You don’t recruit John Steele… You unleash him! When the police needed someone to stop the Vietnamese Mafia, there was only one choice. The Vietnam War didn’t end for John Steele… it just changed locations. Martin Kove (The Karate Kid, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Cobra Kai) stars as Steele, a battle-hardened, spirit-scarred vet unable to find his niche in mainstream America. But when Southern California’s drug-running Vietnamese mafia murders his best friend, Steele finds a new war to fight – and unleashes an action-packed array of blazing firepower and deadly finesse known as Steele Justice. Written and directed by Robert Boris (Electra Glide in Blue) and featuring a top-notch cast that includes Sela Ward (The Fugitive), Ronny Cox (Robocop), Bernie Casey (I’m Gonna Git You Sucka), Soon-Tek Oh (Missing in Action 2), Peter Kwong (Big Trouble in Little China), Al Leong (Die Hard, Lethal Weapon), Jan Gan Boyd (Assassination) and Sarah Douglas (Superman II).

For thoughts on Steele Justice, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/kn1ug72VBbE?t=2277]

Video Quality

Steele Justice comes to Blu-Ray with a digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 from what appears to be an older master provided by MGM that does not look the best. The presentation is a bit inconsistent with soft long shots and weak delineation throughout. One positive note is that the release does not appear to be plagued by digital tinkering, as this transfer maintains the natural film grain of the presentation. Although, this grain can be pretty heavy and a bit loose. As mentioned, the picture occasionally showcases a soft or gauzy look, most likely due to limitations of the original source material.

Colors could be a bit more thoroughly saturated compared to what we get, and instances of print damage are a pretty consistent part of the transfer with specks and marks visible. Overall clarity and detail is passable, and skin tones are natural and consistent with subtle facial features easily noticeable in closeup. Black levels could be stronger with crush becoming an issue in some of the darker moments. This presentation from Kino Classics gets the job done, but there is room for improvement if it is ever given a new scan.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves this film well for what it is trying to accomplish. The soaring score from Misha Segal sounds great throughout the duration of the film, as it creates a heroic tone for the film. The track never seems to falter when it comes to fidelity, and it maintains a good balance with competing sounds so that dialogue comes through clearly. Environmental effects such as gunfire and the slamming of garage doors are rendered well alongside the other abrasive noises. There does not seem to be any majorly noticeable instances of age-related wear and tear. Kino Classics has provided a strong track for this one. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Star Martin Kove and Writer/Director Robert Boris provide a great commentary track moderated by Film Historian Alex Van Dyne (Manager of Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee) in which they discuss the origins of the project, the location shooting of the picture, the motivations behind the cinematography, the cast and characters, working with the reptiles, filming the action scenes and much more that is very enlightening.

Trailers: The minute-and-a-half trailer for Steele Justice is provided here. There are also trailers provided for Code Of Silence, Taffin, The Final Option, Murphy’s Law and Hard Target.

Final Thoughts

Steele Justice is quite the ‘80s action cheesefest, but it is a mostly enjoyable one if you approach it with the right attitude. Martin Kove plays a believable tough guy who eliminates various goons with relative ease. The plot is purely mechanical, and the action set pieces are nothing you have not seen done better in a similar movie. If you are only a casual fan of the genre, you are probably better off spending your time with a more notable example of this type of film. If you are simply looking for a dumb action movie to kill a couple of hours and you have seen everything else, this is another one you can add to your list. Kino Classics has brought this one to Blu-Ray with a middling A/V presentation and a nice commentary track.

Steele Justice is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.