By Geno McGahee
The 1990s was not a great time for film, but there was some decent things going on in the action genre. Many of the entries from the 90’s were still under the influence of the 1980’s brand of action, using many of the elements but making it more applicable to the time. With the video stores still in full swing, many action titles would appear and stars like Billy Blanks and Mark Dacascos would get a shot to entertain the audience.
ONLY THE STRONG is about a former special forces soldier, Louis Stevens (Dacascos), returning to his old high school only to find it in shambles. He meets up with his old teacher that inspired him, Kerrigan (Geoffrey Lewis), and soon they hatch out a program to help the worst of the worst. Stevens is going to teach the troubled children discipline through the fighting art of capoeira. This is met by resistance from much of the faculty, but soon, it is proven that there is a positive impact within the group.
Unfortunately, Orlando (Richard Coca), one of the students, has an uncle that is running the criminal element of the streets and is also a master of capoeira. Silverio (Paco Christian Preito) likes the idea of his young soldiers being taught the fighting skills, but a conflict arises. It’s now good guy vs. bad guy and a fight for the young students. At one point, Silverio and Stevens meet up and the bad guy wins, but that leads to an awesome action line and I love action lines! When the two meet up again, Silverio notes that this time he “plays for keeps.” Stevens responds with “this time I don’t play.” Awesomeness…just awesomeness.
After one of the kids is killed in a fire caused by Silverio and a bounty is put on the head of Stevens, there’s only one thing to do. It’s time to take out Silverio and save the city, leading to a capoeira showdown, winner take all. Stevens disrupts all of Silverio’s businesses, costing him all sorts of money and then is dragged to a field to throw down, but all of his students show up to support him. That support will be the difference.
The good guy wins. Sorry if I spoiled it for you. He was going to lose until his students began cheering him. Never underestimate the power of crowd support. Silverio’s reign of terror is over and the city can live again. The program is spread and Stevens is recognized as the hero he is. What a feel good movie this is!
ONLY THE STRONG does everything right here. They have everything you need for an action film. You have a charismatic good guy, an interesting bad guy, redemption for the students and all of the loose ends tied up in the end. The pace is very good and you can’t help but to be excited as the final showdown happens. I highly recommend this.
Rating: 8/10
