SURPRISINGLY WONDERFUL ENTERTAINMENT! A MUST BUY!
Julius Forte | London, England | 07/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, yes, I know. I'm giving high praise to a Hulk Hogan movie, or actually three Hulk Hogan movies (all from the same series). I'm a grown man with lots of degrees, a family, a wonderful life as a public school teacher in a respectable house, with children, a loving wife, and two dogs and a budgie. So that said, this is high praise indeed. The Thunder Collection is made by the same blokes who created Baywatch, which was a huge hit here in the UK, but frankly I never understood (except for the obvious treat for the eyes). However this Thunder series is a true joy. Colorful, fun, clever, amazing production, wonderful music, and what I would call a great escape. And isn't that what this is all about? The first in the three-play can be a bit confusing since it gave Hulk a wife and a different daughter. But it is still great fun, and has the wonderful contribution of our own alumni Patrick Macnee (he's in all three actually). The second really sets the pace. The best of the three, (though I love them all) The duo of Hulk and Chris Lemmon, Carole Alt's charm and beauty and the incredible production values makes this perfect winter time viewing (how delightful to see the blue skies, hot sun white sands and attractive woman wearing as little as possible!). I've been pleasantly surprised to read so many other reviews which seem to agree with me, since I thought I was going to be a fan in a land of curmudgeons. But I guess we are all the same under the sun, and know great entertainment when we see it. Excuse me if I echo some of the thoughts of the others here, but it's worth repeating. You can also watch this collection again and again, and if you have children... it's perfect for them. The action is more bombastic than bloody, and the use of Hulk's daughter (that is, the actress playing his daughter) in the film gives the movie a great "attitude" for kids to watch and feel apart of the adventure. The dialogue is amazingly clever, characters well drawn out (as mentioned before Bru and Spenser's "food tasting trick" in number 2, on a prison guard is indeed a down right classic, and their comic timing is as good as any of the folks from the Ocean 11+ movies. As said before, special attention should also be taken to one of the most exciting and hysterical chase sequences, up and down the Middle East buildings, culminating in a delightful "back and forth" with Bru and Spence, right up there with the "cliff jumping scene" in "Butch Cassidy". Also, Ms. Alt shows a wonderful comic timing. She is a gem! I'm sure there wasn't a very big budget, so I really was astonished at how "big" the movies look. Third one, literally blows the lid of... what with a final scene (not a spoiler, I promise you), where they blow up an entire school! In a world bereaved of shout-em-out entertainment for the whole family, this is a treasure. Really! And it should be a part of any collection where one wants to pop something in the player that's going to make them smile, laugh and be transported to another world for a few hours... it truly is like a ride at Disneyland, without the lines, nor the entrance fees."
Just what i was looking for
Chirag Patel | Auckland, New Zealand | 05/21/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"have been searching for ages for this cheesy but ausm movies. they were in great condition. jsut disapointed about the quality of Tunder 1 as in the beginnig it looked like it was a burnt copy. but overall awsum"
So lame it's entertaining
Micheal Hunt | Hellbourne | 03/20/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I used to watch this on TV late at night, and I'm disappointed that this is just the 3 movies and not the whole series. But it will do for now.
Hulk Hogan stars as R.J Hurricane Spencer, an ex navy seal who with his friend Brue Baker, also an ex navy seal, have constructed a steal speed boat with allot of technical gadgets that takes a page heavily out of Knight Rider's K.I.T.T, but in the form of a boat.
In the first movie the plot evolved around R.J marrying someone to help her save her hotel and kick the bad guys butt at the same time and in the free time making lame jokes and checking out the babes along the Floridian beach they live on. The beach scenes and slow motion women in bikinis looks much like something from Baywatch, probably cause they guy who did Baywatch IS the guy who did this.
The second movie there friend Kelly is taken to a foreign land by her new found love, only to discover that he will sacrifice her to save his country by making her marry the local warlord. So R.J and Brue are out for the rescue mission.
The 3rd movie see's RJ and Brue capture a Cuban drug lord and send him to prison, then a month later the Cuban drug-lords right arm man holds RJ's daughter hostage at a school with Kelly and other children in exchange for his boss.
All in all, the acting is not great. It's pretty lame, but it's entertaining. Some scenes seemed to be done either campy or just dumb on purpose but don't take notes on how to act from any of the main cast. Also in the episodes you see some old WWF wrestlers make small appearances such as Brutus The Barber Beefcake, Jimmy Mouth Of The South Hart, The Anvil Jim Neidhart, The Giant Gonzales, Tugboat/Typhoon and probably a few more. And also that guy who played the guy in the original Avengers series. About the best performance in all of them is Carey Hawuki Tagawa or whatever his name is, he played Shang T-Sung in Mortal Kombat, ya know the guy... well, he's about the only decent actor in the whole thing.
But it's fun, ridicules, stupid and funny. Coming on 3 discs isn't necessary, i think all 3 movies would fit onto the one disc. But oh well, just a cheap cash in and the price is reasonable. Would've been nice to have some bonus features, commentary or even subtitles, but i guess they figure there is only about 10 of us in the world who would buy this thing.
What the heck is with that cover? Could they have picked a worse picture to use?"
GREAT STUFF!
Drew Clayton Brown | Richmond, VA | 02/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"You have no sense of cinematic greatness if you cannot appreciate the first Thunder in Paradise film. Truly a sign of the times, it was part of the hero brotherhood that as a kid really made me believe guys like Hogan, Stallone and Arnold were indeed capable of anything. nowadays you can't watch a regular "guy" do awesome stuff like they did in the 80's. They have to be roman gladiators or scottish revolutionaries. The everyday hero is a thing of the past. While unrealistic, nothing feels better than to truly believe that a modern-day guy can larger than life. Now 2 and 3 were poopoo, but if you don't like the first one, you obviously didn't see it as a kid."