Laughable in so many ways but surprisingly enjoyable, it has the braincells of a Warner Brothers cartoon and its own Elmer Fudd to go along with it, through the ridiculous cartoonish performance of M. Emmett Walsh who does everything that Elmer might do except proclaim, "Kill the Wussian!" As a commie hating journalist, he refuses to believe that the Russian Dolph Lungren has defected from his duty in order to protect the man he was assigned to kill. Al White plays the African rebel leader he was supposed to snuff, and it only takes him being in prison with white overnight to change sides.
The rugged Lungren, who made a splash in the last of the first series of "Rocky" films, is certainly something to look at, but he's obviously no graduate of the Moscow Academy of Performing Arts. I wouldn't say that he gives a bad performance. I would just say he doesn't even give a performance. He's just there, doing what he's directed to do. Walsh bellows every line like this is going to be his last big moment on screen, and he doesn't seem to care if it will result in a Razzie nomination, which he didn't get. However, in my mind, he certainly deserved it.
White is the only one of the three leads invested in his performance, and he's quite good.
As an action adventure film, this serves it's purpose, keeping the audience engaged and munching on a lot of popcorn along the way. The use of some classic rock and roll doesn't move the plot along at all, but adds a few amusing background moments. The action sequences seem like they were stolen directly from an Indiana Jones movie, particularly since a lot of this takes place in other the desert or in the wild. A lot of it is truly hokey, such as the scene where the truck the three men are in approaches a tank that is ready to fire, and they make it out with barely a scratch. But since this is a film I thought I was going to give a bomb to and did not, that adds one little thing that I can recommend the film for.
The rugged Lungren, who made a splash in the last of the first series of "Rocky" films, is certainly something to look at, but he's obviously no graduate of the Moscow Academy of Performing Arts. I wouldn't say that he gives a bad performance. I would just say he doesn't even give a performance. He's just there, doing what he's directed to do. Walsh bellows every line like this is going to be his last big moment on screen, and he doesn't seem to care if it will result in a Razzie nomination, which he didn't get. However, in my mind, he certainly deserved it.
White is the only one of the three leads invested in his performance, and he's quite good.
As an action adventure film, this serves it's purpose, keeping the audience engaged and munching on a lot of popcorn along the way. The use of some classic rock and roll doesn't move the plot along at all, but adds a few amusing background moments. The action sequences seem like they were stolen directly from an Indiana Jones movie, particularly since a lot of this takes place in other the desert or in the wild. A lot of it is truly hokey, such as the scene where the truck the three men are in approaches a tank that is ready to fire, and they make it out with barely a scratch. But since this is a film I thought I was going to give a bomb to and did not, that adds one little thing that I can recommend the film for.