-Cummings almost save the day, but not quite. You get at least a bunch of car chases and gratuitous explosions, brief nudity, and a totally wasted performance by William Smith. In summary, a fair amount of action and the presence of Stroud and Scott-Cummings cannot overcome a dreadful performance by the female lead, Crystal Carson, and a seriously flawed script. - MERK
6 Reviews
B-graded action flick!!
raindance2613 July 2001
Chuck Taylor is a charter pilot of a cesna plane and when he just has landed on a airport he's arrested for drugs smuggling. When he comes in prison he meets the bad guy. He breaks out and decides to bring to true bad guys to justice.
Fun Film to watch but it is not the best i've ever seen. Don't expect great plot lines or a great story, just action nothing more nothing less. Just enjoy this movie when you're not in the mood for thinking.
Fun Film to watch but it is not the best i've ever seen. Don't expect great plot lines or a great story, just action nothing more nothing less. Just enjoy this movie when you're not in the mood for thinking.
Cartel is well worth checking out.
tarbosh2200018 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Chuck Taylor (O'Keeffe) is a plane courier (not inventor of Converse sneakers), flying solo and delivering packages. One day, he unwittingly carries a shipment of Cocaine across the Mexico border into California. Even though he's innocent, he gets sent behind bars. The evil drug lord behind the bust is one Tony "The King" King (Stroud). He is also captured and sent to the big house, and then a prison movie scenario begins. King escapes, and Taylor follows. After King sends some goons, led by Rivera (Cummins) to terrorize Taylor's family, he goes on a rampage of revenge to kill all the baddies involved.
Getting off to quite a rockin' start, we see Miles O'Keeffe cruisin' in his plane, wearing his aviator shades while the very Foreigner-like theme song, "Flying Blind" by Kenwood Hall pumps on the soundtrack. Because this is from the makers of the classic Action U.S.A. (1989), there are plenty of back-to-back action scenes and impressive stunts. It then goes to a prison scenario, with an underused William Smith, who really barks his few lines. There's also a prisoner who looks exactly like Mr. Bean.
What's great about Miles O'Keeffe is his unapologetic emotionlessness. He proudly can stand in the hall of wooden actors alongside Michael Pare and Don "The Dragon" Wilson, but with O'Keeffe it just seems like he doesn't try to hide his expressionless acting in any way. And he says as little as possible. So a lot of the fun of Cartel, and other Miles outings, is his acting style.
Interestingly, one of the Martial Arts choreographers on the film was Isaac Florentine, later to be a well-known DTV director in his own right. You can see the roots of how he learned his craft by watching Cartel.
It is a tad on the long side, and even though it is filled with action and stunts, it's not quite as good as Action USA, but very few things are, so don't take that as an insult. It still has a similar vibe, and Cartel is well worth checking out.
for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
Getting off to quite a rockin' start, we see Miles O'Keeffe cruisin' in his plane, wearing his aviator shades while the very Foreigner-like theme song, "Flying Blind" by Kenwood Hall pumps on the soundtrack. Because this is from the makers of the classic Action U.S.A. (1989), there are plenty of back-to-back action scenes and impressive stunts. It then goes to a prison scenario, with an underused William Smith, who really barks his few lines. There's also a prisoner who looks exactly like Mr. Bean.
What's great about Miles O'Keeffe is his unapologetic emotionlessness. He proudly can stand in the hall of wooden actors alongside Michael Pare and Don "The Dragon" Wilson, but with O'Keeffe it just seems like he doesn't try to hide his expressionless acting in any way. And he says as little as possible. So a lot of the fun of Cartel, and other Miles outings, is his acting style.
Interestingly, one of the Martial Arts choreographers on the film was Isaac Florentine, later to be a well-known DTV director in his own right. You can see the roots of how he learned his craft by watching Cartel.
It is a tad on the long side, and even though it is filled with action and stunts, it's not quite as good as Action USA, but very few things are, so don't take that as an insult. It still has a similar vibe, and Cartel is well worth checking out.
for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
Don Stroud and Greg Cummings at their very best
wolfhell8825 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
"Cartel" would be just a simple low budget action flick with Miles O'Keefe as boring hero Taylor but what makes this film really worth to watch are the heavy's.
Don Stroud gives an impressing performance as King, the evil mobster. Stroud, a legendary film veteran, knows exactly how to give life into a character and not to make it look stereo-type. His presence shines throughout the whole film even if he is not in a scene.
And then there is Gregory Scott-Cummings as Rivera, the left hand of King. He too gives an outstanding and really unforgettable performance as villain. Those two actors make this film really worth to watch.
William Smith's appearance as prison guard Mason is much too short and he is really underused here. Wished he had more screen time.
"Cartel" is good entertainment with some action and two great villains who make this film really worth to watch.
Don Stroud gives an impressing performance as King, the evil mobster. Stroud, a legendary film veteran, knows exactly how to give life into a character and not to make it look stereo-type. His presence shines throughout the whole film even if he is not in a scene.
And then there is Gregory Scott-Cummings as Rivera, the left hand of King. He too gives an outstanding and really unforgettable performance as villain. Those two actors make this film really worth to watch.
William Smith's appearance as prison guard Mason is much too short and he is really underused here. Wished he had more screen time.
"Cartel" is good entertainment with some action and two great villains who make this film really worth to watch.
Minor action movie
lor_20 May 2023
My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on Shapiro Glickenhaus video cassette.
Good stunts and pyrotechnics are the draw of the direct-to-video feature "Cartel", recently screened to foreign buyers at the Cannes market.
Miles O'Keeffe adopts an Elvis accent for his role as a charter pilot arrested in a frameup of drug runners. He escapes from prison after a run-in there with gangster Don Stroud and sets about avenging the murder of his beautiful sister Suzanne Slater.] Plot runs out of steam in a hurry due to overemphasis on the action scenes. Film's ruthless, cynical ending is just another paean to vigilantism.
O'Keeffe is too low-key to arouse sympathy while Stroud has fun with his scenery-chewing villain. Beautiful Suzanne Slater is arresting as the blonde heroine (not to be confused with similar blonde B-movie bombshell Suzanne Snyder).
Good stunts and pyrotechnics are the draw of the direct-to-video feature "Cartel", recently screened to foreign buyers at the Cannes market.
Miles O'Keeffe adopts an Elvis accent for his role as a charter pilot arrested in a frameup of drug runners. He escapes from prison after a run-in there with gangster Don Stroud and sets about avenging the murder of his beautiful sister Suzanne Slater.] Plot runs out of steam in a hurry due to overemphasis on the action scenes. Film's ruthless, cynical ending is just another paean to vigilantism.
O'Keeffe is too low-key to arouse sympathy while Stroud has fun with his scenery-chewing villain. Beautiful Suzanne Slater is arresting as the blonde heroine (not to be confused with similar blonde B-movie bombshell Suzanne Snyder).
Not the WORST, but far from the best
Wizard-816 July 2017
Having used the IMDb for a number of years, I know that a movie like "Cartel" is one that would have many users of this web site state in their user comments something along the lines of, "WORST MOVIE EVER MADE!" Listen, I have been around the B movie block a number of times, and I can say with confidence that "Cartel" is far from the worst movie made. It does have some merit. It's fairly well shot, has some striking visuals here and there, and also a few impressive stunts.
However, I will admit that what I just reported is the only merit to be found in this movie. For starters, the performances in this movie are uniformly terrible, particularly lead actor Miles O'Keeffe, who can barely show any emotion or anything near acting ability. The script is a mess, with many unbelievable events and character actions that will have you groaning out loud. But the real problem with the movie is how incredibly boring it is. There isn't that much action, and the little there is is directed in a way that makes it come across as slow and unexciting despite the impressive stunts. The material surrounding the action scenes is even worse, going on and on past the breaking point. And William Smith once again is cast in a insignificant role that's completely beneath his talents.
Make no mistake about it: "Cartel" is a really bad movie. But all the same, it's still quite some distance from the very worst movies ever made. Despite that distinction, I'm sure you'll share my puzzlement as to how the movie got a DVD release.
However, I will admit that what I just reported is the only merit to be found in this movie. For starters, the performances in this movie are uniformly terrible, particularly lead actor Miles O'Keeffe, who can barely show any emotion or anything near acting ability. The script is a mess, with many unbelievable events and character actions that will have you groaning out loud. But the real problem with the movie is how incredibly boring it is. There isn't that much action, and the little there is is directed in a way that makes it come across as slow and unexciting despite the impressive stunts. The material surrounding the action scenes is even worse, going on and on past the breaking point. And William Smith once again is cast in a insignificant role that's completely beneath his talents.
Make no mistake about it: "Cartel" is a really bad movie. But all the same, it's still quite some distance from the very worst movies ever made. Despite that distinction, I'm sure you'll share my puzzlement as to how the movie got a DVD release.
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