A Dangerous Place (1994)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"A Dangerous Place" is one of several movies the teenaged martial arts trained Ted Jan Roberts made for the PM Entertainment film company. None of these movies were particularly good, and this one may the worst of the bunch. It's not really Roberts' fault that the movie is tough to sit through - the director and the screenwriter have to shoulder the blame. The biggest problem with the movie is how slow and dull it is almost throughout. It takes about half of the movie before the Roberts' character starts on the road of revenge, and even when he does start down that path, the energy level of the movie is still extremely low. I guess the movie has one positive subtle message, that being that revenge can put you in danger and hurt the people around you. There is also a faint pulse of life whenever veteran movie actor Mako is on the screen. And I will admit that there are a few unintended laughs, most of them being Corey Feldman's inability to be convincing as a trained martial artist who is a really bad dude. Aside from those things, there is nothing to make this worth a look, unless you are a relative of Ted Jan Roberts.

Ethan (Roberts) is a young-looking and precocious high school Freshman. His passion is Martial Arts training with a team called The Lions, led by Sensei (Mako). Just Sensei, no name given. His brother Greg (Cochran) is also into Martial Arts, but is involved with a gang of ne'er-do-wells called The Scorpions, the leader of which is the smug jerk Taylor Dylan (Feldman). During a Scorpions-led home invasion, Greg ends up dead. The Scorpions make it look like a suicide. But Ethan knows better, and he goes undercover and joins The Scorpions to get the truth about his brother. There, he discovers what's really going on at the dojo - and what evil Sensei Gavin Smith (Teague) is up to. With Principal (Van Patten) - just Principal - clearly a lot of time was given to character names here - sympathetic to him, but with pressure mounting from his parents, his Sensei, the cops, and potential love interest Kim (Vessey), Ethan's going to discover that his L.A.-area neighborhood is indeed A DANGEROUS PLACE.A Dangerous Place is yet another PM triumph, an amazingly fast-paced and entertaining film for high schoolers and older viewers alike. To state the obvious, yes, it's clearly modeled on The Karate Kid, but we really enjoy the mid-90's PM vibe of this. Ted Jan Roberts is likable and charismatic as Ethan. He could have had a major Hollywood career, he's certainly talented enough. Thanks to him, really, the movie works because you care about his plight. This was also the era of over-sized clothing, and some of his shirts are gigantic. He looks like a size Small, but seems to be wearing XXXL T-shirts. They're so big, you can see his whole collarbone. There are other inspired fashions in the movie as well - something to look out for.That being said, Corey Feldman was an inspired choice as the baddie (or at least one of them). He seems hilariously scrawny to be a Kung-Fu master, and his belt-and-pants combos are pretty amazing. He adopts a curious Christian Slater-like drawl when he's not wowing us with his Feldman-Fu. Keeping in mind this was the time when 90210 was huge, there are plenty of scenes at an L.A. school, his character's last name is Dylan, he's a 26-year-old high school student, and he has impressive sideburns. His smarmy performance totally works, and he always seems right on the edge of breaking into a Michael Jackson impersonation, and only by sheer force of will is he holding himself back.If only Dick Van Patten was the Principal for 90210. Van Patten has maybe two lines and seems confused. How - and WHY - they got him for this role is indeed pretty confusing. It's a total sit-down role. William James Jones as Eddie - who later was a member of Saved By The Bell spin off/knockoff California Dreams - does some great mugging for the camera with his outrageous facial expressions. But the man who steals the movie is Marshall Teague as the diabolical Sensei. (Sidebar: is it just me, or is there something really funny about the name "Sensei Gavin Smith"? Somehow it doesn't have that ancient Asian feel to it). One of the reasons I personally never took Karate classes is because I was afraid of being just one of a gaggle of teens forced to do the bidding of an amoral, maniacal Sensei. And who's laughing now? Seeing as this is a PM movie, it wouldn't be complete without some car stunts, especially a middle-of-the-street-flip-and-blow-up, and another one on a softball field that viewers of Night Of The Wilding (1990) may find curiously familiar. In all, we give a solid recommendation to this enjoyable movie. Good times.For more action insanity, drop by: www,comeuppancereviews.com

I guess my summary sums up what you are going to get.There is a decent murder mystery twist, there is an angle on gangs, and Asian spirituality.Could have been deeper, but I can't give to low of grade since I watched it all and was entertained._________________________________________I would limit my review there, but IMDb insist that I have ten lines.So the acting was very passable. Corey Feldman plays the antagonist and does a decent villain.The main problem of the is that it has no style at all. It's like watching TV drama. If they had gave the script to a director that can add substance, might have made the movie better.The Movies is Karate Kid with a murder twist. And the photography and the style tries to hard to copy Karate Kid. When they had enough new things to stand on their own.

And I still do. This movie is good. At least it is much better than 'Karate Kid'. Of course, somebody could say that it is a ripoff of 'Karate Kid' but there are some very important differences.First and probably the most important thing is that the teenager karate expert was a real teenager. You know, Ralph Macchio was 23 years old when he starred in 'Karate Kid'. It was pretty strange for me to see a man at his age at the role of 16 years old boy.Second, I will tell something about the fights. Although I liked the fights in 'Karate Kid' I could see that Macchio and the rest of the actors do not have real martial arts experience. The fights in 'A Dangerous Place' are much more realistic and much more attractive. Much better, I think.Now I will tell something about the characters and the acting. Well, the acting in 'A Dangerous Place' is not better than the acting in 'Karate Kid' but it is not worse too. But the characters are much better developed. I will try to explain. What was the main character in 'Karate Kid'? A teenager searching for troubles all the time who finally got black belt after two months of training, right? And what was the main character in 'A Dangerous Place'? A teenager who had devoted his life to martial arts and who did not search for troubles until somebody killed his brother. I think Ethan had much better motivation for what he did than Daniel. What do you think? What was the karate teacher of Daniel? A funny old man ho made his student wash his car, right? And what was the karate teacher of Ethan? A funny old man who showed his students real karate. What do you think? Who is more believable? The story... Guess what? I think the story in 'A Dangerous Place' is much better than the story in 'Karate Kid'. Yes, it is not very believable but the story in 'Karate Kid' is not too.And so on. I like this movie.