Syp

Prey of the Jaguar (1996) — Rex Manning is a superhero!

“My father’s heart exploded because of what you did!”

Justin’s rating: It does seem that this is a grossly missed opportunity to do some product placement with a luxury car brand, but nothing doing.

Justin’s review: Prey of the Jaguar is a ’90s movie that nobody saw in the ’90s, thanks to it being held back to a video release in 2007 — years after one of its principal stars had passed away. I’m not going to pretend that this is some sort of lost masterpiece, but if it had come out in 1996, it might’ve become a solid rental fave that straddled the line between action, martial arts, and ’90s superhero aesthetics.

Then again, maybe the world wasn’t ready for Stacey Keach in a ponytail. I know I wasn’t in 2026.

A sinister drug lord named Damian Bandera (Trevor Goddard, Deep Rising) escapes from prison and enacts some vengeance on special agent Derek (Maxwell Caulfield, Empire Records) by killing his wife. And their unborn daughter. And their son. And they make an unholy mess of the place that’ll probably take a few weeks of expensive renovations.

I know that sounds excessive, but this sort of over-the-top motivation is the only thing that can explains why Derek’s mind snaps and he decides to become a superhero. You see, his son was big into comic book heroes, and, well, this is the form that Derek’s grief takes.

Derek uses his kid’s drawings to whip up a costume, becoming THE JAGUAR. Hey, it’s better than Pumaman in the pantheon of cat-related superheroes. He grabs some night-vision goggles, orders some gadgets from an old pal, and endures a montage or two to become a martial arts master.

The latter is important, as pretty much everyone he’s fighting is all-in on kung fu. Sure, there are guns here and there, but you can tell that nobody’s that keen on using them. Kind of like me looking at chopsticks in a Chinese restaurant and then grabbing a fork anyway.

What struck me within a few scenes of this movie was how generally well-made this is. I’ve seen a lot of B-movie martial arts slop, but Prey of the Jaguar is a cut above the usual. The actors are engaging and believable (The Exorcist’s Linda Blair has a fun turn as a good cop in suspenders), the pacing tight, and the direction is spot-on. That’s why this is far more believable as a story even with such over-the-top elements.

What holds it back is that the action is merely decent and not particularly spectacular. I do wish they hadn’t relied on excessive cuts for pretty much every fight and stunt, as that decreases the audience’s trust.

In any case, this is a pretty standard revenge story where the only twist is that our hero wears a costume which doesn’t disguise his face unless he uses the goggles, so it comes off as more of a tribute to his kid than a guy genuinely becoming a superhero.

What was a little odd is that Jaguar is dedicated to non-lethal violence, even though everyone’s been absolutely lethal toward him and his family. Shooting people with tranq darts that have little poofy ends on them doesn’t have the oomph of the Punisher cleaning house with a combat shotgun.

After the first half-hour of setup, I genuinely wanted to see Jaguarek (Dereguar?) absolutely wipe out Kano and all his smug pals. He’s Batman on a budget, which I’m pretty sure was the whole elevator pitch for this film. Caulfield and Goddard both give this their all from both ends of the moral spectrum, and that helps to make the viewer care.

With competent direction and a core of good actors, Prey of the Jaguar is a nice catch for the discerning B-movie fan looking for an entertaining 90 minutes of a superhero forgotten to the annals of history.

Intermission!

  • “If you woke me up for nothing, I’ll kill you.” Big talk from a prisoner
  • This movie was doing the silhouette thing long before those iPod ads. They just needed more MP3 players and fewer katanas.
  • I swear this opening credits sequence is about 18 minutes long
  • Dude that mustache does you no favors Max
  • Stacy Keach with a ponytail and giant glasses! My mind reels!
  • His partner is quitting because she loves this slovenly lump of a man… GOTCHA. I love it.
  • Martial arts are always cooler when you’re doing them in a trenchcoat
  • That’s one life-saving wine flask
  • She got a chunky cell phone as a birthday present: “Welcome to the ’90s, partner!”
  • The cops have no problem letting you hang out in your blood-splattered home crime scene
  • Any shop with a secret door is a fun shop indeed!
  • Infragreen is better than infrared
  • Punching bags are great for hugging when you’re sad
  • DOT MATRIX PRINTER ALERT! Make sure you tear off those side strips, people!
  • “He better learn to pray! Because he is!” “What?” “PREY.”
  • Chunky cell phone #2! What a time to be alive.
  • One-shot crossbows seem like a poor choice against people with guns, but I’m not a crime fighter
  • Haha he steals the bad guys’ money to pay for his stuff. What a hero!
  • Oh hey, mild racist caricatures. Way to class up your film.
  • He took down the drug trade 40% in a single week? Do they release those statistics on a weekly basis?
  • There are so many uzis in this film. I haven’t seen a good uzi since the ’90s, come to think of it.

Leave a Reply