Final Justice (1985)

What makes it different from others?

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This film from the first 5 minutes you know is bad. Bad as in totally incompetent bad. Bad as in something that sets back movie making in an Ed Wood kind of way, so bad that Coleman Francis if he had not killed himself 11 years earlier would have been involved in this. As a matter of fact this has a real "Night Train To Mundo Fine" quality to it. The sad thing though is that this film had a budget 1,000 times as much and it still is just as bad. I'm giving it a 1 out of 10 because it really deserves it, but if you are looking for a bad film to watch as a comedy I would give this a 10, it made me laugh out loud all on it's own. Of course I watched it as an MST3K episode but the times I laughed the loudest had nothing to do with their riffing, it was the film itself. I am also giving this an above average MST3K episode and one well worth watching, not sure it's a top 10 but it's definitely a top 30 episode. I found it much more enjoyable to watch then MST3K's "Mitchell" which I thought was just boring except for the ending which was very funny. I can't believe I was a Joe Don Baker fan all these years, shows you what little I know in life. If you want to watch Joe Don stay with his stuff made in the 70's like Charley Varrick and The Outfit, stuff where he is NOT the lead like he was in Mitchell (unless it's Walking Tall).

Joe Don Baker is one of a handful of actors who is often better than his material, and almost always under appreciated. He's been in a ton of films either as a heavy or a hero, and has the type of strong, solid presence that Wallace Beery did half a century before him. Baker can delivery material that would sound ridiculous coming out of another actor, and that's what's so great about him. He really seems to mean what he's saying, regardless of how cliché, obvious or silly, which puts him in a league with Tommy Lee Jones, Oliver Reed and Don Stroud. It's what made the WALKING TALL Trilogy work so well, and that same magic is here in FINAL JUSTICE. This was a substantial hit in theaters and on video in the 80s, and it has aged a lot better than many of the perhaps better known action flicks of the era. By moving the action from Texas to Europe, there's a real timeless quality that doesn't jar you away from the action on screen. To be honest, I've always enjoyed the films of Greydon Clark, who is a no-nonsense director in the same vein as 1970s Clint Eastwood, and this is one of his best. FINAL JUSTICE is one of the lost gems of the late 80s, similar to MAN ON FIRE in its true grit and violence. I suppose if they remake this with The Rock, a whole new audience will come to love it as much as I do.

There are movies that are awful, and there are movies that are so awful they are deemed long-forgotten and unwatchable. Also, lots of violence and bad stuff (not just cheesy stuff; you know what I mean) add to the mix as well. What is the result of bad movies with such raunchy content? Why, "Final Justice," of course! Remember "Mitchell?" Joe Don Baker was the star of that movie, and that was riffed by Joel and the Bots on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Now this time, with Mike taking Joel's place on the Satellite of Love (but with the same bots), that trio got to make fun of MST3K's second Joe Don Baker movie, "Final Justice." Of course, much of the naughty stuff that I mentioned was removed for television release, but still, I want to watch that episode (and "Mitchell" as well), because what does Joe Don "hate" the most? Why, none other than "Mystery Science Theater 3000!" P.S. If you have a Big Lots nearby, check that store for the uncut tape! LOL That happened to another user!

Joe Don Baker can do good film work, but he does not fit the lead character very well. I'm not sure if it's his acting or the poor script but the lines come off very flat and i had a hard time feeling for the hero. I wonder if the shoot-out scene with the three suspects was supposed to be a send-up of The good, the Bad and the Ugly. This shoot-out however had some very ugly close-ups. Some boat chases are thrown in as well to keep the audience awake. Very funny episode of MST. This was the only hero i know of to ask for Maalox at a bar.