Red Heat starts in Russia where drug baron Viktor 'Rosta' Rostavili (Ed O'Ross) is busted by cop Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) but he manages to escape shooting & killing Danko's partner & friend Yuri (Oleg Vidow), on the run Viktor then flees to Chicago & starts to set up a huge drug deal with a local gang but is arrested on a minor traffic charge. Russia wants Viktor back & sends Captain Danko to Chicago to take custody of Viktor & escort him back home, however Viktor's people manage to bust him out in a shoot-out in which Chicago cop Detective Sergeant Tom Gallagher (Richard Bright) is killed. With the Russian's humiliated, a Chicago cop killed & Viktor free again Captain Danko teams up with Gallager's partner Art Ridzik (James Belushi) to bring Viktor to justice...
Co-written, co-produced & directed by Walter Hill this buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller is not too dissimilar to his earlier film 48 Hrs. (1982), as an overblown late 80's Hollywood action film Red Heat is watchable & entertaining but not outstanding. I think that if you were to ask anyone to name one Schwarzenegger film from the 80's nobody would say Red Heat, this is minor Arnie that doesn't particularly distinguish itself but is still a decent watch all the same. The script is a fairly routine rehash of the genre clichés, the two opposing character's who have to overcome a personality clash & other differences to take down some bad guy, one goes by the book while the other is a loose cannon on the edge cop who cracks lots of one-liners, there's the blatant disregard for credibility as a police commander actually lets this Russian & one of his cops run around with guns, there's either an action scene or shoot-out at regular intervals to take your mind off the wobbly story that is rather predictable & feels wholly routine & the inevitable ending where the two mismatched partners actually realise they can work together & develop a new found respect for each other despite their differences. To be fair for what it is & what it sets out to do, basically be an entertaining buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller, Red Heat passes the time harmlessly enough & if it wasn't for the fact that it does feel a little generic it would probably be quite highly thought of amongst 80's action film junkies. The dialogue is quite snappy & amusing at times especially Belushi's foul mouthed wise cracking cop. There's nothing wrong with Red Heat as it were but at the same time it's not a film that really stands out, still perfectly watchable though.
Director Hill does alright, the production team was actually refused permission to film is Russia although they sneaked Arnie in & filmed him in Red Square while no-one was looking... The action scenes are well shot & edited, you can clearly see what's going on & there's none of that modern shaky hand-held camera movement or ultra quick cut editing which makes it impossible to see what's going on. This is the way an action film should be shot. Most of the set-pieces consist of shoot-outs & fights until the end when there's a pretty cool bus chase through Chicago some of which was later edited into the rubbish killer Cockroach film They Crawl (2001). Probably one of the few big budget Hollywood action flicks where nothing explodes or gets blown up. The film is dedicated to experienced stunt coordinator Bennie Dobbins who died on set on February 5th 1988 in Vienna while staging the opening scene of the fight in the snow. I must admit that I actually found the opening titles really annoying & the way that the 'R's & 'N's in people's names were reversed, I don't know why I just found it highly irritating to read. Also one has to mention the over-the-top sound effects which can sound really silly at times, just check out the sound effects at the start as Arnie beats the guy up in the snow to hear what I mean.
Technically the film is good, it has good production values & is well made. The cast is pretty good, Arnie is rather wooden, Belushi is fun, Gina Gershon is alright in a small role, Ed O'Ross makes for a good villain although I'm not sure about his accent while Laurence Fishburne does OK in an early role before he hit the big time with The Matrix trilogy.
Red Heat is a film that you can't really say much about, it's a fairly generic buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller although taken for what it is it's above average for the genre. I liked it & I am sure most action fans will too.
Co-written, co-produced & directed by Walter Hill this buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller is not too dissimilar to his earlier film 48 Hrs. (1982), as an overblown late 80's Hollywood action film Red Heat is watchable & entertaining but not outstanding. I think that if you were to ask anyone to name one Schwarzenegger film from the 80's nobody would say Red Heat, this is minor Arnie that doesn't particularly distinguish itself but is still a decent watch all the same. The script is a fairly routine rehash of the genre clichés, the two opposing character's who have to overcome a personality clash & other differences to take down some bad guy, one goes by the book while the other is a loose cannon on the edge cop who cracks lots of one-liners, there's the blatant disregard for credibility as a police commander actually lets this Russian & one of his cops run around with guns, there's either an action scene or shoot-out at regular intervals to take your mind off the wobbly story that is rather predictable & feels wholly routine & the inevitable ending where the two mismatched partners actually realise they can work together & develop a new found respect for each other despite their differences. To be fair for what it is & what it sets out to do, basically be an entertaining buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller, Red Heat passes the time harmlessly enough & if it wasn't for the fact that it does feel a little generic it would probably be quite highly thought of amongst 80's action film junkies. The dialogue is quite snappy & amusing at times especially Belushi's foul mouthed wise cracking cop. There's nothing wrong with Red Heat as it were but at the same time it's not a film that really stands out, still perfectly watchable though.
Director Hill does alright, the production team was actually refused permission to film is Russia although they sneaked Arnie in & filmed him in Red Square while no-one was looking... The action scenes are well shot & edited, you can clearly see what's going on & there's none of that modern shaky hand-held camera movement or ultra quick cut editing which makes it impossible to see what's going on. This is the way an action film should be shot. Most of the set-pieces consist of shoot-outs & fights until the end when there's a pretty cool bus chase through Chicago some of which was later edited into the rubbish killer Cockroach film They Crawl (2001). Probably one of the few big budget Hollywood action flicks where nothing explodes or gets blown up. The film is dedicated to experienced stunt coordinator Bennie Dobbins who died on set on February 5th 1988 in Vienna while staging the opening scene of the fight in the snow. I must admit that I actually found the opening titles really annoying & the way that the 'R's & 'N's in people's names were reversed, I don't know why I just found it highly irritating to read. Also one has to mention the over-the-top sound effects which can sound really silly at times, just check out the sound effects at the start as Arnie beats the guy up in the snow to hear what I mean.
Technically the film is good, it has good production values & is well made. The cast is pretty good, Arnie is rather wooden, Belushi is fun, Gina Gershon is alright in a small role, Ed O'Ross makes for a good villain although I'm not sure about his accent while Laurence Fishburne does OK in an early role before he hit the big time with The Matrix trilogy.
Red Heat is a film that you can't really say much about, it's a fairly generic buddy buddy mismatched cop action thriller although taken for what it is it's above average for the genre. I liked it & I am sure most action fans will too.