Last to Surrender (1998) User Reviews (5)

Could have been better... but not too bad

[Zhuge · 6/10 · 13 September 1999]

All things considered, this wasn't a bad movie... definitely an improvement from some of Piper's others. It was nice to see him go through a movie without using (hardly any) wrestling moves. The fight scenes were good, and Piper did a good job in his role throughout the movie as a sort of "bad cop", however, the ending left a lot to be desired. I had never heard of Ong before, but he seemed to do a decent job as well.

I still want to see how Piper would fare with a truly good script and several well-known supporting actors. I think he has potential, and it'd be nice to see him in a true action flick as either the protagnoist or antagonist.

Old-school actioner for the new millennium!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 12 July 2010]

Nick Ford (Piper) is a tough cop on the beat and on the edge. While working the mean streets of Seattle's Chinatown, he fails in his attempt to capture super-evil crime boss Tiger (Andy Yim). Ford is then reluctantly partnered with by-the-book Chinese cop Wu Yin (Ong). In the their tenacious quest to find the deadly Tiger, they fly to Burma and find themselves deeper in the culture and the danger than ever before.

Will they survive their many mishaps to bring down Tiger? More importantly, will they survive EACH OTHER?! Roddy Piper as Ford is the type of cop who has an attitude but gets results. Piper strongly resembles Motley Crue's Vince Neil in this film. A trend in the movie industry seems to be "Team up Roddy Piper with someone with a different race and see what happens." see: Back In Action (1993), Tough and Deadly (1995), and now Last To Surrender. Sure, he calls Wu "Chinese Takeout", but he charms the audience's pants off with his million dollar smile.

Han Soo Ong as Yin is the opposite of Ford. He is polite, has patience, and sees Ford as a hard-headed stupid Yankee. You like him and want Wu to get along with Ford. A big chunk of the movie is set in the Burmese jungle and Yin and Ford are forced to get along in order to survive.

Last to Surrender has some entertaining humor that makes the movie more palatable. Piper gets some great lines. Some of which include, "I hate oil" and "I hate tacos", He also gives a passionate defense for hot dogs, and let's not forget his infamous $92.00 jacket. Once the "Original Odd Couple" get to Burma, they meet Bong-Bong, a comic relief character as indicated by his name.

There is an interesting correlation between Surrender and the David Heavener vehicle Massacre (1985). Both deal with an angry white cop in the midst of Seattle's Chinatown. It would make an thought-provoking double feature.

Even though Last To Surrender was released on the cusp of the new millennium, in its spirit it is truly an old-school actioner to keep an eye out for.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

"You say anything bad about hot dogs, and we're gonna fight."

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 2 September 2022]

At first glance, the direct-to-home-video Roddy Piper vehicle "Last to Surrender" threatens to be resolutely routine. You have your typical rogue cop hero, a partner who gets killed, and an antagonistic relationship between the xenophobic hero and the foreigner (in this case, a Chinese detective) with whom he's forced to work. The target is The Tiger (Andy Yim), a slippery and slimy drug lord.

"Last to Surrender" doesn't exactly get off to a great start, but it's lifted a bit by its second half. Filmed on location in Indonesia, it has the two good guys stranded in the wilderness after a helicopter crash. So they HAVE to learn to get along, and survive, before they can even think of combating the ruthless villain.

"Rowdy" Roddy has a typically solid screen presence (even if his character is pretty much pure cliche), and he has genuine odd-couple chemistry with Ong Soo Han (who plays Wu Yin, the aforementioned Chinese detective). He also has some good chemistry with pretty female lead Angela Ying-Ying Tong, who plays a villager named Chat Chai who rescues Piper. Yim makes for a decent-enough bad guy, and fight choreographer Qingfu Pan also appears on screen as a comedy relief lowlife named "Bong Bong".

"Last to Surrender" is still largely average as far as these kinds of movies go, but it has enough going for it - including a literally explosive finish - to make it a modestly acceptable diversion.

My favorite bit: Nick Ford explaining to Wu Yin how the "good cop / bad cop" routine works.

Six out of 10.

Lousy and offensive

[zetes · 3/10 · 9 August 2015]

Of the three DTV "Rowdy" Roddy Piper flicks I've watched over the past week or so (this, Jungleground and No Contest), this is by far the worst. All three were very conventional action flicks. This one is a very predictable cop buddy story, very similar to, say, Ridley Scott's Black Rain. Piper plays an American cop whose beat is Chinatown. His partner is killed by a Chinese gangster (Andy Yim), who then runs off to Burma. Piper is paired with a Chinese cop, Ong Soo Han, who is also after him and the two go to Burma to find him. The thing that makes this film so bad is that Piper is super racist. It's no fun watching an actor you like be a dick for most of the movie. Sure, his character arc has him become less racist over the course of the movie, and, of course, he goes from not wanting to be partnered with Han to liking him. But it's more like Piper goes from making mean racist jokes to more kind-hearted racist jokes. The film is pretty racist itself, with a lot of terrible jokes about Asians eating gross stuff and having characters do very silly looking martial arts. One character's name is Bong Bong and Piper keeps referring to him as Ding Dong ("No cawr me Ding Dong, assho!" he will exclaim). It gets better as it goes along and some of the action sequences near the end are decent, but it's generally pretty bad.

Wow.......

[face_of_terror · 7/10 · 20 July 2006]

I remember seeing this flick 6-7 years ago, and all i remembered was Roddy Piper running around, with a gun, cursing everyone. Yesterday i watched it again....and I don't remember myself laughing so hard watching an action flick like i did while watching "Last to Surrender". I; haven't seen many Roddy Piper's movies, but this, in my opinion is one of his best. He and Ong Soo Han (Bloodsport 2, King of the Kickboxers, Tiger Claws 2) are absolutely hilarious, making fun of each other, hating each other, but somehow have to work together to get "The Tiger" who killed Piper's partner. The Plot is pretty simple, but there are enough fights, shootouts, and action sequences to keep the viewer within the screen.

To sum it up - this is one of the best (if not the best) buddy cop movie i've seen. Funny as hell , watch out for Piper delivering lines like "Enter the Dumbass" (sort of a tribute to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon). A good old 90's action flick. 7/10. I wasn't disappointed at all. I hope you wont be as well.