The Ultimate Badass- Tom Cody

The definition of badassery. Here ya go: Tom Cody

Start out with cool intro text to your movie Streets of Fire: “A Rock n’ Roll Fable. Another time, another place.

Check

Have a cool intro soundtrack: when you make your arrival on scene? Yep, and guitar god Ry Cooder is playing guitar to boot.

Check.

Start out the movie kicking the crap out of some outclassed punks and then slap some dude with a knife (ala; Ike Turner) and after you’re done, take the knife out of his hands, give it back to him and do it all over again?

Check.

Have more awesomeness then a Honey Badger? Yes I said it, this dude can kick more ass then the awesome Honey Badger and Chuck Norris… combined.

Check.

Suffice to say, the awesome badassery that is Tom Cody is barely contained in the movie that is Streets of Fire, perhaps the best movie of all time, certainly the 80s.  The ass kicking’s that Tom delivers are many and varied. And here is an anti-hero that I can actually root for. Why is that?? Because unlike most anti-heroes he’s not contrary just for the sake of being contrary, you know defying the “man” to let the viewer know how “bad” they are?

After arriving on a subway in a trench coat (which unlike the uber dorks at the Local Gaming Store he can actually pull off), he wastes no time trashing the Roadmasters when they start threatening his sister (See above). As mentioned, the knife part is sure cinema epicness and the fight that ensues of busting skulls with a hat rack is full of win. Just to show them how hard he is, he throws them out the front window for good measure and hijacks their sweet ride.

The whole crux of the situation is that he is to get Ellen Aim (played by the 20 year old Diane Lane) back from being kidnapped by Raven and the gang the Bombers. The equally cool Willem Dafoe plays Raven. Being that Ellen is Tom’s old flame,  Tom’s sister writes to him thus setting the events of the movie in motion. He agrees to meet with Ellen’s lame promoter/manager/sort of boyfriend Billy Fish (Rick Moranis) sensing his meal ticket has gone south of cheese  who decides to front 10k to get her back. Tom agrees.

Before heading off to rescue Ellen Aim Tom loads up on enough weaponry from the cool car mechanic Pete who has an impressive horde of guns. And in what makes Mad Max in the third movie look like he’s a piker Tom sets out with McCoy (Amy Madigan) in tow as backup. And did I mention he sets off in the Roadmaster’s sweet ride to boot heading to their hangout Torchies? Yeah I did mention that. Guess what I’m saying it again because that’s a pimp move right there.

From there he takes on the the Bombers who kidnapped Ellen and proceeds to shred and shoots the crap out of their hangout and generally mess up their day nearly single handedly. But this is not before he looks in the room where she is imprisoned while the romantic music plays in the background. Snapping out of his reverie he gets down to brass tacks.  At the odds of something like a 1,000 to 1 no less, well… McCoy helped a little, Tom does what he does best: blow crap up and wreck people’s day in general badass fashion. He storms in uses the buttefly knife with flourish and escapes.  Raven confronts him however before leaving and they share some words, obviously foreshadowing their showdown later. Who didn’t see that coming right?

The ride back is adventuresome and is capped with him riding a motorcycle and shooting up cop cars at a roadblock. He also stops a bus with his bare hands and lays down the law with Ellen. Its obvious the two aren’t right just yet and leave steaming at each other.

After getting back to the Richmond he gets the girl, the awesome Ellen Aim and shows her what’s what. The 10k becomes incidental as he only takes enough to pay McCoy her share. Almost as an afterthought he kicks the crap out of  Raven and could have killed him, but chooses not to.

And to end it all he walks off on his own terms after kissing the girl as she mournfully sings “Tonight is what it means to be young.” This song is perhaps the finest example of Jim Steinman Wagnerian Rock that your ears will bleed and eyes will melt.

To paraphrase Kung Fu Panda :“Ahhh , He’s too awesome!”

There you go, the definition of badass? Tom Cody. Now normally I’m not one for anti-heroes, but damn if you got to pick one there isn’t a finer example. Wolverine looks like a clown next to this guy.

So with that said, Lvl 10 Fighter, CG (with CN tendencies) with weapon specialization in ass-kicking.