Deadly Intent (1988 Video) User Reviews

Just Watched It and It's Forgotten

[Zantara Xenophobe · 5/10 · 17 December 2002]

With a title like `Deadly Intent,' I wasn't expecting a blockbuster extravaganza. Actually, I was just expecting what I got: a forgettable little thriller with some good names in the cast, like Steve Railsback, Maud Adams, Fred Williamson, David Dukes, and the man himself: Lance Henrikson. But I wasn't expecting it to be this forgettable and little.

We begin the movie with two guys running through a jungle, one of them carrying a statue. He trips and the other one (Henrikson) beats him up and takes a huge diamond from the statue. It turns out that they were a part of a group of men exploring the jungle for a museum owner (Adams). Henrikson returns to the States but has hidden the diamond somewhere. After a mysterious man runs his car off the road and kills him, his wife (Lisa Eilbacher) is hounded by numerous shady characters that think she has the diamond. And that, my friends, is all there is to the plot. It is just an hour and a half of people breaking into Eilbacher's home, searching, sometimes killing each other. This cast is really wasted, particularly Williamson, who has next to nothing to do or say despite being fourth billed. There are also few thrills. I could not figure out why this was rated R. One cuss word and a few people tamely killed is all that is objectionable. Well, other than the plot's forgettable-ness. I guarantee you that you will forget every last bit of this movie when you wake up the next morning. Which is why I am writing this brief review now. It's almost bedtime and I have nearly forgotten the whole movie. Zantara's score: 5 out of 10.

A blase thriller that struggles to produce thrills

[I_Ailurophile · 3/10 · 5 May 2022]

Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: Lance Henriksen has about 10 minutes of screen time, at the very beginning of the movie. If you're watching because his name is attached, proceed with tempered expectations.

That may arguably be the best approach for watching 'Deadly intent' in general, in fact. It's not that this is altogether bad. It's a solid premise. There are noteworthy and recognizable names and faces in the cast, and most of those cast members infuse a suitably smarmy, duplicitous, and/or threatening personality into their characters. The work of the crew behind the scenes is capable, the feature seems technically sound, and the story is, if nothing else, sufficiently engaging so that in the very least we wonder just where it's going to end up. We even get small measures of cheeky comedy to help break up the simmering air of suspense.

I don't mean to cast aspersions, and maybe it's unfair to make assumptions. But of all the many credits that director Nigel Dick can claim, the vast majority are music videos. Whatever else may be true of music videos, feature films they are not. Here, his guidance of the cast, his orchestration of shots and scenes, and his oversight of the production just feel very nonchalant, and unbothered. Whatever the content, tone, or mood of any given moment - even what should be stimulating violence - the course of events is flat and colorless as it presents, including the climax. There is nothing here that inspires, including performances that seem muted and subdued, and awash in passivity. Lisa Eilbacher, starring as Laura, consistently portrays the unwitting pawn of a protagonist with a quiet, clueless halfheartedness exceeding our suspension of disbelief. For all the other movies I've seen these actors in, I know they possess fine ability, so one can only presume faulty direction for the lackluster depictions in 'Deadly intent.'

It's certainly not just Dick, however. Screenwriter John F. Goff contributes a screenplay with characters that should leap out at us, but instead seem as bland and tasteless as stale cereal. The only character who is completely sympathetic, who we can feasibly care about, effectively spends all but the very last few minutes as a lukewarm set piece. For whatever light humor may crop up in the dialogue, much of it is also tired and poorly considered, to say nothing of how it's delivered. There are promising ideas in the narrative, but even only clocking in at 90 minutes, the plot feels both overfull - and uneventful. The scene writing seems strong enough, delineating the specifics for a sequence, but that alone isn't enough to carry the picture.

I can't say I had high expectations as I began watching, but I hoped to be pleasantly surprised. All the component parts are here for what should be at least a passably entertaining movie. Yet the runtime at once drags throughout its length, and seems to come to an end more quickly than seems possible, all on account of how meaningfully little the narrative advances. And through it all, the viewing experience is distinctly ho-hum, and all but sleep-inducing.

'Deadly intent' could have been a decent film, but a thriller that doesn't really impart any thrills isn't much of anything to be celebrated. There's mild value herein - it's far from the worst picture you could watch. Unless you're an especial fan of someone in the cast, however, there just doesn't seem to be much reason to check it out.

Good idea but with inconsistencies

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 24 December 2023]

(1983) Deadly Intent THRILLER

It centers on an archeologist, Raymond Keaton (Lance Henrikson) chasing another fellow archeologist by using a rifle as he is attempting to run away with a bag with a statue inside. And Raymond manages to knock him down to the ground, he then pulls out a knife and just when you think he was going to stab the guy lying down with it, he then uses it to pluck the gem out of the statue. Raymond is back in the US and has his artifacts on display sponsored and displayed by gallery owner, Elise Marlow (Maud Adams). Raymond shows up to the gallery with his wife, Laura Keaton (Lisa Eilbacher) and are in the midst of breaking up. And the first person she walks toward and stands next to is her best friend, Viki (Pamela Roylance). And before Raymond leaves, his sponsor then grills and cross examines him whether he is keeping anything from her. And upon Raymond driving back home,is when he is being chased and followed resulting to a serious car accident. After his burial, his wife Laura is then followed and pursued viewers soon find out it was the gem at the opening. Gem dealers and former peers sought after it including Elise, Harley (Solly Marx), dealer, Hernando Ramirez (Curt Lowens) and Laura's eventual love interest, Jeff Kirkland (Steve Railsback).

One of those movies that looks good on paper but it is like as soon as you watch it, you are asking more questions we are not going get any answers to, such as when deaths do occur, how come police are not so much involved. When Laura's house is broken into and ransacked, the first person she calls is her love interest Jeff- and not the police! Like, huh!!

Dead on arrival

[lor_ · 29 April 2023]

My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Deadly Intent" unfortunately lives up to its title: ir's a dull, low-energy attempt at a suspense yarn. Absence of sex and much violence mark this one for tv syndication use primarily.

John Goff's one-note story concerns an unsympathetic group of people all out to find the fabulous jewel known as the Window Stone of Naboth, brought back from an expedition to South America by the ruthless Raymond Keaton (Lance Henriksen). After a party celebrating his return, Keaton is killed at the end of the first reel by Harley (Solly Marx), a guy he double crossed.

This sets in motion a series of intrigues as Keaton's boss (Maud Adams) and numerous nogoodniks give his widow (Lisa Eilbacher) a hard time, hoping to discover the stone's whereabouts (solution of which is the pic's one good element). Though the body count is quite high by film's end, it feels like they all talked each other to death under Nigeld Dick's uneventful, by-the-numbers direction.

Henriksen is impressively mean and hissable during his brief screen time , but the film seems to die with him. The other cast members mainly walk through it except for David Dukes and Pamela Seamone, who generate a few laughs as a fake priest/nun conman team.

Technical credits, especially the flat lighting, are mundane. My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Deadly Intent" unfortunately lives up to its title: ir's a dull, low-energy attempt at a suspense yarn. Absence of sex and much violence mark this one for tv syndication use primarily.

John Goff's one-note story concerns an unsympathetic group of people all out to find the fabulous jewel known as the Window Stone of Naboth, brought back from an expedition to South America by the ruthless Raymond Keaton (Lance Henriksen). After a party celebrating his return, Keaton is killed at the end of the first reel by Harley (Solly Marx), a guy he double crossed.

This sets in motion a series of intrigues as Keaton's boss (Maud Adams) and numerous nogoodniks give his widow (Lisa Eilbacher) a hard time, hoping to discover the stone's whereabouts (solution of which is the pic's one good element). Though the body count is quite high by film's end, it feels like they all talked each other to death under Nigeld Dick's uneventful, by-the-numbers direction.

Henriksen is impressively mean and hissable during his brief screen time , but the film seems to die with him. The other cast members mainly walk through it except for David Dukes and Pamela Seamone, who generate a few laughs as a fake priest/nun conman team.

Technical credits, especially the flat lighting, are mundane. My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Deadly Intent" unfortunately lives up to its title: ir's a dull, low-energy attempt at a suspense yarn. Absence of sex and much violence mark this one for tv syndication use primarily.

John Goff's one-note story concerns an unsympathetic group of people all out to find the fabulous jewel known as the Window Stone of Naboth, brought back from an expedition to South America by the ruthless Raymond Keaton (Lance Henriksen). After a party celebrating his return, Keaton is killed at the end of the first reel by Harley (Solly Marx), a guy he double crossed.

This sets in motion a series of intrigues as Keaton's boss (Maud Adams) and numerous nogoodniks give his widow (Lisa Eilbacher) a hard time, hoping to discover the stone's whereabouts (solution of which is the pic's one good element). Though the body count is quite high by film's end, it feels like they all talked each other to death under Nigeld Dick's uneventful, by-the-numbers direction.

Henriksen is impressively mean and hissable during his brief screen time , but the film seems to die with him. The other cast members mainly walk through it except for David Dukes and Pamela Seamone, who generate a few laughs as a fake priest/nun conman team.

Technical credits, especially the flat lighting, are mundane.