SUNLAND HEAT

By: BRIAN THOMAS
Review Date: Tuesday, August 09, 2005

With the current state of world cinema, genre pictures can spring up just about anywhere, making this Brazilian martial arts entry no surprise. What is surprising is that it's so unconventional, delivering standard genre conventions in unusual ways in an unusual setting.

To say martial arts champ Jennifer Howard (Nordic tae kwan do champ Alex Van Hagen) has a "failed marriage" is an understatement. Rich hubby Daniel Howard (Fred Olen Ray movie regular Jay Richardson) built up her career by promoting her in various martial arts magazines he's financing, and their daughter Diane is a pride and joy to them both, but when she discovers the illegal dirty business he's really involved in, he pushes her too far, pushing her into illegal underground fights. When she tries to kill him, she's lucky to survive a beating at the hands of his bodyguards. Fearing for her life, she flees Los Angeles to hide out in Brazil. Little does she know that her husband's business extends to Brazil, and the woman who takes her in and gives her a job really works for Daniel, keeping an eye on her.

Not that all of this is clear as it unfolds martial artist/director Halder Gomes gained the nickname "Brazilian Tarantino" through his frenetic action comedy short THE ARTIST VS. THE CABAL OF EVIL, and he carries on his inspiration's tendency toward nonlinear storytelling here. Clearly, he loves martial arts but has no interest in making the usual straightforward martial arts action movies. Just as his villain likes to play games of deception, Gomes likes to keep his audience guessing, too, making even cliché situations a bit more interesting.


Enforcer Jean-Paul (André Lima) comes after Jen, but kung fu photographer Matt (stunt legend JJ Perry) comes to her rescue. The two fall into bed together, but soon after Jennifer's daughter is kidnapped, and evidence she finds points to Matt's involvement. She tears into him with all her strength, but before their battle gets very far, they're both subdued by tranquilizer darts. Seems Matt is being set up, too, but unknown parties have spoiled the plan to have Jen and Matt kill each other. Who? Quite a few possibilities present themselves, as we learn that someone in the organization is stealing cash from Daniel and working with his Brazilian rivals, and some of his subordinates are ready to stab each other in the back to implicate each other. These players include not only Jean-Paul, but Daniel's assistant/mistress Jackie (JAG's Laura Putney, played nicely against type).


More surprises appear with each new scene, and if SUNLAND HEAT fails to completely outdistance its low budget origins, it's tough to dismiss as just another action flick. A great deal of effort is made to make the puzzles and drama work, at least on paper. For a first timer, Van Hagen holds her own in most of her scenes, while not quite carrying the movie on her own. She's able to lean on veteran Richardson in their scenes together, lending weight to their scripted relationship, but is a bit less sure with some of the South American actors, who seem equally adrift trying to act in English. Gomes clever side comes more into play during action scenes, where no dialogue is required. When Matt has his arm wrenched in a restaurant brawl with Jean-Paul, we hear a crunch on the soundtrack, but Gomes immediately cut to show the sound is coming from a nearby diner enjoying a stewed crab. If SUNLAND HEAT needs anything, the first thing it could use is more action scenes and maybe an exploding helicopter or two. But at the level it's forced to stick to, Gomes' movie is an intriguing first attempt which promises even better things to come.


The feature includes Spanish subtitles, but the English of some of the actors is so heavily accented that it could've used English subs, too. It carries an R rating, which seems somewhat harsh, as there's no nudity, little blood and not much "language", especially compared to the likes of, say, SIN CITY.

Copyright © 2005 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS.

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