Eddie Garcia's first solo outing in an action film is surprisingly free from his signature "manoyisms". Though he was in other previous action flicks, this movie is the fabled actor's first lead role and manages to present the veteran thespian as a convincing protagonist.
In contrast to his latter action films where his naughty sense of humor is a major highlight, this movie doesn't have a lot of Garcia's lighthearted ribbing to somehow balance and even out the more serious scenes. It does succeed in showing Garcia as believable in the film's various action sequences. The stunts in the movie were simple enough and did not require superhuman levels of agility and prowess that an old timer like Garcia could definitely pull them off.
The script at its core, features the typical revenge plot. Garcia plays a judge who ironically has to take the law into his own hands to avenge the brutal rape and murder of his wife and daughter. The story is obviously lifted by the scriptwriter from Death Wish 2 starring Charles Bronson as the celebrated lone vigilante Paul Kersey because of the similarity and structure in plot. Like Kersey, Garcia's character stalks the alleyways and public haunts to deliver his swift brand of justice. The death sentence is administered through the barrel of a handgun.
While the script is somewhat alright by late 80s standards, it had a few kinks that needed to be ironed out. There's a subplot about a guy who raids the hideout of the bad guys but is eventually killed. This inclusion just messed up the coherence of the film's story and should have been entirely scrapped. It doesn't help that the film's handful of action set pieces seem cliched such as the sequence where various furniture and vases were shot up. The scene where Garcia's character blows up Turko Cervantes' motorcycle look somewhat neat though. And the film is one of the few instances where Subas Herrero as boss villain actually gets to join in the action instead of just waiting to be disposed of by the protagonist, so that is also a plus.
Ultimately, the film seemed too glum and serious for its own good. The storyline is also very generic and was presented better in other productions. Garcia is wooden and joyless in his portrayal as an avenging judge which is probably the one reason why he felt it necessary to add a little dose of humor in his later solo films.
To conclude, "Hukom .45" is decent and serviceable though not really exceptional. But it is worth a mention for initiating Garcia, the gifted thespian, to develop his craft as a lead actor.
