This movie has been floating around my consciousness for years. It was one of those movies I always wanted to watch but never got around to watching. Along with "Assault on Precinct 13," this was one of those "people fight back against gangs" movies that sounded cool. Much like "The Warriors," which I wanted to see mostly because my mom wouldn't let me watch it (and come to think of it, I need to watch that movie too at some point). I had high Hope's that this movie would be violent and brutal and cool.
So like I said, this movie is about a normal guy who fights back against a gang. This time it's a teacher who gets fed up with the gangs controlling his school, so he takes matters into his own hands. I'm sure lots of teachers have dreamed of fighting back against the kids that wreak violent havoc on their schools. "187" is another movie in that same vein, and I liked that movie too, though it frustrated me and I wanted to pull my hair out.
It's fun seeing Michael J. Fox in this movie before he was famous. He has a bowl haircut, guys! Plus I like seeing people fight back against bad guys. It does piss me off how the gang gets away with so much bullshit, ruining people's lives without consequences. I'm definitely old enough to identify with the teachers and not the kids, though I might have thought they were cool once. Get off my lawn, you punks.
I'm definitely not patient enough to watch this kind of movie anymore. I'm screaming at the screen telling the teachers to fight back after ten minutes of this crap, but I have to wait forever for anyone to take my advice. Plus this movie is the 80s-ist movie I've ever seen. Attack of the killer synthesizer music. I love Alice Cooper, but the theme song for this movie that plays over the opening credits is ridiculous even for me. There are only a few violent scenes sprinkled throughout the movie, but they are effective when they come. I think I would have liked this movie a lot better if I'd seen it when I was a kid. Now it just feels pulpy and overly preachy.
There's plenty of violence here, once everything finally gets going, but I swear to God they ripped off about a hundred other movies to get here. I felt like I was watching "Straw Dogs: 2 fast 2 furious" or "The Warriors 2: This time it's Personal." Plus the movie has to go on about how it's based on a true story. Sure movie, whatever you say. I bet there was a guy and he had a wife, and they made the rest up. Anyway, the movie drags a bit, and I wanted to stab most of the characters because they're evil or they're idiots, but there's some good scenes. There's a really disturbing rape scene. Maybe if they'd toned down the terrible 80s music and preachiness here they would have had a better movie.
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