Back in Action (1994 film)

Production

The project began as a vehicle for Canadian actor-producer Jalal Merhi, intended as a sequel to his 1992 film Talons of the Eagle and to reunite the stars of his 1993 film TC 2000: Billy Blanks, Bobbie Phillips, and Merhi himself. However, Merhi's U.S. distributor and financier Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment became reluctant to work with him, and after legal wranglings, Merhi was squeezed out and replaced by Roddy Piper, while Blanks and Phillips remained.

SGE signed George Flak's Performance Pictures as production partner, and Karl Schiffman rewrote the script from scratch in two weeks based on a stock buddy movie template. Filming took place in the Toronto area from July 5 to August 13, 1993. Steve DiMarco was originally sole director but was fired partway through the shoot and replaced by Paul Ziller.

Reception

Back in Action received mixed reviews. Rob Salem of The Toronto Star was most positive, calling it an exception to the rule that low-budget Toronto action films lack quality, finding it superior to Merhi's TC 2000, and judging it inventively directed and often explosive, with Piper and Blanks making a good team. The BBC's Radio Times called it an incredibly brutal film with a shoot-out or bone-breaking fight every ten minutes, noting it does not take itself seriously and should please action fans. Hal Erickson of AllMovie wrote that after the usual palaver, Piper and Blanks combine their self-defense skills to kick butt, calling it fun though not Hamlet.

Joe Kane of VideoScope deemed it a nearly nonstop series of shoot-outs, chases, and punch-ups that grow too repetitious even for diehard action hounds, and felt it would have benefited from more brain. Mike Mayo of The Roanoke Times and VideoHound called it a standard-issue buddy picture with cliched fight choreography but some scenes where Piper cuts loose with Wrestlemania craziness. Sight & Sound assessed it as a by-numbers action vehicle. TV Guide did not find it a meaningful improvement over Blanks' Merhi-produced films, calling it a disposable direct-to-video action bloodbath.

Did You Know?

• A direct sequel was nearly produced, but SGE instead commissioned the spiritual successor Tough and Deadly.