This is the perfect example of when art draws in a viewer. I fancied some trash and happened upon Angel of Destruction, an action thriller from the 90’s that I was not familiar with in the slightest. I’m appalled at myself for have such a good time with it.

When a sudden act of violence sees a young ass kicking private detective murdered this provides her sister with the motivation to pursue the Angel of Destruction, a nasty serial killer. Maria Ford and her partner (a dead ringer for John Steiner) track down… ummm… Mr Destruction with the help of a rock star and a little exotic dancing. Ford’s backstory becomes important as we find she had to support herself as a youth stripping in clubs before getting it together and becoming a police detective as she would later have to recall the skills of her former career to ensnare Mr Destruction.



Direct to Video action movies are usually more miss than hit but here the film does quite well. I did not recognise the actress portraying the private detective in the opening act and her death came as a bit of a shock. Mr Destruction was pretty interesting and there were some fun action sequences initially, including a wacky high fall out of a high rise building, this set me up for a beer and a giggle. Certainly not on the level of, say, PM Entertainment but there are enough scuffles to keep the film entertaining. It’s a slippery slope as the action scenes and explosions toward the climax in particular are poorly handled as they increase in size.



I’m going to flag this paragraph as a spoiler, however, the plot details are established quite early in the film. Ready? Mr Destruction doesn’t have a particularly exciting backstory, merely a disgruntled mercenary with a weak agenda. Our heroic cops track him down as he evades them in a continual game of cat and mouse. The film has connections to Blackbelt (1992), made a couple of years earlier and adopts a commendable change, swapping Don Wilson for a sexy, ass kicking lady, a modification many movies would benefit from.



It has to be said that the film does enjoy Maria Ford in the lead, giving the audience several moments of nudity, even during the action. Ford isn’t the most engaging lead here, yet is decent enough to keep it watchable, it’s her flexibility in the action scenes that keeps this flying along. Ford had a short stay as a leading lady though a few erotic thrillers of this level and continued with a long a varied career as a recognisable character actor on TV shows and movies alongside late night steamy romps.



Whilst the film is set in Honolulu I’m guessing that as a cost cutting measure the production was shot in the Philippines and likely helps the production, like so many cheap films made in the 80’s and early 90’s. The adult side of the movie adds an extra level of interest to the movie. That late night cable titillation slips in, and livens things up a little more. Ford is the obvious focus of the nudity and she provides quite a bit of skin, particularly during one action sequences where she foils a home invasion wearing only a thong, a ratings stealer!



Part of the background plot involves a rock star’s life being threatened and the film features a couple of in-film music videos as there are being filmed. These sequences are quite inappropriate for MTV and VH1 back in the day, perhaps there was a cable channel for 18 rated music videos in the US, certainly wasn’t in the UK. I have to admit that the first number, something about chains, was a pretty good song and I’ll be tracking it down in the next while.
Director Charles Philip Moore is responsible for Demon Wind, the Evil Dead rip off from 1990. He wrote several direct to video action films in the 90’s alongside directing a handful, including the aforementioned Blackbelt. It took me a bit of time to remember, but Firecracker has quite a similar approach as Angel of Destruction with an ass-kicking, scantily clad, leading female, oddly directed by Producer Cirio Santiago… hummm… Angelfist too.



IMDB suggests some of the footage in Angel of Destruction is reused from Santiago’s Silk 2 (1989) and just like that, the Silk franchise has rocketed up my “to watch” list, before I am unable to recognise what might be ported over. Maria Ford features quite heavily in the action sequences here and watching the trailer for Silk 2, there doesn’t see to be anything too obvious.



I put on Angel of Destruction hoping, once again, to find something terrible to laugh at. It’s not, it’s quite competent and with a little more money it could have been a pretty slick production. I think I am pretty much alone in enjoying Angel of Destruction, however, it’s not art, it’s not thrilling, it’s just a terrific blast for 90 minutes when you need undemanding crap, pretty ladies and nasty villain to make your beer taste better!

When it comes to releases, the are few and far between. The US got a couple and Amazon has a listing for import links for the Maria Ford Collection release on DVD, however, this is showing as unavailable.
Ebay as a couple of listing for expensive VHS options, and that would probably be a terrific way to experience this if you have too much money.
If you have to see it? It’s on YouTube at the time of writing.