Ulli Lommel, may he rest in peace, is definitely one of the most incomprehensible and enigmatic horror film directors who ever lived. One of his very first films, "The Tenderness of Wolves", is a personal favorite of mine, and honestly also one of the most intensely disturbing serial-killer thrillers ever. A couple of years later, Lommel left his native Germany and made a couple of more than decent and infamous horror gems, like "The Boogeyman", "BrainWaves" and "Olivia". Then, he must have fallen off a cliff and lost half of his brain capacity, or something, because suddenly Lommel's films became really bad, dumb and soulless. Stuff like "Revenge of the Stolen Stars" and even this "Overkill" can only be enjoyed if you watch it in group, with friends and plenty of alcohol nearby. In the 1990s, Lommel ended up in video-hell, but then in the early 2000s another terrible tragedy must have overcome him. I don't know, maybe a head-on collision with a truck, or so, which cost him the remaining other half of his brain capacity. How else would you explain the giant tidal wave of unendurable and downright abominable handheld-camera trash he "directed" between 2003 and 2012?
Now, back to "Overkill", which is a masterpiece compared to Lommel's post-2000 movies but a lousy 80s B-movie by all other existing standards. It's a lame attempt to mix tough street action with martial arts and buddy-cop thriller, but the script is really poor. Steve Rally is the LA copper Mickey Delano who proclaims his beloved city - as well as the entire West Coast - is being taken over by the Japanese Yakuza; - exactly how the Italian mafia took over the East Coast. He's right, of course, but none of his superiors care. When his own partner gets killed, Delano teams up with a Japanese cop who traveled to LA to avenge his family members that were killed by the Yakuza because they refused to pay for protection. Admittedly the violent parts in "Overkill" are enjoyable, with a handful of nasty shootouts and graphic close-up kills, but the rest of the film is clichéd, dull and predictable.
Interesting detail: usually in this type of low-keyed 80s action trash they cast a few former Playboy bunnies to insert some gratuitous nudity. For "Overkill", though, Ulli Lommel did the opposite and cast Playgirl's "Man of the Year" for the lead role. Steve Rally therefore barely ever wears a shirt throughout the entire movie.
