The movie begins with rock singer Ellen Aim getting kidnapped by a motorcycle gang, and the strong, silent Tom Cody, her ex-boyfriend, being recruited to rescue her. He’s joined by the streetwise mercenary McCoy and Aim’s manager, an arrogant, snobbish type who acts above it all.
Between them, Cody and McCoy are able to rescue Ellen, but that’s just the start of the drama. Cody has made an enemy of the gang’s leader, Raven, who views to get revenge. Besides that, seeing Ellen again stokes the fires of old emotions, even if Cody’s stoic personality refuses to let him acknowledge them.
It’s not a complicated story. On the contrary, it’s simple, straightforward, and raw. What makes it work well are the aesthetics; a pitch-perfect blend of ’80s punk with ’50s rock-n’-roll. It’s unique, compelling, and effective. Rich, without being overwrought. Bold, without being pretentious.
Amy Madigan almost steals the show as McCoy. The character could so easily be a walking cliché, but Madigan manages to make her feel genuine. She has a very expressive face that communicates toughness but with a hint of deep emotion behind it. And we don’t need to know her whole backstory; the play of feelings in her eyes tells us all we need to know. She’s scrappy and hard-nosed, but in a way that seems earned, and not like she’s just there to be the perfunctory Strong Woman™.
Now, that is not to say this is a great movie. It’s not a great movie, and it wasn’t trying to be. And therein lies its strength: it has no grand ambitions; it’s just trying to tell a good story in an interesting way. A mood piece.
The only major problem I had with this movie was that it uses a common trope that I hate: which is the idea that you punch somebody’s lights out and they will be unconscious for a bit, but otherwise fine. This happens all the time in fiction, and it’s stupid. A fist to the head is not a precision instrument, and it can do serious damage.
But, since the ethos of this film is that of a comic book—back before “comic book movie” became shorthand for a CGI-heavy installment in an interminable franchise of capes and spandex—I guess a bit of unreality is allowable. I dunno.
Apart from that, it’s a pretty enjoyable flick. I’m not sure how I never heard of it until recently. Apparently, it was a box office failure. Which, ironically, is probably a good thing, because if it had been a success, it would have spawned a Tom Cody Cinematic Universe, which would inevitably have become stupid. They actually did make a spiritual sequel, Road to Hell, but despite the fact that I enjoyed Streets of Fire, my interest in seeing it is exactly zero. 🎶 “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away…”🎶
Like empires, movie franchises are doomed to become victims of their own success sooner or later. Better to make a one-off that fails with the moviegoing public but finds a second life as a cult hit.