Bad Meaning Good case study #11: 'Silent Rage'

Wednesday, January 06 2010

In April of 2009, myself and DJ Intel launched the 'Bad Meaning Good' monthly movie event at The Burlington in Chicago (which takes place on the first Monday of every month). The idea behind the night is to screen cult classics, exploit movies, unintentional comedies and every other kind of film we collectively decide is so bad that it's actually good. In the ongoing search for the perfect 'Bad Meaning Good' film I've decided to take on a weekly (or AT LEAST once-per-week) blog entry in which I'll review, summarize and rate bad movies of every variety imaginable. The goal is to reach somewhere in the range of 75-100 posts within a year, at which point I'll look for a place to publish a first volume of 'Bad Meaning Good' reviews in book form. Stay tuned...

Bad Meaning Good case study #11:
'Silent Rage' (dir. Michael Miller)

Summary:
A brooding, mostly silent lunatic named John Kirby goes into a fit of uncontrollable hysterics and axes a few people to death in a halfway house. Unfortunately for him a certain ten gallon hat-wearing sheriff arrives at the scene and that sheriff is none other than Chuck Norris. The two wrestle around in the yard for a little while and some sweet 2x4 action ensues but being that this is Norris who this man has to contend with, it of course isn't long before the psychopath is subdued, handcuffed and gift-wrapped for central booking. What no one on the scene is prepared for though is the man's superhuman strength and inability to remain shackled which results in both a flurry of bullets sent his direction and his inevitable death.

Upon arrival at the morgue, a group of rogue, unchecked scientists on a quest for the Nobel Prize secretly use the man as a test subject for an experimental serum and miraculously re-animate him. What's more is that he's retained the ability to take nearly unlimited physical punishment and his wounds heal instantaneously, making him something of a supernatural, Michael Myers-like adversary to contend with Norris's karate-in-tight-jeans bad-assery.

Meanwhile, Norris re-ignites an old flame with a lady friend who happens to be the sister of one of the scientists involved and a web of wild vengeance is spun for our now undead, bloodthirsty villain on the loose. Kirby and Norris wander around town simultaneously, kicking a whole bunch of local ass independent of one another and the table is set over time for an inevitable showdown between the two.

Of course, this wouldn't be a Norris the film if the heavy and exorbitantly conservative undertones weren't piled on in abundance. Additionally, the film's general sentiment seems to equate scientific inquiry with reckless and irresponsible experimentation (at one point, the lead and most culpable scientist even shouts "We're scientists, not moralists!"). It's basically your typical Norris-lead action feature with a heaping serving of 'Halloween' influence and small doses of slasher movie components peppered throughout. In short, if you're a fan of Norris in general but think his films could use more pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo and super villains of fantastical, comic book-like proportions than this is probably one you're going to enjoy.

How 'Bad Meaning Good' was it?:
Unsurprisingly, the film is at it's best when Norris is in his element and beating the ever-loving shit out of everybody in sight. The best sequence in the movie sees Norris enter a bar being ransacked by bikers and, cool as ice, contain the tawdry scene with a quiet, restrained panache. The man maneuvers throughout the bar unleashing an efficient barrage of spin-kicks, ball-punches and broken bottles to the head, while also utilizing all manner of barroom implements at his disposal to dispatch the various tattooed, leather-clad baddies on hand. It's kind of like barroom violence as clumsy ballet... Norris-style. There's also some gratuitous boobs thrown in for good measure. All things considered, the scene is five or so minutes of unbridled, Norris-led action bliss; the kind of which the film deserved significantly larger portions.

Norris is accompanied around town by a fat, stupid, heavy-breathing man-child of a sidekick played artlessly by Stephen Furst (aka Kent "Flounder" Dorfman from 'Animal House') and he also logs a great deal of screen time bedding-down his lady-friend with some light jazz on the hi-fi. We get to see plenty of shirtless Norris too so that viewers of the feminine persuasion are not snubbed a little bit of the ol' eye candy along the way.

It is of course no secret that Norris intends to ultimately get even with Kirby though and he undoubtedly will, just as the scientists will no doubt get theirs; leaving good ol' fashioned, American ass-kickery to triumph over scientific folly and general pansy-dom everywhere.

Ultimately, it's a pretty silly film and also relatively competent (by 'Bad Meaning Good' standards at least) given the likely self-aware modesty of its production. While the score and sound fx are frequently bad, there are some scenes that make good use of sound sparsity and menacing, 'Halloween'-style POV shots. However, there's definitely nothing exceptional about this film, save for the barroom brawl scene which provides a much needed rush of amusement at around the halfway mark. Personally, I'm not sure this is one that calls for repeat viewings but if for example it happens to be what you have to get you through an hour and half then you probably won't walk away from the experience feeling the lesser life form.

'Bad Meaning Good'-O-Meter:
7.0/10

Tags: Bad Meaning Good, Bad Meaning Good Case Studies, Chuck Norris

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