Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1984 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. Imagine a world where This is Spinal Tap and Repo Man hit theaters on the same day. That is the world of 1984.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly three dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1984 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out on the same day the films hit theaters in 1984 so that it is their true 40th anniversaries. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory.
This time around, it’s Sept. 14, 1984, and we’re off to see Exterminator 2, Ninja III: The Domination, and A Soldier’s Story.
Exterminator 2
When I watched Exterminator back in 1980/2020, I did not think four years later I would be reviewing a sequel.
John Eastland (Robert Ginty) has still been making his way around New York City from time to time with his flamethrower, dishing out his own form of justice. As the sequel kicks off, Eastland finds four men robbing a store and kills two of them, unaware they worked for X (Mario Van Peebles), and one of them was his brother. X vows revenge while also putting together a deal for a huge shipment of cocaine that he feels will let him take control of the city. Along the way, X kills an old friend of Eastland’s as well as his girlfriend, setting up the Exterminator to have plenty of reasons for taking down his budding criminal empire.
I was unaware they could make a worse film in the Exterminator series, but they succeeded.
There are massive leaps in logic throughout the film of people just seemingly figuring things out. But, by far, the funniest part comes when John and Caroline (Deborah Geffner) go through Central Park on a date, and stop to watch some break dancers… and continue to watch them. One has to remember this film was released by Cannon Film Distributors, which also released Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo in this year. Cannon really went all-in on break dancing in 1984.
The film isn’t entertaining in the “it’s so bad, it’s good” way. It’s just bad. The script is laughable and you spend most of the movie wondering how X thinks $500,000 worth of cocaine – which fits in just one duffle bag – is going to be enough for him to take over the city. A plan he states multiple times.
This is a definite pass.
Ninja III: The Domination
I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, from 1971 to 1978. Both my parents were raised there.
We had no idea the Valley of the Sun had many issues with ninjas.
Christie Ryder (Lucinda Diskey) is a telephone linewoman, and while working she spots a ninja dying in the desert who had just engaged in a lengthy fight on a golf course. (It actually makes sense in the film despite making no sense here) She runs over to check on him, and his spirit possesses her, making her into his vessel of vengeance against those who killed him. She ends up falling for a policeman who was involved in the death of the ninja and later has to try to fight the ninja spirit from killing him as well.
This movie tries hard to cash in on the ninja crazy of the early 1980s, but it is just so off-the-wall that it is distracting. You have the fact the ninjas are all running around Phoenix – which, even if you never lived there, it’s distracting as the desert setting makes no sense – horrible special effects, and a very odd sex scene involving V8. Yes, as in the juice. And it is more of a cringe-inducing moment than anything sexy.
Once again, this is a film from Cannon Film Distributors, and while there is no breakdancing, Diskey is the woman in both Breakin’ films. In other words, she starred in three Cannon films in one year. You have to respect her grind.
This film is, once again, bad, but it’s good for some laughs such as the incredibly bad floating sword scene. It’s worth checking out as part of several 80s trends, but don’t expect to walk away loving it.
And just think of the poor residents of Phoenix who have had to put up so many ninjas.
A Soldier’s Story
After watching two films by Cannon Film Distributors, it was nice to see something completely different.
Based on a play, CPT. Richard Davenport (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) is sent to Fort Neal in Louisiana to investigate the murder of Master Sergeant Vernon Waters (Adolph Caesar). Davenport uncovers many secrets of the segregated base operating in the Jim Crow South during the time of World War II.
The film is engaging from start to finish, although there are times when you wish for a bit less of the murder mystery and more of just the soldiers’ lives. They are fully fleshed-out characters; you want to learn more about them, but there is insufficient time.
It’s not a cheerful watch as you hear about what everyone is going through, or what the ultimate reason is for the murder, but it’s a worthwhile use of your time for some amazing perfomances.
1984 Movie Reviews will return on Sept. 19 with Amadeus!
