Back in 'Nam, Santos (Vennera) rescued McBain (Walken) when he was captured and made a prisoner. A bond developed between the two men, as represented by a ripped hundred dollar bill. In the present, Santos is leading a revolutionary army in Colombia against the dictator oppressing their country. When Santos dies in that fight, his sister Christina (Alonso) goes to New York to find McBain. McBain then agrees to help Christina finish what Santos started, and rally the revolutionary rebels to victory. To do this, he re-assembles his team of old 'Nam buddies, including Eastland (James), Dalton (Patterson) and Frank (Ironside), among other helpers. Will McBain's team - and the people of Colombia - be victorious? Thanks to its cast and its professional sheen, McBain was one of the more well-known action titles around video stores back in the golden age. While it may not have had the visibility of a Van Damme, Seagal, Stallone or Schwarzenegger vehicle, it did have Christopher Walken instead, which is interesting - you don't see him in roles like this too often. The only other one that comes to mind is The Dogs of War (1980). Walken's square hair and Steve James wearing a Wrestlemania hat brandishing a rocket launcher is a great combination.
At its heart, this is just another exploding hut/falling guard tower movie, it's just glossier. Imagine your standard "El Presidente" movie (for an explanation of this, see our review for Hour of the Assassin, 1987) crossed with the camaraderie of Last of the Finest (1990). The film tries to be all things to all people, throwing a lot at the viewer: A Vietnam movie, an urban thriller, an airplane slog, A Mercenary action movie, and the aforementioned El Presidente and Exploding Hut scenarios are thrown in too, and the movie, trying to accommodate all these things, is overlong.
Alonso is there to provide the societal comment and relevance to supposedly justify all the action, and Steve James proves he's one of the most under-appreciated and awesomely cool stars of the era. And who wouldn't want to do what McBain's team does - get the old gang back together to bust some heads? This A-Team-inspired scenario is appealing, but there's way too much fat around this steak. The middle section, where the gang is in New York City taking down the baddies, is excellent. The whole movie should have been THAT. But there's all this other stuff, like an interminable tangent about airplanes and bogeys and such. In our eyes, even though McBain is of a higher quality and budget than a lot of the stuff out there, that ends up being irrelevant because the movie doesn't live up to its potential. That New York City section, rather than just being a color on the action movie palette listed earlier, should have been expanded and brought to its full flower.
While the movie is called McBain (not to be confused with Frank "Bulletproof" McBain or the Simpsons character), it's really not ABOUT Christopher Walken's character per se. We don't know that much about him, and the movie doesn't really revolve around him. It's more about his team and the Colombian rebels scenario.
While there are some cool aspects to this movie, we can't wholeheartedly recommend it, which is a shame, because we'd like to. But the NYC portion of the film and the presence of Steve James, while they can't support the whole thing, are bright spots in this mixed bag of a movie.
for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
At its heart, this is just another exploding hut/falling guard tower movie, it's just glossier. Imagine your standard "El Presidente" movie (for an explanation of this, see our review for Hour of the Assassin, 1987) crossed with the camaraderie of Last of the Finest (1990). The film tries to be all things to all people, throwing a lot at the viewer: A Vietnam movie, an urban thriller, an airplane slog, A Mercenary action movie, and the aforementioned El Presidente and Exploding Hut scenarios are thrown in too, and the movie, trying to accommodate all these things, is overlong.
Alonso is there to provide the societal comment and relevance to supposedly justify all the action, and Steve James proves he's one of the most under-appreciated and awesomely cool stars of the era. And who wouldn't want to do what McBain's team does - get the old gang back together to bust some heads? This A-Team-inspired scenario is appealing, but there's way too much fat around this steak. The middle section, where the gang is in New York City taking down the baddies, is excellent. The whole movie should have been THAT. But there's all this other stuff, like an interminable tangent about airplanes and bogeys and such. In our eyes, even though McBain is of a higher quality and budget than a lot of the stuff out there, that ends up being irrelevant because the movie doesn't live up to its potential. That New York City section, rather than just being a color on the action movie palette listed earlier, should have been expanded and brought to its full flower.
While the movie is called McBain (not to be confused with Frank "Bulletproof" McBain or the Simpsons character), it's really not ABOUT Christopher Walken's character per se. We don't know that much about him, and the movie doesn't really revolve around him. It's more about his team and the Colombian rebels scenario.
While there are some cool aspects to this movie, we can't wholeheartedly recommend it, which is a shame, because we'd like to. But the NYC portion of the film and the presence of Steve James, while they can't support the whole thing, are bright spots in this mixed bag of a movie.
for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com