Cast: Mark Dacascos, Paco Christian Prieto, Stacey Travis, Geoffrey Lewis, Todd Susman
Director: Sheldon Lettich
Producers: Samuel Hadida, Stuart S. Shapiro, and Steven G. Menkin
Screenplay: Sheldon Lettich and Luis Esteban
Cinematography: Edward J. Pei
Music: Harvey W. Mason
U.S. Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Luis Stevens (Mark Dacascos) returns from a four-year stint as a Green Beret in Brazil to find that his old high school in Miami has turned into a breeding zone for violence and drugs. Determined to do all in his power to turn Lincoln High -- and its students -- around, Luis proposes a program to the principal (Todd Susman) and key members of the faculty (including Geoffrey Lewis and Stacey Travis): give him the twelve worst students in the school, and, through a specialized kick boxing program that will harness their naturally destructive energies, he'll make them into decent human beings, and create a blueprint by which the entire school, and perhaps the city itself, can be changed for the better. Of course, the leader of the local gangs, a vicious man called Slverio (Paco Christian Prieto), isn't pleased about this at all.
Going into this film, I expected it to be an obligatory late-summer, mindless, plotless action film. I was wrong. It's a late-summer, mindless, plotless action film with a message. I think I prefer this sorts of film when it doesn't try to preach. Somehow, sermonizing and beating peoples' brains in don't make an appealing combination.
Don't look for even a whiff of originality. Only the Strong takes plot elements from one movie and mixes them with those from about fifty others. Needless to say, this leads to a lot of confusion, with at least three story threads coming to inexplicable dead-ends. Not that you're likely to care, but what ever happened to the nasty teacher who was romantically involved with Luis' girlfriend, Dianna (Stacey Travis)? Or how about the bad guys threatening her to keep Luis in line?
Then there are the twelve baddest kids in school who, predictably, get turned into model citizens through the amazing powers of their masterful teacher. Somebody should bring this miracle worker to the President's attention. What's even more astounding is that Luis never gets stabbed or shot. There are some token guns and knives in evidence, but nothing close to what you'd expect at the High School from Hell. Guns, you see, would have gotten in the way of the message, not to mention the unfair advantage they would have given the bad guys.
Speaking of which, the script does everything it possibly can to make Silverio the meanest hombre you've ever laid eyes on. He's nasty, sadistic, and beats up our hero without breaking much of a sweat. He deals drugs and runs a chop shop. We never see him kill anyone, but it's a given that murder is on his resume. Heck, for all we know, he eats orphans for breakfast.
Actually, Paco Christian Prieto does a more-than-passable job as the bad guy by overacting the part to the hilt. I kept expecting him to let out a loud roar and start pounding his well- muscled chest (which he, like the hero, shows off at every possible opportunity). Mark Dacascos is barely adequate, but only when he doesn't have to talk. Geoffrey Lewis, who has played a lot of bit parts in movies and TV shows, gives an embarrassing performance as the good-hearted teacher Kerrigan.
Most of the kick boxing sequences are entertaining (at least compared to the rest of the movie), although sometimes the action goes so fast that it's difficult to figure out who's who. In the climactic "match", the problem is largely resolved by having one character a couple of feet taller than the other, but even that doesn't eliminate all the confusion.
There is one good thing that I can say about Only the Strong. It isn't boring -- or at least not too boring. The message it tries to convey -- that kids can take control of their own lives and devote themselves to causes other than gangs -- is laudable, but the medium chosen for the presentation is awful. If you want somebody to listen, you'd better present your case in something that more than a few action-starved fans will see.
© 1993 James Berardinelli