!!The film:
* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Screwface #1]]. After Hatcher kicks sand in his face, he delivers a sudden GroinAttack, then chops off his head. Their sword "fight" takes no more than thirty seconds.
* CompleteMonster: [[ScaryBlackMan Screwface]] is a feared Jamaican [[BigBad crime boss]] rumored to have supernatural powers. Known to savagely murder anyone who he feels crosses him, Screwface has the members of a rival gang shot up in an occupied bar by his men and later murders with his own hands the woman who helped the gang's leader. When retired cop John Hatcher subdues one of his men, Screwface orders a hit on him and his entire family, succeeding in almost fatally wounding his [[WouldHurtAChild young niece]] and stripping and marking his sister Tracy for death in her own home. Screwface continues to mercilessly torment Hatcher, attempting to [[ManOnFire burn him alive]] and vowing never to stop until his entire family is dead. Screwface uses murder, sacrifice, and immoral drug trade through his posse, and his cruelty is so immense [[TheMobBossIsScarier his own minions prefer suicide rather than confronting him for their failures]].
* EnsembleDarkHorse:
** Rita, the FemmeFatale Santeria priestess who casts a spell on Screwface on behalf of his ALighterShadeOfBlack rival, is one of the most memorable characters despite only having two or three scenes.
** Jamaican cop Charles has fewer scenes than some of the other protagonists, but is viewed as a pretty colorful and interesting character nonetheless.
* FridgeLogic: How did Hatcher [[spoiler: get a severed head through airport security]]?
* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/DannyTrejo makes his film debut as an informant killed in the first fifteen minutes. Twenty years later, Trejo would ''finally'' get a leading role in ''Film/{{Machete}}''... in which Creator/StevenSeagal plays the BigBad.
* {{Narm}}:
** Screwface's [[Creator/BillCosby Cosby]] sweater.
** Crossed with SpecialEffectsFailure, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZObnyBWAZSI the climactic fight]] has an obvious dummy starting when Hatcher knees Screwface's back.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Tracey does little in the movie besides welcoming John home, getting wounded for CollateralAngst in a shooting, and spending the rest of the film in the hospital. Given how she is played by Creator/DanielleHarris, fresh off her role as Jamie Lloyd, TheWoobie in the fourth and fifth ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' movies and only a year away from her role as BadassAdorable Darian in ''Film/TheLastBoyScout'', there is a definite sense that her character could have been given a lot more scenes while showing spunk and/or realistic trauma as her family is placed in danger.

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