A Force Of One

"Whoever did this is as good as dead..."
`He hears the silence. He sees the darkness. He's the only one who can stop the killing.' That's the tagline for the drama action thriller A Force of One (1979), starring Chuck Norris. I have no idea what it means to `hear the silence', or `see the darkness', but I suppose it has something to do with being a karate man (martial artists in the late 70's apparently had yet to earn the distinction of being known as `martial artists', often referred to as `karate men', as illustrated within this film) ...or maybe some promotional person just thought it sounded cool. While this wasn't Chuck Norris' first starring feature (most accept 1979's Good Guys Wear Black to have that distinction), it was the first, decent film he starred in, and, along with his ever growing fan base, helped turn this 6-time World Karate champion an internationally known film star. Based on a story by Ernest Tidyman (Shaft, The French Connection), A Force of one was directed by Paul Aaron, whose previous credits...

One of Chuck's Best!
This is one of Chuck's best! He plays a champion karate instructor who's been asked to help teach self-defense classes to a class of police officers on the trail of a cop-killer they believe is a skilled martial artist. There's fun dialogue (listen to that offscreen cop muse about baseball mit prices while he and his partner search for clues at a sporting goods store!), good fight scenes (Wallace's kicks and Norris's spinning back fist look very sharp during the tournament matches), involving scenes of suspense (run, Charlie, run!), and Chuck dialogue at its best ("Whoever did this, is as good as dead.") It's got a low budget feel (because it WAS a low budget pic) with some extended long shots (not a lot of different camera angles and fancy framing), but that adds a little realistic touch and some extra charm to the film as well. Highly recommended for fans of Chuck! (Other top-notch Chuck Norris films would be CODE OF SILENCE and WAY OF THE DRAGON-also known as RETURN OF THE...

Great cheesy martial arts fun
I am a huge fan of Chuck Norris' movies before his Walker TV show. A Force of One was a title that was hard to find, either on DVD or VHS, and in the last 10 years, has only been shown on cable TV where I live once.
This is a film about a karate master (Norris) enlisted by the local PD to teach some narcotics cops karate, because a "karate killer" is killing off cops that get too close to a drug ring.
It's great to see a pre-mustache and beard Norris. I think this was movie geared more toward exposing the public to who Norris was, and what karate was all about. There's really no story or thick plot, or even interesting characters, but -- this is a Chuck Norris movie! Good movie to kill a Saturday afternoon on.

Click to Editorial Reviews