The director and star of Devils Three, Bobby A. Suarez and Franco Guerrero reunite for another fun Pilipino actioner. This time, Guerrero stars as Ortega, an Interpol cop who just got married to a hot babe. Naturally, when he tries to bust some bad guys, they retaliate by killing Ortega’s wife and chopping off his arm. To make matters worse when he tries to go back to work, his boss takes him off the case and insensitively tells him, “Hands off!”
Ouch.
The One Armed Executioner may not be as outlandish as Suarez’s other action flicks like They Call Her… Cleopatra Wong and Devils Three, but it does start off with a scene of a little person being locked in a phonebooth and thrown off a pier. Like Cleopatra Wong, it takes an old school martial arts template and transposes it to a modern-day setting. (This time the inspiration is obviously The One-Armed Swordsman.) There’s even a training montage where a wise old karate master teaches Ortega how to overcome his handicap that would look right at home in a Kung Fu flick.
Even if Suarez doesn’t lean into the zany aspects of the plot the way he did in previous efforts, this is nevertheless a solidly enjoyable revenge picture. It’s straightforward for the most part, but it has just enough odd touches (like the homemade shooting gallery in the woods) to make it memorable. Guerrero makes for a strong hero too and reminded me a little of Sonny Chiba at times. (I mean, praise doesn’t come any higher than that.)
I will say the film slows down a bit in the second act when Ortega is stumbling around drunk and feeling sorry for himself. While this certainly works for his character, it kind of takes the wind out of the movie’s sails. The good news is that once Ortega finally becomes the One Armed Executioner and starts kicking ass, things improve greatly, and the finale contains enough exploding bamboo huts, guard towers, and speedboats to make it more than worthwhile.
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