True Vengeance

True Vengeance
U.S. release art
Directed by	David Worth
Written by	Kurt Johnstad
Produced by	Alan Mehrez Heidi Eckes Chantre
Starring	Daniel Bernhardt Miles O'Keeffe Beverly Johnson George Cheung
Cinematography	David Worth
Edited by	Ron Cabreros
Music by	Stephen Edwards
Production company	FM Entertainment
Distributed by	FM Home Video (U.S.)
Release date	December 30, 1997
Running time	92 mins
Country	United States
Language	English

True Vengeance is a 1997 American action film directed by David Worth, starring Daniel Bernhardt, Miles O'Keeffe, Beverly Johnson and George Cheung. Bernhardt stars as a former Navy SEAL and Yakuza henchman who must twice face his past when his old clan, looking to silence him, hires his former military squadmate (O'Keeffe), with whom he had a falling out, to take him down.

Plot

In 1985,

Griffin executes the contract but Ozka, the overseer assigned by Minushoto, attempts to get rid of him shortly after. Griffin instead kills Ozka, while secret cameras installed by the worried CEO capture the struggle. When the existence of the tape leaks, Minushuto fears that it could tip off the police to the involvement of his family. He sends a new batch of men to rob the tape from Bill Emory, the detective in charge of the case, and to terminate Griffin for good. When the latter fails, he resolves to hire a contract killer from outside his clan, simply identified as The Specialist. That man turns out to be Griffin's former partner from the botched Colombian mission, whose desire for vengeance may also have something to do with his wife's death. Emory and a Naval Intelligence officer named Kada Wilson try to stand between the two men.

Cast

Production

The film had the working title of Truth or Consequences.^[1]: 261 It was screenwriter Kurt Johnstad's first produced script.^[2] Leading man Daniel Bernhardt and his favorite crew, consisting of stunt people Chad Stahelski, Philip Tan, Brad Martin and Tim Rigby (who was his double on the shoot), all returned from previous installments of the Bloodsport franchise. This was intended as their broad tribute to Hong Kong action cinema, and features several flourishes identified with the genre.^[3] The same people would be associated with the 87eleven action team in later years, with Johnstad penning 2017's Atomic Blonde.^[4]

Worth was introduced to the project by line producer John Broderick, for whom he done some second unit work in the 1980s. The film was produced by siblings Alan and Diane Mehrez, who had also made Bernhardt's Bloodsport films, and came from a privileged background. Although Worth found Diane to be reasonably knowledgeable about film production, the same could not be said about Alan.^{[1]: 303–305} The film was shot in 24 days.^[3] The modest schedule and stylish choreographies resulted in two days—both during the filming of the Jade Gate club gunfight—requiring more than 100 camera setups each, which was a new record for the already expeditious Worth. The director covered the action with three cameras shooting at 24, 48 and 96 frames per second, which was his go-to method. However, he also relied heavily on a Steadicam, which was used to a greater extent than on any of his previous features.^{[1]: 303–305}

Release

In the U.S., FM Entertainment released the film on

The film's original score was composed and produced by Stephen Edwards, who also returned from Bloodsport II and III. Some of these cues were featured on a 1998 promotional CD compilation of Edward's work released by his talent agency SMC, and simply titled Film Music.^[14]

References