Damian Chapa Movies
Steely, intense actor Damian Chapa built a formidable career tackling tough-guy roles, usually thugs and heavies, in such action outings as Under Siege (1992), Street Fighter (1994), U.S. Seals 2 (1999), and Hell's Gate (2001). Chapa took his initial bow as a writer/director/actor with 2002's offbeat, all-star religious drama Man of Faith -- a biopic of real-life celebrity preacher Leroy Jenkins (Chapa). Yet the filmmaker soon unveiled his greatest flair for scripting, helming, and occasionally producing ambitious action-flavored opuses, not entirely dissimilar from the material in which he had originally cultivated his reputation as an actor-for-hire. His El Padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004) cross-sectioned the world of the Latin mafia with the help of an all-star cast, while a follow-up, I.R.A.: King of Nothing (2006), did the same for the Irish Republican Army. Chapa next helmed the direct-to-video Mexican American (2007), in which he played a washed up prize fighter who dons a formidable arsenal of weaponry to rescue his daughter from a cracked religious cult. In the same year's Fuego (which Chapa again scripted and directed), the multihyphenate played a Mexican ex-con appointed to bring home an ambassador's daughter who has fallen prey to a psychotically violent terrorist cell. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide- 1994
Sex and death are the main themes running through this thriller. Matt Dickson is a former hockey player turned L.A. cop. Since his wife left him he has become a hard-drinking carouser. Dickson is on the trail of Welton, a psychotic boxer, using the names of famous fighters for his aliases has left a grisly trail of dead women found in cheap motels throughout the city. He is assisted by Catherine Briggs, a journalist, who helps him see the connection between these murders and similar ones in the past. But Catherine is not only there to help Dickson. She is also there because of a recent one-nighter Dickson had with her sister. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Madsen, Lisa Bonet, (more)
Taylor Hackford directed this urgent melodrama about the realities of street crime, gangs, and prison life among the Chicanos of East Los Angeles. Miklo (Damian Chapa), Paco (Benjamin Bratt) and Cruz (Jesse Borrego) are three friends who are living in the East Los Angeles of 1972 as it is torn apart by violence. When the gang violence hits the three friends, they are affected by their participation in the bitter violence in different ways. Cruz, an artist, becomes crippled, and he sinks deeply into drug addiction. Paco, an accessory to murder, joins the military to avoid jail time, leading to a spot on the LAPD. Miklo, the kid with the gun, is sent to jail, where he slowly rises up in the ranks of La Onda, the San Quentin Latino gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Damian Chapa, Jesse Borrego, (more)
Andrew Davis directed this exciting thriller starring Steven Seagal, sans ponytail, and featuring electric, over-the-top performances by Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones. This action saga takes place on the battleship USS Missouri, about to be decommissioned from service after a visit from George Bush. When Bush departs the vessel, a band of terrorists overcome the remaining skeleton crew and take over the ship, under the ruse of holding a surprise birthday party for the ship's commander, Captain Adams (Patrick O'Neal). The band is led by Strannix (Jones), a disgruntled ex-CIA operative, and his right-hand man, the psychotic Krill (Busey). The terrorists plan to steal the ship's store of nuclear warheads, transfer them to a stolen North Korean submarine, and sell them to a Middle Eastern country. Unfortunately for Strannix, he has overlooked the ship's cook, Casey Ryback (Seagal). Ryback is a much-honored Navy SEAL who, because of a minor scandal, is quietly completing his twenty-year tour in the galley of the Missouri. Forced into action, Ryback, along with the woman who jumped out of Captain Adams' birthday cake (Erika Eleniak), knocks off the bad guys one-by-one while crawling inside the bowels of the ship. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones, (more)
