Silent Assassins (1988) User Reviews (13)

Flash Gordon vs ninja?!

[HaemovoreRex · 6/10 · 1 April 2007]

Sam J Jones stars in this fairly enjoyable action affair as a cop on the trail of some ruthless killers, including a demented ex CIA operative, who are attempting to procure the top secret formula to a potentially devastating biological weapon. Also drawn along for the ride are the excellent pairing of Jun Chong and Phillip Rhee (who gets to display some more of his awesome kicking skills!) who also appeared together in the similarly entertaining Los Angeles Street Fighter aka Ninja Turf (and in fact produced the film being reviewed here to).

Moving along at a cracking pace with some rather well handled action set pieces throughout and a pleasant splattering of gore (including a particularly nasty torture scene!) this is a reasonably satisfying flick and should certainly provide less discriminating action fans with a fairly solid ninety or so minutes of entertainment.

Look out to for the lovely Linda Blair in this as Jones' long suffering wife.

Overall, well worth a watch!

Trashy, low-budget action fun from the 80s.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 18 October 2008]

I enjoy the occasional crappy 80s action film, and with its cheesy cover depicting a pistol-packing Linda Blair scowling alongside washed-up Flash Gordon star Sam Jones, Silent Assassins piqued my interest enough for me to cough up a couple of quid for it on eBay. Unsurprisingly, this low-budget action flick, from directors Lee Doo Yong and Scott Thomas, proved to be almost as bad as I expected it to be, and, as a result, it was reasonably entertaining stuff.

Jones plays gum-chewing super-cop Sam Kettle; Blair is his long suffering girlfriend Sarah, who wants her man to give up his dangerous job. After a brush with death whilst chasing CIA-agent-turned-bad Kendrick (Gustav Vintas), Sam finally agrees to hang up his gun. However, when Dr. London, a top biochemist, is kidnapped by Kendrick (along with an innocent five year old girl), Sam is reluctantly drawn back into service.

Assisted by the girl's uncle Jun Kim (Jun Chong), Sam attempts to track down his evil nemesis before Dr. London is forced into revealing the details of a secret germ warfare formula that could result in the death of millions.

Firstly, it must be mentioned that, although the cover of the DVD suggests that Linda Blair's character is every bit as tough as her man, this is just not true, and fans of the actress hoping to see her kick ass will most likely be disappointed. Blair spends most of the film trying to convince Sam to quit his job, or canoodling with him under a duvet (and we don't even get to see her norks—shame!).

Still, even without Blair taking part in the action, Silent Assassins is just about worth a look (if you enjoy iffy B-movies, that is) thanks to some wonderfully bad acting (Vintas as Kendrick is exceptionally hammy, cackling and whooping with glee as he goes about his evil business), plenty of violent action (there are some surprisingly nasty moments involving axes and samurai swords), some fun martial arts scenes, and a very daft finalé which sees Jones blowing up almost everything in sight with a rocket launcher (that amazingly never requires reloading).

"Alright fellows, it's kick-off time." Bad 80's action that has a certain entertainment value.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 22 July 2005]

Silent Assassins must be seen to be believed. Here's a quick run down of the clichés, erm sorry I mean plot. Wise cracking cop Sam Kettle (Sam J. Jones) & his partner Danny (Dan Beder) are on a bust to capture big time ex-CIA part criminal all psychopath & all round evil bloke Kendrick (Gustav Vintas) but unfortunately Danny gets himself killed. Cliché #1, unorthodox cop now has a personal vendetta against a major criminal who killed his partner. Cliché #2, said cop has to track said criminal down. Cliché #3, even if it costs him his marriage to Sara (Linda Blair) which is a breaking point as it is. Kendrick, his sexy side kick Miss Amy (Rebecca Ferratti) kidnap Government biological scientist Terrence London (Bill Erwin) & an innocent little girl named Joanna (Joanna Chong). Cliché #4, cop becomes saddled with innocent parties uncle, Jun Kim (Jun Chong) who is instantly transformed into the obligatory fish-out-of-water character who through spending time together befriends cop whose partner was killed & now works alone. Cliché #5, despite an entire police force on the case super cop & an ordinary member of the public manage to track evil bad guys down. Cliché #6, bad guys try to kill cop & new partner but fail miserably. Cliché #7, cop & new found best friend kill all the bad guys with guns that never run out of ammo & don't even get scratched. I could go on & on forever but hopefully you get the idea...

Directed by Doo-yong Lee & Scott Thomas I actually didn't mind Silent Assassins too much. The script by Will Gates (I hope that's not some sort of joke) & Lin Ada isn't going to win any prizes for originality or dramatic content but to it's credit it moves along like a rocket & is quite funny if approached in the right manner & frame of mind. Silent Assassins obviously had zero budget & the fights look a little cheap but they are violent & contain scenes of people having their hands chopped off, being disembowelled, someone is blown up & a brief decapitation with a Samurai sword, while none of this looks particularly impressive it's quite bloody. There is also a torture scene where Dr. London has spikes inserted under his finger nails, ouch! Forget about Linda Blair getting in on the action despite the artwork on the box where she is shown in black holding a large gun, she is purely to add dramatic impact (yeah right!) & some personal angst between the fights. The fights are OK at best, their reasonably choreographed & to their credit they use lots of weaponry like swords, Freddy Krueger type gloves, knives, guns, rocket launchers (that you don't have to reload) & various axes. The filmmakers managed to chuck in a couple of cheap explosions as well. There is a funny bit where Sam glues a mans mouth shut because he was following him & another one when Sam is interviewing a top Government scientist & on his office door it say 'Private No Admittance' written in blue ink on a piece of paper sellotaped to the door! Hardly a top scientist's office! On a technical level the film is rough, it looks like it was shot wherever they could get permission, the music is terrible & sounds as if it was recorded in a tin shed. The cinematography is static & dull as is the whole film generally speaking. Acting wise Jones is OK & makes for a likable enough hero, Blair is awful as is everyone else. Good for a few laughs but not much else especially as it can get a bit nasty at times, having said that it provided a certain charm & had some basic entertainment value. Still, probably best give this one a miss if you can.

The true meaning of love . . .

[Mr Pan Cakes · 9 March 2003]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** . . . is leaving your new karate friend on the couch with your half-eaten raw hotdog and a jar of peanut butter so you can have sex with Linda Blair.

For real. That's what Flash (King of the Universe, yo!) does to his new friend in this movie. And he does actually dip the raw hot dog into peanut butter and eat it. And his new friend's facial expression as he's handed the 'food' items is priceless. Kind of like, 'Oh, that wacky Flash Gordon and his Linda Blair!' And then he EATS THE HOTDOG, YO!

I bought this movie for my sister one year, because it's just that damn good. For real. But enough about me, let's get back to the 'film':

1. The 'silent assassins' are anything but. Watch! as they murder people with fire hatchets and machine guns in the most unsilent fashions possible, i.e. cutting down doors and shooting up a karate studio for no apparent reason.

2. Watch! as everyone's favorite Mako (Conan, yo! oh, and unfortunately Pearl Harbor as well . . .) valiantly tries to stop the said 'silent assassins' before they hatchet murder him . . . poor Mako!

3. Watch! the villain. Really. Especially in the opening scene where he hurls a very loud baby into a harbor to distract Flash Gordon (He'll save every-one of us, so don't worry), shrieking and gibbering the whole time. Oh, and the spectacular line 'It's time to party!', which kind of sounds like 'It's time to parrt-iee!'. It's unbelievably good. He's a baby-tossin', party lovin' machine, yo!

4. Watch! the spectacular ending! (Spoiler, I guess) Where Flash Gordon (he's just a man, an ordinary man) as he uses a bazooka with unlimited ammo to blast apart all kinds of guard towers and dudes hanging around, before he chases the villain on foot (he's shrieking and gibbering here, too, yo) all night long to a helicopter, where, of course, he blows it up using his unlimited bazooka! They literally start this chase scene in the night, and end as the sun is rising. Now that's dedication right there!

5. Watch! the BEST rationalization for going to kill all the bad guys EVER! Something like, 'Well, they're coming to kill us, so we might as well kill them first.' That's UNBELIEVABLY BRILLIANT! That even manages to one-up Cobra, yo!

6. There's really just too much else to love in this film. The way one of the main heroes maybe dies, but just kind of drops out of the film in the end, never to be heard from again. Or the exploding computer scene, with the Villain's reaction (priceless, yo!) And so, so much else!!

Please, please PLEASE go see this. You haven't ever seen a film as gloriously, spectacularly crapulent as this one. It gets the Mr. Pan Cakes 'Milkoline' seal of approval, yo!

It's time to partiee!!!

Knight Rider crossed with Terminator, badly.

[benniferj · 2/10 · 17 June 2005]

OK, lets start the epic story. A friend of mine created a movie called Silent Assassins for his Media college project. Now, this was unfinished, and yet better than this film, no joke. Upon posting off a rubber duck at the local post office I discovered this movie, of the same title, which I then purchased for the bargain price of £1.49. I use the term 'bargain' loosely, as this is worth possibly much less. It would be more useful as a blank DVD-R.

The most amazing scene is where he saves a dying baby from near certain death... he picks it from the water and slams the lil' baby down on the docks. Good thing its only a puppet, eh flash!

A helicopter, that when shot, simply disappears. A missile hits it, then BAM, its not in the sky, in a puff of smoke, magic.

Contains some comedy value, if analysed from a film/media studies point of view, as it is so badly executed.

Avoid.

The type of film that you pass on to friends you want to get rid of.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 11 August 2021]

"You've got a nasty little mouth for a fat man." That's the epitome of the type of sophisticated dialog that you'll get in this completely hideous action film that deals with the assassination of a police officer and the kidnapping of a kindly old nuclear scientist (Bill Erwin, the epitome of the grandfather we'd all love to have), and the determination of the murdered officer's partner (Sam Jones) to get revenge and rescue Erwin and the adorable little six year old Asian girl abducted simply because Erwin picked her up in the elevator to hug her with the permission of her mother. This is supposed to give Erwin instant sympathy, and I admit that for me, it did. But Jones and onscreen wife Linda Blair are saddled with a badly written soap opera subplot, and fans of Blair will be disappointed that she is saddled with a cliched character and hideous dialog, whiny and irritating.

The villains, including a sexpot assassin, are totally one dimensional, definitely of the Boris and Natasha variety. The convoluted plot is unpleasant, and with the exception of the little girl and Erwin, even the decent characters are uninteresting and sadly underwritten. There have been much better thrillers dealing with germ warfare, and considering what has transpired all over the world in the days since this came out (and quickly died a box office flop death), it is not fun viewing. Deliberate comedy just makes Jones seem really stupid, and even Stallone and Schwartznegger at their worst were tons better than he is. The film seems to take pleasure in its almost sadomasochistic style which after 15 minutes of viewing had me hoping for my phone to ring or door to knock because I couldn't imagine making it through half way. Unfortunately, I decided to give it my full attention and felt completely dumbed down by the time it was over. I'd rather go back and listen to Rose's Rusty story again on Golden Girls, the episode that Erwin appeared in.

When Flash met Regan

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 11 June 2019]

It seems like the strategy of many Linda Blair vehicles has been to pair her with someone else and then make me wonder, "What would it be like if Linda Blair battled Sybil Danning?" Or Sylvia Kristel. Or Julie Strain. Or here, as the case may be, Sam J. Jones, nearly a half-decade removed from the role he's known best for, Flash Gordon.

Here's the truth: all you had to do was say Sam J. Jones and Linda Blair in the same sentence and my movie sense would be alerted. In fact, if you have a DVD of this movie, there's a good chance I'll materialize in your living room to watch it with you.

An evil criminal leader named Kendrick (Gustav Vintas, who played the prison warden in Madonna's video for "Express Yourself") has kidnapped Dr. London (Bill Erwin a character actor who you'll recognize when you see him; he was the original voice of Grandpa Longneck in the Land Before Time movies. Curiously, his IMDB bio informs us that he loved county fairs and was cremated, which I guess is nice to know), a biochemist who he orders to make a biological superweapon.

Only LA cop Sam Kettle (Jones) and martial arts master Jun Kim can stop the villain and his army of ninjas. Also: Mako (The Wizard from Conan the Barbarian) shows up. And for those of you that enjoy the Gor films - I see you hiding out there - Talena from those movies, Rebecca Ferratti, is also in Silent Assassins. And while we're piling on the stars of movies that are only stars to maniacs like me, Phillip Rhea - Tommy Lee from the Best of the Best series - also makes an appearance.

So where does Linda Blair fit in? She's Sara, Sam's girlfriend who he's either bickering with or trying to protect. Both she and Jones are prominently featured on the poster, but she's barely in the film.

Just so you know, the top review for this on Amazon says, "Suppose if you are a Blair completist who HAS to have every movie she's ever been in, this will be of use. Otherwise, avoid." Guess what, buddy? I did anything but avoid this movie.

Jun Chong and Phillip Rhee re-team

[udar55 · 7/10 · 24 March 2010]

Cop Sam Kettle (Sam Jones) was this close to leaving L.A. with his girlfriend Sara (Linda Blair) before his chief tells him, "We need you." I'm not kidding, they were literally packing the U-Haul when the chief showed up. Seems bio-chemist Dr. London (Bill Erwin) was kidnapped by Kettle's nemesis Kendrick (Gustav Vintas). Tagging along with Sam on his investigation is Jun Kim (Jun Chong), whose niece was kidnapped along with the doctor. The duo team learn from Oyama (Mako) that Kendrick has hired an elite Japanese killing squad and, with help from Oyama's son Bernard (Phillip Rhee), they attack the secret hideout before Kendrick can secure the chemical weapons formula.

This is a step up from NINJA TURF as it has better production values, a name cast and explosions. Yeah, I'm easy. There is some really odd stuff like Vintas - a dead ringer for Tom Noonan - always carrying a red rose, leather clad villainess Miss Amy (Rebecca Ferratti) stating "Don't forget, I'm a bio-chemist too" and Dr. London's strange habit of always holding the kidnapped niece in every shot. Jones seems to be having fun in the role, not taking anything too seriously. The same can be said for Rhee, who is a dojo playboy this time around. Blair is featured on the cover brandishing a gun but her role is as the helpless girlfriend. She disappears completely from the picture around the 50 minute mark. Bill "Superfoot" Wallace gets a cameo as a deceitful Colonel and they never show his face! Given the cliff hanger ending, I suspect they were hoping for a part 2 with him as the lead villain.

As with the earlier TURF, the fights are very well done. Chong and Rhee handled the choreography and this is probably the best aspect of their low budget action flicks. One thing that cracked me up is these silent assassins are the loudest mofos around. Any time they sneak up to kill someone, they let out a huge scream before attacking. So, like NINJA TURF with its lack of ninjas, producer/star Chong again fails to deliver on the title's promise.

Silent Assassins delivers the Golden-Age-of-the-video-store-style action goods.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 15 May 2013]

Sam Kettle (Jones) is tired of being an L.A. cop on the edge, so he and his wife Sara (Blair) decide to move to Colorado. But before he can escape, he's called back in for "one last mission". It seems a criminal mastermind named Kendrick (Vintas of Zero Tolerance, 1994 fame), who is an "Ex-C.I.A. turned psychotic", and his apprentice, Amy (Ferratti), have kidnapped elderly biochemist Dr. Terence London (Erwin), and a six-year-old girl as well. Seeing as Kendrick was responsible for the death of Kettle's old partner, now he wants to settle the score. Coming along for the ride is Jun Kim (Chong), uncle of the kidnapped girl, and Bernard (Phillip Rhee), owner of a Kendo studio. But to achieve their goal won't be easy, as they have to face off against not just regular ninjas, but ninjas with axes (or, "Ninjaxes"). Will the trio be able to fight to the finish? And what does a stuffed Heathcliff doll have to do with all this? From the opening credit informing us that this is an "Action Brother Production, Inc.", you know you are in for something good. Silent Assassins is a fast-paced and entertaining romp with some familiar faces, and the movie is easy to enjoy. Sam Jones is the ultimate 80's coolguy, with his sunglasses, jeep, bomber jacket, spiky brushcut hairdo and unshaven face. He's truly as cool as the metal his last name in the movie is obviously made of. In the big-budget remake they'll surely get Bruce Willis to replace him. But Mako is onboard as well. We love seeing him, but he's still unintelligible. Yet another fan favorite, Phillip Rhee rounds out the cast of heroes and right there you know you have something worth seeing. Unfortunately, Linda Blair plays a clichéd "wife" role and doesn't live up to the image on the box cover. That could have added a new dimension to this movie, but sadly it wasn't to be.

But that's one of the few negatives here - there's plenty of high-kicking action, not to mention the damage incurred by the Ninjaxes, which include dismemberments and fan-favorite death, decapitation. There's even a possible exploding helicopter for fans of that, as well. Bill Erwin, who fans of Seinfeld may remember as the old guy with the large record collection that Kramer and Newman try to resell, shows us all that if you want to blow up a computer, just turn the keyboard over so the keys are facing down. The kidnapped senior citizen plot line is very reminiscent of the previous year's Survival Game (1987), where the older man in question was played by Seymour Cassel. Kidnapping the elderly to find out their secrets must have been a popular idea in '87-88.

Silent Assassins delivers the Golden-Age-of-the-video-store-style action goods and achieves a lot of entertainment for its modest budget. We liked it.

For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

a low budget, unfairly neglected, crime-busting, hatchet-hacking 'maverick cop on the rampage' 80s DTV classic!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 9 November 2020]

The indifferent title notwithstanding, 'Silent Assassins' (1988) almost immediately struck me as having enormous potential to be, perhaps, a neglected, low budget 'maverick cop on the rampage',80s crime-busting, DTV classic. 'They must stop the masters of the ritual art of killing...' Who are 'they'? 'They' are, sinfully sultry Sam J. 'Flash Gordon' Jones and the perfectly delectable star of 'Savage Streets, the petite scream Queen supreme, Linda Blair!

This outrageously entertaining, Gun Happy fight film also features zesty contributions from, Jun Chong, star of schlock classic 'Bruce Lee Fights Back from the grave', the voluptuous Rebecca 'Gor' Ferrati, and, last, but no means least, firm fight-fan favourite, 'Best of The Best' Philip Rhee; this time out, arrogantly playing the wilfully obtuse Kung Fu sensei, the hugely irritating, yuppified, errant son to 'guest star', Mako's honourable Yakuza boss. So far, so B-Movie bodacious, even if you combined the wafer-thin plotting of nefarious scientist and his weaponized, death-bringing bacilli, along with the Mr. Big's 'yadda-yadda', 'blah-blah' kidnapping scheming, said lunk-headed narrative wouldn't stretch the confines of a fortune cookie. Happily, this encourages the noisome action to swiftly take precedence, which, quite frankly, is the sole reason I'm watching something called, 'Silent Assassins' in the first place!!!

The feisty fight scenes, while, plentiful, are resolutely not in the stylised mode of martial arts magicians, Sammo Hung/Ringo Lam or balletic maestro of martial mayhem, Yuen Woo-Ping, arguably, more in line with the somewhat less burnished DTV ouvre of action impresarios, Joseph Merhi, Aaron Norris, Gordon Hessler, and beloved 'American Ninja' mastermind, Sam Firstenberg. Interesting to note that the story/screenplay credits go to the celebrated scrivener John Bruner, whose wondrous writing credits include personal favourites: 'Invasion U. S. A.', 'Mission in Action', and the triumphantly tense Chuck Norris, Golan-Globus action-fest, 'The Delta Force'. I think it would be fair to say, that if this fine fellow's glistering literary CV means little to you, 'Silent Assassins' won't strike much of a chord either!

Objectively, this is not a 'good' film, 'subjectively' it could still be terrible, but thankfully the magnificently mercurial merits of exploitation/action/gore cinema isn't based on anything quite so prosaic as good taste, and thus 'Silent Assassins' remains an edifying, B-movie barnstormer, and, curiously, this frantic fight-film is a also remarkably sanguineous example of cheap-o Gun Fu gore! The beautiful Sam J. Jones & his perky beau, Linda Blair, do make for the most adorable screen Couple, and for a super-splattery, DTV punch-fighter, their warm relationship has been rendered in a remarkably heartfelt manner, having a volatile chemistry, which, er, is rather apropos, considering the pseudo-Bond machinations they both become so hotly embroiled in!

I am in no doubt that my final fanboy summation will garishly expose how hopelessly unfashionable my opinions have become of late, but, honest injun', I genuinely appreciated the wickedly appealing look of sensationally swarthy Sam Jones's ubiquitously 80s action-hero 'spiky hair/Raybans combo'. While far from a top-flight fist-fighter, boisterous directors, Lee Doo-Young & Scott Thomas's explosive 'Silent Assassins' is a considerably more compelling B-Movie than its lack of reputation might suggest. And, gore-hounds rejoice!!! As those hellaciously horrific, hemoglobin-spilling hatchet kills are most righteous to behold! If one should be intimately familiar with, and subsequently relish the blissfully bellicose oeuvre of B-Movie mavens, Bruno Mattei, Niko Mastorakis, and the, by all rights, should-now-be-funking-legendary, David A. Prior, 'Silent Assassins' might resonate louder with the more unrepentantly schlock-savouring, trash-loving freaks who still avidly seek out the weirder examples of psychotronic DTV action!

The 2003 'Musicbank' DVD I own, while wholly lacking digital definition, is apparently uncut, whereas the previous VHS release wasn't; so absolutely no improvement of its blurry, analogue fidelity, but the gleefully grisly assassinations have been lovingly restored!

Entertaining flick

[amadeuseisenberg · 7/10 · 6 October 2022]

Decent action flick, albeit a bit silly and could have used a higher budget. The trailer did its job and got me into it. Poster/cover art is bizarre as hell, though. Instead of the 1 white guy and 2 asian guys trio, there's the white guy and, for some reason, his girlfriend. I don't understand why they dressed her up like that and put her on the cover. There is no such character in the movie. She is just a little love interest and never looks like that in the movie. Not to mention she isn't in any major action scenes. Sam Jones and his two asian buddies score an excellent body count, but she literally fires only one shot in the whole movie, so she goes on the cover, haha. Also, Sam Jones burns through so much bubble gum in the movie that Roddy Piper had none left.

Typical Z-grade action pic

[$TEVE McD · 3 November 2000]

Horrible acting,badly set-up scenes,laughable situations and clich'es from possibly five hundred other movies all combine to create this turkey.But what do you expect from a film with Sam J Jones(Flash Gordon)as the hero and Linda Blair as co star?

Routine action =Korean-style

[lor_ · 30 April 2023]

My review was written in June 1988 after watching the film on Forum video cassette.

Bearing the novelty of being a U. S. action film made by transplanted South Korean filmmakers, "Silent Assassins" is an okay time-killer that has gone the direct-to-video route.

Sam Jones (he gets his J. Middle initial back in the end credits) stars as an L. A. cop out to avenge the death of his partner at the hands of an ex-CIA operative Kendrick (Gustav Vintas). To get to the villain, he teams up with a Korean (Jun Chong) whose niece was kidnapped in the incident and a kendo expert (Phillipo Rhee). Kendrick also has kidnapped a scientist trying to get a secret formula that would threaten the world with deadly chemical-biological war.

Pic boasts good plot progressions and action scenes, resulting in a sinister open ending. One problem is that co-star Linda Blair, cast as Jones' tough girlfriend, has little to do. More impressive here is former Playboy magazine model Rebecca Ferrati, as a statuesque villainess. Co-stars Chong and Rhee also produced the film and handled the fight scenes.