When Jim Stanton (Don Wilson) survives a bullet wound to the head, he wakes up with a severe case of amnesia. Luckily, his wife is on hand to fill in the blanks, but her identity is quickly called into question when the pair are attacked on their way home. As it turns out, the woman is apparently a hooker called Michelle who was paid to get Stanton out of the hospital, and she claims to know nothing of his true identity. With no one else to turn to, Stanton is forced to team up with Michelle in an attempt to discover who was responsible for trying to kill him and why they are seemingly still out to finish the job.
‘Bloodfist V’ is arguably the most predictable entry in the series thus far. Whether this automatically makes it the worst one is up for debate, but the combination of the incredibly tired amnesia storyline and a handful of paper-thin characters certainly makes it a front-runner for me. Wilson is, for the most part, still a relatively likeable lead, but unfortunately he is saddled with a somewhat annoying sidekick (played by Denice Duff) and the rest of the cast is fairly wasted. As with the last film, ‘Bloodfist V’ also tries to inject some excitement with a final “big” plot twist, but it really isn’t all that interesting and winds up feeling like a case of too little, too late.
As for the action, the first few battles certainly have a hint of Steven Seagal about them. There are numerous times when Wilson wipes out an opponent using a grapple or flip, and you can’t help but think that this was heavily influenced by Seagal’s popularity at the time. While it’s definitely nice to see Wilson trying something different, it does all become a little too comical when he starts flinging every opponent about the place. Strangely, there isn’t anyone even remotely interesting for Wilson to face off against. You’d think that considering Steve James is included amongst the cast we might get a decent showdown or two, but sadly all we really get is Wilson easily dispatching numerous minions and a very disappointing final fight that is over before you know it.
‘Bloodfist V’ is a definite step down from its predecessors, which is saying something as the previous entries weren’t exactly mind-blowing. It’s possible that fans of Don Wilson or cheap action movies in general may appreciate it more, but to me it’s evident that the series was starting to run out of ideas.
Our rating 1.5
