"I'm gonna give you a world of hurt little man!"

Rating: 5/10 (19 August 2011)

Like a lot of Sylvester Stallone movies of the period, this would be a devastatingly witty send-up of the late 80s/action genres... were it not for numbing realisation that the writer-star actually expects us to take it all seriously.
Stallone and David Mendenhall as father and son produce some genuinely laugh-out-loud expressions when in the middle of arm wrestling, and any scenes they share that threaten emotion are made hysterical by use of a soft piano underneath them. Filled with so many montages and soft rock tracks it's impossible not to think of Team America: World Police while watching it, this is stellar entertainment at arguably the lowest peak of Stallone's career.
After having achieved the not-so-mean-feat of making the genuinely decent Rocky and First Blood laughing stocks with ridiculous sequels (IV and II respectively) and turning in a dreary MOR flick in the form of Cobra, this is a wonder to behold. Like Rocky IV, any potential laughable scene is turned into a full laugh riot with the use of slow motion and OTT (no pun intended) music. Layered over this is the genius behind I Feel Love, adding to the ridiculousness of the whole set up. A must see terrible movie that, in fairness, wasn't even well received at the time.