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Do Or Die line-up
(L - R): Carolyn Liu, Dona Speir, Roberta Vasquez,
Cynthia Brimhall, and Ava Cadell

 
  		May 2003                                                         SITE MAP   SEARCH
Do Or Die
 cast: Erik Estrada, Dona Speir, Pat Morita, Roberta Vasquez, and Cynthia Brimhall

writer and director: Andy Sidaris

98 minutes (R) 1991
Malibu Bay / Ventura DVD Region 0 retail

RATING: 7/10
 reviewed by Ian Shutter
Here we go again. Ex-USAF colonel Richard Estevez (Erik Estrada, who played a villain in Sidaris' previous Guns) is drafted into the US Secret Service and joins favourite high-flying federal agents, Donna Hamilton (indomitable blonde, Dona Speir) and Nicole Justin (slinky brunette, Roberta Vasquez) to foil the nefarious assassination plot of vengeful gambler Kane (yes, that really is Pat Morita of The Karate Kid fame!), a James Bond styled villain who threatens to murder our heroines for their past interference in his criminal schemes. To this end, the dastardly Kane hires six teams of hitmen (and/or women), each with their own devious modus operandi, to dispose of the glamorous law-enforcers in suitably violent fashion.
   However, old boss Kane has a rethink coming, because these lethal ladies are hard targets who certainly won't die easy, and Kane's inscrutable calm gets tested to its limits as first one squad of killers, then the next and the one after that, fail in their mission. But you knew that would happen, right? I mean, Donna is a sexy spy who does her best thinking in the Jacuzzi and has several new weapons to try out on hapless henchmen, while nothing bad will ever happen to Nicole whatever the villains throw at her because she's the too-beautiful-to-die co-star.
   From the bright fun of the children's hospital fundraiser party to the appealing scenery of a Louisiana camping lodge, the glossy action of Do Or Die (aka: Girls, Games And Guns) takes in seaplanes, speedboats, jet-skis, a helicopter attack on a jeep, a showdown against deadly ninjas, and poisoned catfish that kills a bayou eatery's pet cat. This film was the intro for Carolyn Liu, here playing double agent Silk and, if she wasn't quite enough to ogle, there's also curvy redhead Cynthia Brimhall as part-time lounge singer and ace trouble-shooter Edy Stark, and Ava Cadell playing a hit-woman (in the Sybil Danning manner) who really knows how to dress up for the role.
   Not to outdone by the Bond movies' eccentric Q branch of unlikely weaponry, Do Or Die showcases an anti-aircraft missile fired from a walking stick and later pitches a grenade disguised as baseball in a backwoods encounter with one of the assassins. Score one more for glambo. Game over for the bad guys!
   The smartly packaged DVD has unrated extras including intro by the director, accompanied by the irrepressible Julie Strain, a featurette on locations, another behind-the-scenes Sidaris' film school class, interviews, stills gallery, collectable booklet, trailers for the whole Sidaris collection, and another trivia-packed audio commentary from the director and his producer/wife Arlene Sidaris.
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