Firewalker (1986)

Fun and amusing comedy about a pair of down-and-out fortune hunters cash in on high adventure . As a duo of adventurers , Max Donigan (Chuck Norris) along with his friend Leo (Louis Gosset Jr) set off on a treasure hunt . Both of whom are hired by a gorgeous girl called Patricia (Melody Anderson of Flash Gordon , whose hair perfectly intact throughout) . The girl and mercenaries set out in search for a treasure she's imagined exists . Along the way the way , they kill Native Americans attempting to protect sacred Indian grounds . The trio confront risks , dangers and other obstacles until achieve their objective . All of them try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/ Apache horde of gold as they end up in a Mayan temple of Doom besieged by Coyote (Sonny Landham) .

This is an average quality film plenty of adventures , brawls , fun scenes , a few bar fights , humor with tongue in cheek , fantasy and results to be amusing ; however , some moments being boring . Chuck Norris character is a blending between known Indiana Jones and his popular role as a tough , two-fisted man and fellow mercenary played Louis Gosset -not too distant Oscar winner for ¨An official and a gentleman¨- is very well . Both of them have great chemical as a duo of soldiers-of-wacky misfortune who take several dangers that are able to overcome with ease . In a hand , if you enjoy funny stories and have a soft spot for attractive characters and scenarios, you are in for a great one ; in other hand if you don't like Norris kicks , silly humor and bemusing situations , then this one will not be for you and get bored . Passable production , medium budget by Cannon films , Menahem Golan-Yoram Globus , and poorly realized . Producers left room for sequel but as a box office failure was never carried out . This is Aaron Norris' , Chuck Norris' brother, last film as a stunt coordinator , he began his career as a director with his next film, his brother's Braddock: Missing in action 3 (1988) . Anti-climatic musical score by Gary Chang , being composed by means of synthesizer . Atmospheric though dark cinematography by Alex Phillips filmed on location in Durango , Morelos, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico Torreón, Coahuíla, and Churubasco Distrito Federal , Mexico .

The fare was regularly directed by J. Lee Thomson . He previously had a nice track record in the English cinema from 1950 until 1961 , directing good Western ( McKenna's gold , White Buffalo) and all king genres as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (Flame over India ,Kings of the sun, Taras Bulba , Tiger Bay) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun , Chairman , The passage). His two biggest successes turn out to be ¨Guns of Navarone¨and ¨Cape Fear¨. Thereafter , the filmmaker's career subsided in a morass of slickly realized but middling films. He moved into the field of international spectaculars , at which point his filmmaking seemed to lose its individuality . J. Lee Thomson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Caboblanco, Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Firewalker rating : Mediocre , but it will appeal to Chuck Norris fans .

Fmovies: No matter how bad a movie may be to most people someone is going to like it, and I like this one. Not the greatest film ever made by a long shot, for me it has a certain charm to it. I think Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jr both do great jobs and work well and complement each other. The story has them going after a bunch of gold. Along the way they run into many obstacles. This movie for me has a nice combination of action and humor, and it is definitely more fun if you don't take it too seriously. Despite the fact it is rated so low though I saw it is worth a look...but you may want to read the other reviews here first.

Max Donigan and his partner Leo Porter are two soldiers of fortune. Leo is thinking of calling it quits, but when a young lady, Patricia comes by with a map and asks for their help of finding a lost treasure. They take up the task with adventurous results and must face El Coyote, a descendant of Indian priests.

What a team! Chuck Norris, Lou Gossett and Melody Anderson gave this buddy flick much-added spark with their cheerful banter and charismatic persona. "Firewalker" does go for that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" appeal, but only in small doses and in a very cheap foray. The comic book premise is outrageously silly and pure corn, but it's an eventful ride with spontaneous actions making it unpredictable and the mockery was a nice touch. It even walks a fine line between the supernatural / superstitious elements. There's not doubt it's quite childish, far-fetched and it might not be a successful blend, but director J Lee Thompson makes great use of the fiery performances, easy-going script (even though it will make you roll your eyes for most part) and stunning locations, which kept me involved. It took a while before Norris released those infamous skills he bestows, but when in the flow. Watch the damage occur! As Norris is on the job. Gossett chips in with nice array of wisecracks and the two formed a great, side-splitting and believable team. Anderson simply radiates in her quirky role. Sonny Landham makes one hammy villain with a hokey evil laugh. At best these are cartoonish characters with a lot of charm and a growing appeal.

It maybe wasn't as fun as I remembered it to be when I saw it ages ago, but it's a enjoyably lightweight and unpretentious romp with Norris kicking in with his slow motion jump kicks. Oh yeah!

Firewalker fmovies. I just got a kick out of the Firewalker movie. I enjoyed the comedy very much as well as Chuck Norris's fights. I also enjoyed the roles played by Louis Gossett, Jr. and Melody Anderson. The adventures of those three were very impressive as well as the variety of rolls played by them. I also got a kick out of the rolls played by Will Sampson as well as John Rhys-Davies. I enjoyed Chuck Norris's role in that movie much more than some of the very serious roles that he has played in many other movies. I purchased that movie on a DVD a relatively short time ago and have enjoyed it so much that I've watched it many times. I also have a couple of Chuck Norris's other movies on DVDs but did not enjoy them nearly as much as Firewalker.

"Firewalker" is more than a bit of a mess. Like most movies from the Cannon studio, it's not low budget enough to dip into Ed Wood land, but not well done enough to rise to a major studio production. The sets are cheap and the story is not much more than a vaguely connected series of scenes referencing better films--but I think the filmmakers were well aware of these and other shortcomings and set a self effacing, tongue in cheek tone from the start. Though as sloppy and slapdash as most of director J. Lee Thompson's other 80's efforts, "Firewalker" shows Thompson turning these attributes to his advantage and giving us a breezy, goofy, self-aware-yet-totally-clueless, low budget pop culture gem. I don't think anyone was under the impression that they were making the next "Raiders of the Lost Ark," they just wanted to give us some old fashioned fun. I mean, an Academy Award winner costarring with CHUCK NORRIS? How could it not be great in its own way? And while we're on the subject, this is one of the few films where you couldn't call Norris "Old Stone Face." In this film Chuck gives one of his liveliest, most natural performances ever--almost charming. Too bad he didn't work with Thompson more often.

I have to say that I thought "Firewalker" was one of Chuck Norris's best films. I know many don't agree with me on that, especially my movie critic partner, Bryan, but truly, if you look past the cheesiness at some times, the movie was quite entertaining. It's actually one of my favorites too. I guess I could never explain thoroughly as to why I think that it's a great movie, but maybe being a Chuck Norris fan is one. The movie is no longer in print, so the only way to see it, is by renting it at a movie store. I actually got lucky enough to find a copy of it at Best Buy about 4 years ago. If you haven't yet seen it, I suggest renting it and seeing for yourself.