The Story: Chuck Norris plays Walker, Texas Ranger,...I mean Dan Stevens, Texas sheriff, who's small town is disturbed by a madman. Not just a madman, but psycho, nutjob who has undergone experiments at the local hospital that have tuned him into a genetic freak, capable of being virtually indestructible. Dan has a little romance sparked with an old love, who just so happens to be the sister of one of the scientists (Ron Silver) responsible for the freak, and he also must baby-sit his new rookie deputy (Stephen- the fat guy in Animal House and Up the Creek Furst), who is so incompetent he nearly blows Dans head off his first day on the job.

The Film: Psycho, nutjob, genetic freak goes missing, and returns bloodied and shot to the hospital doctors, who know he is a psychopath. The following is the exchange the doctors have-

Doc One: "What if he killed somebody?"

Doc Two: "Don't be ridiculous." (What, as if the psycho, nutjob, genetic freak didn't already kill some people???)

Doc One: "Those are bullets in his chest."

Doc Two: "So what? That doesn't mean he killed anyone, just that someone tried to kill him."

Obviously men capable of genius.

Silent Rage can best be described as Walker Texas Ranger meets Frankenstien. It is just as stupid as the comparison implies, and is sort of entertaining in a bad 80's action movie kind of way. As ridiculous as the concept is, it is also actually one of the films stronger suits. Actionwise, it really doesn't have much going for it. The opening scuffle between the psycho, nutjob, genetic freak and Chuck resembles a bad schoolyard fight with the two men rolling around on the ground awkwardly. Aside from the finale (in which various methods are used, from shooting to dropping the freak from a building, running him over, blowing him up, making him resemble Wile E Coyote), the only other time Chuck fights is in an obligatory fight sequence with a bar full of bikers, and it is moderately okay. The writing is baffling, pretty much Chuck and the psycho, nutjob, genetic freak only meet at the beginning and at the end, so they had to pad the rest of the film with stuff like the bikers causing trouble, the doctors fussing over the moral implications of their experiment, Chuck romancing his old flame, and the antics of Chucks bumbling deputy, example: when told to radio for help at the biker bar, the deputy gets on the radio and begins talking about the breasts of one of the biker sluts, and in which is no doubt one of the worst things I've ever witnessed on film, the deputy stares into a mirror and acts out the "You talkin' to me?" scene from Taxi Driver.

I know he has his fare share of fans, but like most kids, when I was in the first grade I once made a puppet out of a paper sandwich bag,... and that puppet was a better actor than Chuck Norris. How this man walked across the cinema screens as a moderately successful action star is beyond me, but, then again, most people in America during the 80's had no idea about the martial arts films that Jackie Chan and the like were making so I guess thats why. Well, to be fair, I am spoiled by being a fan of the superior martial talents and acting skills of such stars as Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen ,and Gordon Liu. Norris has an audience, and that audience probably already knows Silent Rage is one of his lesser films, somewhere behind the fun action of Delta Force, Invasion USA and Code of Silence. But, for me, Silent Rage made me imagine a Hell where I was either forced to watch the dimwit deputy's Taxi Driver routine, or I was the guy who had to shave Chuck's back before his icky love scene.

The DVD:Columbia/Tristar Studios presents a pretty barebones transfer, that will no doubt please you if you are a Norris fan. So for that reason I give it a "Recommended", but those unfamiliar with his work may want to give this half amusing/half boring, b-turkey a rent before paying your hard earned money for it. Picture- When one considers that Silent Rage is by no means Citizen Kane, its transfer is about as good as one expects. Sure its a little worn and the print shows some contrast problems and graying blacks, maybe a little too soft in certain spots, overall, its a pretty good picture for a low budget action movie with good color and sharpness that fans will no doubt find more than acceptable. Its a flipper too, with anamorphically enhanced Fullscreen or Widescreen versions, depending on which side you choose. Sound- Plain, but fine Dolby Digital Stereo, English and French audio, with optional English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai subtitles. In addition tpo the whopping number of sub options, the film is also Close Captioned. Extras- 28 Chapters- Trailers for Bad Boys, Desperado, and The Professional