Miami Connection (1988) Review

Holy...wow. This movie. If anyone has ever been to a Trash Film Orgy and loved it, this is the film for you. Being a fan of “so-bad-it’s-good” movies myself, I was immediately tempted to watch I after seeing RedLetterMedia’s review for it. Within an 87 minute run-time, I enjoyed myself so much that I laughed harder than I had in a long time. It’s a film that, at its core, is about friendship for eternity, loyalty, honesty, and sticking together through thick or thin…as the film’s rock band Dragon Sound so eloquently sings.

The film's story boils down to this: A group of college students who are black belts in karate and play in a band called Dragon Sound get hired to play at a local night club in Orlando. The girl in the band is dating the bass player, and she is the sister of a gang leader. Her brother the gang leader, his ninja friend gang leader, and a band that Dragon Sound replaced at the club are all out to kill them. What transpires is nothing short of "WTF".

It was originally released in 1988 to terrible reviews and even worse box office returns. It was released in only eight theaters in Central Florida and ran for three weeks. In recent years, it has become somewhat of a legend, a cult classic, much like "The Room" or Troll 2" before it. Twenty-five years later, an employee at a cinema in Texas bid on this film for $50 on eBay and won. The film was re-released by Drafthouse Films, the distribution division of the theater, and is even now for sale on Blu-Ray. Another reason this film has garnered such recent success is the amount of positive feedback from midnight showings, bad movies festivals, and social media. The film is directed, written, produced, and starring inspirational speaker and Kung-fu master Y.K. Kim.

I was introduced to this film because of Redlettermedia's Best of the Worst series that I mentioned in the previous review. I had some limited knowledge of the plot and knew some of the funny parts. My wife did not, so half the reason I watched it was to see her reactions. What I found great was how surprised I was on how many of the funny bits that RLM left out, which made my viewing all the better. When we were watching the movie, we felt like we were in the middle of a war-zone due to people setting off fireworks for the 4th. That and our puppy Ernie has a habit of barking to get our older dog to play with him when we are watching anything. My wife and I always give our commentary to each other when watching something we know will be bad, so that makes it all the more fun. We love to make each other laugh.

I think the film has no short comings. I mean, obviously it has HUGE flaws in every way imaginable. From it's cheesy synth rock music, to it's horrendous acting, unexpected edits, and its weird tonal shifts. Miami Connection succeeds on a schlock level of epicness that rivals the best-worst movies ever made.

I went into it expecting a somewhat funny movie because I knew some of the funny bits, but I ended up loving it more than I expected because I hadn't seen all of them before. This film, unlike most bad films, has a heart. Deep beneath the awful dialogue, clunky edits, terrible acting, pointless eating scenes, ninjas, mullets, short jean shorts, taekwondo, biker gangs, 40 year-old actors playing college students, etc., it's a film about friendship and sticking up against those who seek to put you down. It's the kind of film you watch with a group of friends and laugh.