Only the Strong

PG-13

1993

1h 36m

Drama

List

13%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

77%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Louis Stevens' (Mark Dacascos) service as a member of an elite military unit kept him out of the country for several years. Now that he's back home in Florida, he's dismayed at what's become of his old high school. He sees that drug dealers, dispatched by local overlord Silverio (Paco Christian Prieto), sell on school grounds with little fear of getting caught. A skilled martial artist, Louis is determined to end the drug peddling, but to do so he'll probably have to duke it out with Silverio.

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Steve Rhodes

Chicago Tribune

The cinematography is jarring and dizzying at times; the acting mediocre.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 17, 2014

Full Review

Brian Lowry

Variety

Only the simple-minded will find much to cheer in this martial arts actioner, which has the queasy feel of a movie slapped together by the marketing department.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Brian Case

Time Out

A paean to the Brazilian martial art of capoeira harks back to those break-dancing quickies.

Jan 26, 2006

Full Review

Justin Brown

Medium Popcorn

Mark Dacascos did the work in this. Capoeira is not easy and I think the movie did a good job representing this fighting style. I greatly enjoyed this movie.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 26, 2023

Full Review

Brandon Collins

Medium Popcorn

This film is so out of control yet incredibly boring and uninteresting. The acting was either stiff as wood or absurdly over the top.

Rated: 1/5

Feb 26, 2023

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

It wraps up neatly with a touch of silliness, but, ultimately, as an action-packed demonstration of capoeira, this film is wholly proficient.

Rated: 6/10

Sep 21, 2020

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Luke W

As a kid, I owned the soundtrack and wanted to move to Brazil just to learn Capoeira. I can't wait until my kids are old enough to watch it with me. I still know every song and can recite most of the script word for word. Even to this day, when I need to make a U-turn, I say, "Make a u-turn!" in my best Jamaican accent, and my wife laughs every time. True fans will understand!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

Audience Member

This martial arts crime drama from 1993 with bad acting, typical main character with a trouble childhood who visit his old town or neighborhood after coming from the army or reforms school to save the day with drug dealers, money laundering or even prostitution and order to change that you know he begins a monitor with teenagers and of course they start to better who they are and even begun better a people, They are three cons and three pros of this movie: first pros: 1) Great Score 2) Beautiful Location 3) Choreography Is surprisingly with the dance plus like they use it for kicking butt and cons: 1) Bad Acting 2) The Bad Guy seems more annoying then threatening in the whole movie. 3) Most of the teenagers you can see is obviously in their 20s but guess since works since they are seniors. All in all not a bad movie in the early 90s but am give a C- 👍🏽 definitely worth a watch at least once.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/24

Full Review

Dappa D

187 meets Cobra Kai. Pretty bland but has an excellent soundtrack.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/30/23

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Steve D

Passable entertainment but not much more.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

RONALD M

¡La sexta de las mejores películas de mi vida! ¡La mejor película de Mark Dacascos! ¡La mejor aparición de Stacey Travis! :)

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/01/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Classic martial arts movie from 90...Paranaue!Yes, it's epic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

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Sheldon Lettich

Director

Mark Dacascos

Louis Stevens

Stacey Travis

Dianna

Geoffrey Lewis

Kerrigan

Paco Christian Prieto

Silverio

Todd Susman

Cochran

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Synopsis

Louis Stevens' (Mark Dacascos) service as a member of an elite military unit kept him out of the country for several years. Now that he's back home in Florida, he's dismayed at what's become of his old high school. He sees that drug dealers, dispatched by local overlord Silverio (Paco Christian Prieto), sell on school grounds with little fear of getting caught. A skilled martial artist, Louis is determined to end the drug peddling, but to do so he'll probably have to duke it out with Silverio.

Director: Sheldon Lettich
Production Co: Davis Films
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.9M
Runtime: 1h 36m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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