Black Belt Jones

Directed by Robert Clouse, Black Belt Jones follows Jim Kelly’s title character as he springs into action after a friend (Scatman Crothers’ Pop Byrd) is murdered by mafia-backed thugs. Filmmaker Clouse, working from a script by Oscar Williams’ screenplay, delivers a pervasively hit-and-miss actioner that does, at least, get off to an exceedingly strong start, as the picture kicks off with a stirring first act that’s heightened by its silly yet completely captivating opening-credits sequence – with Kelly’s appealingly less-than-subtle performance perpetuating the promising, engaging vibe. It’s disappointing to note, then, that Black Belt Jones slowly-but-surely begins to wear out its welcome as it progresses into a meandering and mostly uninvolving midsection, with the palpable lack of forward momentum generally ensuring that the movie’s myriad of fight sequences are unable to pack the exciting, engrossing punch one might’ve anticipated. (The movie just feels unreasonably thin, even by the standards of a notoriously erratic genre.) By the time the soapy, ineffective climax rolls around, Black Belt Jones has cemented its place as a distressing misfire that squanders its admittedly above-average initial stretch.

** out of ****