An odd one... mostly in a good way

Even as a young lad, I knew there was something to this one, something that set it apart from your average action rental. The music score was - and is - an obvious stand out. It belongs in a better film but works wonders here, completely lifting the material at every turn. The ever-reliable Edward Albert is in great shape, as well - and given more of a character (clichéd though its predicament may be) than you would expect. The film is competently crafted from a technical standpoint, well edited and shot, the fighting an obvious standout... the climactic bout is superb; you feel every punch, and you're bound to remember it... we're talking Hard Times quality material here.

So yeah, this is a special one. It's not really the favourite I once held it as, but I'll always have a soft spot for it. The screenplay is so engagingly bonkers that you don't really mind that sometimes it doesn't make an ounce of sense (the beast, the prison escape, most characters' motivations throughout...). I know I have come to embrace it for what it is, even if I wish they'd polished it a little more, as there's some genuine potential to it.

The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false.