The Force of Vengeance
Blastfighter is a 1984 Italian Action Genre movie directed by Lamberto Bava of Demons fame.
Jake "Tiger" Sharp was a cop, until his wife was murdered and he killed the perp in revenge. Released after 8 years in prison, Sharp just wants to live a normal life. Unfortunately, he stumbles upon a gigantic poaching ring, who want to make sure he doesn't talk to the cops. After they rape and murder his daughter to intimidate him, Sharp takes out a specialized gun and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
This film contains examples of:
- Amoral Attorney: The man who killed Tiger's wife was let off by a corrupt prosecutor, who eventually tried Sharp for killing the man in revenge.
- Artifact Title: The film was originally planned to be a sci-fi film: Mad Max in the woods. By the time it was changed to Die Hard in the woods, promotional material using the title Blastfighter had already been distributed, so the producers stuck with the title despite it having little to do with the new plot.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: The Evil Poachers are supposedly experienced hunters, but they make rookie mistakes such as gesticulating with their weapons, running and jumping fallen logs while carrying loaded guns, etc.
- Badass Boast: After a redneck kills a baby deer Tiger was caring for, he hunts the man down and holds him at gunpoint:"Do you know what I am? I'm a son of a bitch! Who wants to be left alone."
- Big Bad: Tom Hanson, head of the poaching ring.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: A flashback to the murder of Tiger's wife shows her killer holding her head underwater in a bathtub, and then stabbing her in the neck with an icepick so he blood gushes out into the water.
- Bullying a Dragon: Wally and his redneck buddies insist on picking on Tiger every time he comes to town, despite the fact that he wipes the floor with them every time.
- Dead Animal Warning: Wally and his redneck buddies slit the throat of the fawn Tiger saved and leave it in the front seat of his car. Later, they rig up a dead racoon so it swings down at hits him in the face when he opens the door.
- Deep South: The story is supposed to take place somewhere in the mountain regions of the Southern United States, with kill-happy hillbillies as the bad guys. Billy Redden, the now-grown actor that played the "banjo kid" from Deliverance even makes a cameo in one scene.
- Destination Defenestration: The first time Wally and his buddies attempt to pick a fight with Tiger, he punches one of them through the window of the grocery store.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Any time anything happens to a vehicle, it explodes. When Tiger's car runs off the road, it explodes before it even hits anything.
- Evil Former Friend: Tom was a childhood friend of Sharp's, and still cares about him, as evidenced by him trying to talk Sharp out of exposing the ring instead of just having him killed like Wally wants to do.
- Evil Poacher: The main antagonists are a bunch of poachers who kill deer for profit.
- Green Aesop: Given that the main villains are poachers, and they spend a lot of the film causing environmental damage over the course of their crimes, the film seems to be going for an environmentalist message, beating On Deadly Ground to the environmentalist action movie game by a decade.
- Just Got Out of Jail: The film opens with Tiger being released from the state pen after serving 8 years for murdering the man who killed his wife. He ex-partner Pete is waiting to pick him up.
- Karma Houdini: Nothing happens to the corrupt prosecutor who covered Sharp's wife's murder up and had him arrested for killing him. Sharp considers killing the man, but decides against it because he's too connected.
- Kick the Dog: The evil redneck poachers not only kill a deer in the woods, but when Tiger manages to save the deer's calf, they break into his car when he drives into town to buy some supplies and slice its throat.
- Leave No Witnesses: Wally and his cronies assault Tiger's friends in an attempt to scare him into leaving the poaching ring alone. However, when they attempt to rape Connie, Pete tries to intervene and Wally shoots him. Realising that he has killed him, Wally orders his men to kill everyone so there are no witnesses.
- The Load: Connie. Everything Connie does is a hindrance to Sharp. After she is shot in the leg while running from the hicks, Sharp is reduced to literally carrying her.
- Molotov Cocktail: Sharp attacks the hunters with Molotov cocktails to give Connie time to make it to the river.
- One-Word Title
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Despite his primary customer base being Asian, Tom is super racist against them, viewing them as savage idiots for him to exploit.
- Poor Communication Kills: Honestly, Connie! Was it really necessary to wait a day and a half before telling Tiger that he was your father? Did you not think that bombshell was something you might have opened with?
- Portmantitle: "Blast" + "Fighter"
- Predecessor Villain: While the film focuses on a poaching ring, the hero's initial nemesis was an unnamed man who killed his wife. This man was killed eight years beforehand, and the hero spent the time between then and the film in prison.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: A cop guns down the criminal who killed his wife and is arrested. Eight years later, he's released, only for a group of poachers to harass him because he disapproves of their actions and rape and murder his daughter. Immediately afterwards, he kills all of them but their leader, who has been his Friendly Enemy for years and and nothing to do with his daughter's death.
- Sadist: Wally Hanson, a poacher who kills deer slowly because he finds it more amusing and is perfectly willing to go after humans to keep his business going.
- Smug Snake: The crook who killed Tiger's wife is the lover of a powerful Amoral Attorney and Tiger does not has any physical evidence, which he yells to Tiger's face ("you have no proof! Asshole cop!"). One second later, Tiger draws his sidearm and blows his brains out.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Tiger's shotgun has the capacity to fire rifle grenades and has high-explosive rounds, and they cause many kills during the final rampage — notably, Tiger shoots one of the rednecks with an explosive shell and vaporizes the bastard.
- Swiss-Army Gun: Pete gives Tiger an untraceable high-tech shotgun. It has an interchangeable rifle barrel, can fire rifle grenades (including tear gas), and comes with a variety of ammo, including high explosive, incendiary, and amour-piercing. Needless to say, all of its functions get a workout during Tiger's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Vehicular Sabotage: The Evil Poachers cut the brake lines and wreck the gearbox in Tiger's car so he can't stop or slow down as his car descends a winding mountain road.
- Vigilante Execution: Tiger opens the film having just got out of prison for killing the man who killed his wife after a corrupt prosecutor let him off. He considers killing the prosecutor, but decides against it.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: After Connie is shoot in the leg by the poachers, Tiger digs the bullet with his combat knife and hand sets her broken bones. Exactly why he thought it was necessary to do this on the spot, rather than waiting till they were out of immediate danger is never explained.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: When Tiger and Connie are fleeing from the poachers, Connie collapses; too exhausted to go on. While exhorting her to go on, Tiger addresses her by name for the first time in the film. Connie is so amazed and inspired by Tiger (who is her father) actually addressing her by name that she gets a Heroic Second Wind.
