Bullet Points: Mission of Justice

Last week “Canada’s Gift to Action Movies” Jeff Wincott celebrated his 59th birthday. While we didn’t have a new Wincott related post up for his big day I am now officially declaring today Wincott Wednesday and to celebrate this momentous occasion I will review Wincott’s 1992 film, Mission of Justice.

•  In The Beginning: Our movie begins with Kurt Harris (Jeff Wincott) and his partner Lynn Steele (Karen Shepherd) busting a girlfriend beating ne’er-do-well, what they don’t know is a confidential informant for their superior, Sgt. Duncan. Duncan lets the scum bag go and wouldn’t you know… he goes back to his girlfriend’s house and delivers a fatal beating. This sets off Kurt and he goes all “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on Duncan and punches him right in the jaw… Duncan immediately suspends him, but Harris has no effs to give and quits the force.

• When One Door Closes: Kurt visits his friend and former World Champion boxer, Cedric Williams (played by Tony Burton from Rocky fame). Cedric offers Harris a job as a martial arts instructor at his gym. But we soon find out that Cedric has some issues with Dr. Rachel K. Larkin (played by another Rocky alumnus, Brigitte Nielsen). Dr. Larkin has designs on becoming the mayor (I assume this is the first step in a big picture political career) and she’s wisely trying to get the rub from a well respected celebrity in the community like Cedric Williams. She’s also opened up a mission for wayward youth and the generally disenfranchised… the name of the mission is the Mission of Justice (DING!).  At the MOJ, martial arts training is used to teach discipline and give people direction in their lives. Those who excel at the MOJ graduate to become Peacemakers, a Guardian Angels type group that is helping up clean up the streets… this has made Dr. Larkin popular among the community who feel their police force is inadequate.

• More Than Meets The Eye: Dr. Larkin is not the savior of the city she presents herself to be. In fact, she proves to be quite evil and manipulative. She video tapes people as they share their deepest and darkest secrets so she can later blackmail them. She swindles the elderly out of their homes and life savings and if that isn’t bad enough… she kills Cedric after he tries to end their business arrangement and no longer endorses her run for mayor. When Cedric ends up dead, Kurt uses his real life issues with the police department to get on the inside of the Mission of Justice, eventually becoming a Peacemaker and hoping to find out exactly who killed Cedric and why.

Movies should be made to entertain an audience. Mission of Justice accomplishes that mission and then some. This was a quality vehicle for Jeff Wincott to star in and he had a great supporting cast around him.

Make it your mission to check out Mission of Justice! Here’s a few more Mission of Justice Bullet Points…

• Extreme Miranda Rights: At the start of the movie Kurt Harris took Miranda Rights to the extreme as he incorporated the reading of the rights along with some defenestration!
• Running the Gauntlet: One of the best scenes in the entire movie is when Kurt Harris gets to show off his stick fighting skills as he runs the gauntlet in his quest to become a Peacemaker. Wincott kicks some serious ass!

• All-Star Support Staff: Dr. Larkin is assisted by two men who are no strangers to the action entertainment genre. Playing her brother Titus Larkin is Matthias Hues of I Come In Peace and Kickboxer 2: The Road Back fame. Another of Dr. Larkin’s heavies is played by James Lew.
• The Name Game: Mission of Justice was initially conceived as the third installment of the Martial Law series. Wincott starred in Martial Law II: Undercover but played a completely different character. When Wincott’s Martial Law II co-star Cynthia Rothrock backed out of doing a sequel, the movie then became Mission of Justice.