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Only the Strong
Former Green Beret Louis Stevens returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off of the school property, Kerrigan, one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school.
| Release : | 1993 |
| Rating : | 6.5 |
| Studio : | 20th Century Fox, Davis Films, Freestone Pictures, |
| Crew : | Director of Photography, Costume Designer, |
| Cast : | Mark Dacascos Paco Christian Prieto Stacey Travis Richard Coca Geoffrey Lewis |
| Genre : | Action |
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Reviews
That was an excellent one.
Fresh and Exciting
best movie i've ever seen.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
From the moment I saw this film, I thought damn what a cool film. And I haven't changed my opinion from that on. This film, by Sheldon Letich, one of those directors who are good at directing martial art stars in martial arts films. So we are safe. The story is about young Louis (Dacascos) member of special forces in Brazil, where he trained capoeira. He returns home, to Miami to help his high school teacher (Geoffrey Lewis), who has problems (well not just him, but entire school) with problematic kids. They decided to teach capoeira to kids and made a special discipline program. But, the trouble rises when Louis founds out that one of the kids is related to a local gang lord, who is also a capoeira master and so Louis takes the fight to protect the kids, school, and his girlfriend.Now the movie is simple, very simple and likable. First of all, as a martial artist myself, I think that this film offers a beautiful scenes of capoeira and excellent, well choreographed fight scenes. It also have that popular capoeira music, which is usually played in training scenes, the villains have their own dark theme for their "dark capoeira". No wonder so many capoeira students love this film. And I understand them. The movie offers a very beautiful atmosphere of Miami, good visuals When it comes to the script, it's silly and simple, nothing to think about much Mark Dacascos well of course, don't expect some fine acting from him, but he was brilliant in fighting scenes and this film remains one of the best in his career. Stacey Travis, who plays his girlfriend Dianna, I saw her in few low budget films, and well, she pretty much sticks to similar performances, Geoffrey Lewis already did some martial arts films, but he is not martial artist, so he was good in his own element. There are also a lot of supporting cast actors who are likable, hated, or funny you decide. And we have a villain Silverio, played by Paco Christian Prieto, I love this guy, a menacing and hilarious dude, the guy can't act worth of sh*t, but he made a terrific villain, and he performed some good martial arts moves too but walking around, being a tough guy to Mark Dacascos's character calling him "Santo", or "Hey, santo!" that's a real comedy.So, overall watch this film, it's highly recommended, especially for capoeira students, or for most of them who love martial arts I don't care if you don't like martial arts, this is a cool, relaxing film and it's good for playing during the summer with friends.
All hail the 1990s and those wonderful low-budget STVs. In ONLY THE STRONG, a young Mark Dacascos plays a special forces veteran who returns home to find his old high school in total disarray. Plot sound familiar? In this formula actioner, Dacascos happens to know a unique style of of martial arts called capoeira, which combines gymnastics, dance and kung phooey. He selects the school's 12 worst students and teaches them capoeira in an abandoned firehouse. Problems arise when the cousin of one of the students, a vicious drug lord, interferes. The film was shot on a zero budget, but the capoeira sequences are breathtaking. Problem is, capoeira never caught on here, so at times, the whole thing looks a little silly and dated. Sort of like when XANADU came out after the rollerskating craze was already over or when the Village People starred in a disco movie after disco had been officially declared dead. Anyhow, watch this for the amazing leaps and spins and cartwheels if nothing else. Dacascos, A Hawaiian native, managed to survive this silly film and went on to a long career, including playing The Crow on TV and a kick-boxing Native American in the memorable French actioner, "Brotherhood of the Wolf."
Mark Dacascos stars as Louis Stevens an U.S army ranger who teaches troubled kids a new style of martial arts that turns the kid's lives around, however a gang leader tries to find a way to sabotage Steven's work in progress in this dull action flick. The actionscenes themselves are the lamest since Kurt Thomas started swinging from handles in Gymkata, while Only The Strong preaches a message that will no doubt bore anyone over 15.
This movie was my introduction to Capoeira. The scenes where the capoeristas are in the mandinga facing off were really fun to watch. It's a good way to kill a Saturday afternoon, this was a fun onenot too bad
