Riot
MushiMinion

Review by MushiMinion Patron

Riot 1996

★★★

Watched 02 Jan 2025

Gary Daniels' Escape from New York with the occasional segue into The Warriors, and if you thought the ghetto gang-banger baddies weren't enough of an offensive stereotype, just wait until they switch the villains' nationality half way through! Oh, also it's a Christmas movie, and earns that moniker more than Die Hard ever did. Riot runs the fine line between scrappy and tight-pursed, as most PM Entertainment films do, and Daniels' chemistry with his model love interest couldn't be more frigid, but it's also a delightful example of when American action stars do their best to emulate their friends in Hong Kong. Sadly, our safety standards are a little too high to successfully pull it off, but by-golly Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi sure pushed those boundaries and propped up the entire sugar glass industry in the process.

Shout out to Sugar Ray Leonard, whose character leaves the film too early but is given some standout moments in the first half. Speaking of, the tonal shift between the opening and the first action scene is insane. Imagine juxtaposing real footage from the George Floyd riots with a dopey bar fight from Walker, Texas Ranger and set to seasonal rap music. Utter lunacy.

Watched with the Fridays of Fury Action Club, along with Dave Baxer, SubToretto and Adam.

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