Redline (1997) User Reviews

A Guilty Pleasure

[wdbrown · 6/10 · 21 December 2004]

Gee, what's not to like about this movie? The acting? It's serviceable enough considering this isn't a big budget film. Rutger Hauer's finest work is not demonstrated here, but still this is a Rutger Hauer film which means that it will be a bit different from the regular straight-to-video junk you see. The shootouts were laughable? Of course they were! Shootouts are always laughable in every movie in which a hero survives totally unscathed. The two notable exceptions are "Saving Private Ryan" and "Tombstone". There are a few others, but at least Hauer and Scio aren't sliding down glaciers on a car fender or something of that ilk.

Let's put things in proper perspective. When you have a movie that sounds good before it goes on paper, but doesn't look nearly as good after the ink has dried you find ways to make it not a complete waste of time. So you do the following:

1. Get Rutger Hauer

2. Buy lots of bullets (hero resistant, of course!)

3. Get a beautiful actress (and in this case

Yvonne Scio is a 10!)

4. Buy some more bullets

5. Show lots of skin (Nude female bodybuilders with

soft muscles...hmmmm)

6. Have sex ...lots of it

7. Buy a few more bullets

8. Kill all the bad guys (but only after you reveal

that some good guys are bad and worse than the

bad guy you were originally after who turns out

to be easier to kill than expected)

9. Throw in convoluted ending (like my previous

parenthetical remark)

10. Have more sex

For Pete's sake, people this is a cable channel movie. Enjoy it for the adrenaline and the visual pleasure. Don't get hung up on thinking about it. I'll watch this one again, if there isn't anything else on, or I need an Yvonne Scio fix.

One of the better Nu-Image titles out there.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 28 May 2015]

At some point in the future, world governments have everyone under strict control (hmmm...) so Wade (Hauer) and Merrick (Dacascos) work as smugglers. While in Russia on what seems like a routine smuggling operation, Merrick shoots Wade and leaves him for dead. What Merrick forgot is that this is the future, so, using some form of biomechanical technology, Wade is resurrected. All Wade wants is the money he lost to Merrick during their smuggling, and if there's time, maybe some revenge. He then teams up with a woman named Katya (Scio), and off they go on their mission. Coming up against a large criminal syndicate, they get into a lot of shootouts and fights. Will Wade finally draw a REDLINE in the sand? Not to be confused with any of the other myriad movies with the name Redline (most of which are about cars), this one, of course, is the Nu-Image production starring Rutger Hauer and Mark Dacascos. Tom Berenger, "Turbo" and the rest of the gang from Cutaway (2000) are nowhere to be seen. Sure, Redline shopped for its influences at the same store as everybody else: Robocop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Demolition Man (1993), and, of course, Blade Runner (1982) - but thanks to healthy doses of violence and nudity, it's a largely entertaining watch. At worst, it's a painless one, anyway.

Rutger Hauer is an underrated actor and a fan favorite, and he looks a lot like Robert Redford in this particular outing. Actually, better than Redford looks now. Of course, Wade is ex-CIA and since he's the hero, he's subjected to his Prerequisite Torture, but on the bright side, when he comes up against what can only be described as Corey Haim-style Rollerboys, it appears he calls the lead Rollerboy "Butthead" and they all go blading away in fear for their lives. It helps a lot that his sidekick is Yvonne Scio, and that she shoots and beats up the baddies with the best of them. Fellow fan favorite Dacascos, here as the antagonist, complete with goatee and accent, provides good balance to the film overall, though he only displays his Martial Arts abilities in one scene. He previously teamed up with director Takacs with the prior year's Sabotage (1996), and evidently Takacs liked what he saw, so he used him again here. It worked out well.

Yes, there is a lot of clichéd dialogue and many scenes are very darkly lit, but because it was a movie about the future that was made in the 90's, naturally we get some VR. It wouldn't be complete without the VR, of course. Plus, Redline was ahead of its time with scenes of drones attacking people, characters use FaceTime, and a woman who looks suspiciously like Hillary Clinton is "The President". Hopefully not all their predictions come true. But all in all it has a nice pace, especially considering its running time, so it adds up to being one of the better Nu-Image titles out there. It compares favorably to other 90's Rutger future movies such as Split Second (1992). The end result is better-than-average DTV fare, especially for its late-90's vintage (not the best time for DTV, for those who don't know).

Featuring the enjoyable and wonderfully incongruous end-credits song "Dub 1 Dub" by the Axel Boys Quartet, if you see Redline on DVD cheap, don't be afraid to add it to your collection.

It's a so so, Sci-fi caper.

[RatedVforVinny · 5/10 · 29 November 2019]

Low budget, near future Sci-fi (hanging on the coat-tails of Blade Runner). Basic movie making with enough bombs, bullets and female nudity, not to turn it down. Features B-movie heavyweights Rutger Hauer and Marc Dacascos.

A Mess

[sjcjrice · 3/10 · 3 March 2001]

This movie has two pluses in its favor. First, Rutger Hauer looks great. Second, the sets and art direction are very interesting. The movie has a strange blend of Old World buildings, futuristic props and 1940's style furniture. Other movies (yes, most notably Blade Runner) have used a similar look more successfully, but the total effect was still compelling. I did get the impression, however, that they used the same building over and over and just changed the furniture when it was supposed to be a different location.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers appear to have spent so much money on the set that they had no funds for other essential movie elements such as a script that made sense, costumes for the actresses and an acting coach. I found the plot utterly incomprehensible. I have no idea why any character in the movie did any of the things he/she did. I have no idea what the ending was supposed to mean.

Equally baffling was the fact that the women in the movie wore no clothes. The film is set in Moscow; you'd think they would get cold. Okay, I can understand that prostitutes in brothels are not going to fully clad, but come on--topless women boxers? nude women assassins?

Finally, with the exception of Hauer (who really has given some great performances in his career), no one in this movie can act. NO ONE!! Robbie the Robot gave better line readings.

In short, if you're looking for a movie filled with meaningless violence and even more meaningless sex, you'll love this one.

Dreadful film

[chris696 · 1/10 · 26 March 2005]

After watching the film I can't say I was impressed, I was not surprised to see in the film nude assassins and plastic looking BB guns. Odd styles of dressing mostly leather and plastic looking glasses.

The locations were bizarre with some futuristic elements with a lot of old fashioned items like furniture and it appeared the actors only had 2 sets of clothes. I must also mention, I think they only used a total of 6 locations (I could be wrong but I could have sworn the same location was used other with some slight furniture rearrangements)

The overall story was rubbish, after bringing in military style weapons and being back stabbed it was a mess of I WANT MY MONEY BACK, the end was just stupid.

mindlessly entertaining but forgettable

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 6 October 2008]

Wade (Rutger Hauer) is an American smuggler of biotechnology, during a Russian job, he's quickly disposed of by Merrick (Mark Dacascos). But this being the future, Wade is brought back to life via a clandestine soviet experimentation and goes about gaining vengeance on the people that offed both him and his girlfriend.

Make no bones about it, this film is highly forgettable, but for the time that it's on it's entertaining enough. A highly simplistic, derivative story for sure, however for fans of excessive cartoon violence and gratuitous nudity that doesn't advance the plot in the least bit you'll be entertained.

Eye Candy: Anita Neszmenyi; Ildikó Szücs, and numerous extras also appear topless; Szilvia Bizek & Yvonne Sciò show everything

My Grade: C-

DVD Extras: Picture gallery; trailer for this film; and Trailers for "On the Border", "October 22", & "the Peacekeeper"

Rutger gets to fondle Yvonne Scio: the jammy sod

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 3 August 2012]

Look - the situation is this: I've got two toddlers, a tired wife, an allotment and a full time job. When I sit down to watch a film I'm not there to be mildly amused by the juxtaposition of social hierarchies or what have you - I want things to move briskly, blow up, be gory, be naked, be crazy and above all not be boring. Hence: I like films like this.

This film is set in some futuristic Russia where people can plug themselves directly into things. I'm not really sure if any of that was explained but the plugging in aspect seemed to involve fulfilling your dreams via cable or something. Anyhoo - Rutger is a smuggler smugling some biomechanical circuits when he's double crossed by his buddy Machis and shot in the head. His missus, who betrayed him, also gets shot in the head but when the Russian army turn up they burn her and get right to reviving Rutger using some sophisticamated doo-whackies. Obviously, when Rutger wakes up all he wants to do is shoot his partner in the head two or three hundred times.

Rutger sets out to kill everything (which is endorsed by the folks who revived him for reasons I couldn't quite understand) and therefore travels through Moscow in a series of set pieces which convey to me that the film had a higher budget than I thought or else filming in Russian is very cheap. Either way, the set design in this film is something to behold. Very impressive indeed.

Anyhoo - Rutger hooks up with a hooker (Yvonne Scio) who also played his missus at the start (err..not sure why) and tries to track down Machis...However, it turns out that Machis is only the icing on the cake when it comes to Russian crime syndicates.

Look - The story is flimsy as hell, and director Tibor (something or other) seems to realise this, and therefore fills the film full of nudity and gore. Believe me when I say this, but this film had more naked women than I've seen outside of Italian cinema. Ever Rutger gets to do the nasty with Yvonne Scio (an Italian Scream Queen arriving 20 years too late), on several occasions, and if that ain't enough, he even gets attacked by naked assassins.

Add to that the gore (a guy having his fingers cut off and being fed them), and Rutger being attacked by machine gun wielding tramps - what are you waiting for? Oh, the ending? Lame, but the rest of the film is entertaining enough.

Lazy

[bob the moo · 19 November 2001]

Merrick (Dacascos) and Wade (Hauer) are smugglers in near future Russia. Merrick betrays Wade, kills him during a deal and muscles in on one of the main gangs locally. Wade is brought back to life by a shadowy Government conspiracy and sets out to seek revenge enrolling the help of a call girl on the way.

I'm a big fan of Mark Dacascos, I don't know why but I just like martial arts and think he's got the charisma that should make him a bigger star. Probably one of the reasons for his lack of star power is that he regularly appears in stuff like this. It's interesting to see him playing a bad guy for a change but he really doesn't have anything to do. He gets to do a few big kicks etc but other than that it's all down to his ability to act menacing and bad.....and how does he portray his "bad" side - by having a black goatee beard. It's that simple, he does do evil things but it's like the beard is the main thing he does to make his character menacing. Hauer is as bad as he always is in these cheap thrillers (Omega Doom anyone?), at times it does feel like he doesn't care anymore and is just sleepwalking through this role because he needs the work. He isn't believable in the least as the man driven by revenge who returns from the grave, the whole film he has the demeanour of a man who is popping out to buy a paper on a Sunday morning - he could have put some emotion into the role!

The plot doesn't exactly help the actors do their work. The essence of 'man hunting other man' doesn't really stretch out a whole movie so they bring in lots of Government/police conspiracy involvement and gang war stuff to the party. This just serves to make a rubbish plot too complicated rather than adding value. They also add the Point Blank/Payback idea that Hauer is doing all this just to get his share of the money that he was owed from the deal. But the double crosses all get a bit silly and boring - especially towards the end where the scriptwriters clearly realises that what he's writing has no excitement or point to it and decides to throw in as many twists as he can to cover it up. Other issues in the film are left hanging - why is Hauer brought back to life? It's never really explained and eventually is used to create another double-cross. What about the brain plugins? They used several times in the film but there's not detail of them and they're not used any better in the plot than a TV or radio? There are several other strands that are not covered well, but I got so fed up with the constant double crossing that I've left them.

The direction and detail of the film just makes it even more annoying. Other reviewers have mentioned nudity, I didn't think there was that much but I know what they mean; topless female boxers, topless assassins etc it doesn't rely on sex to sell itself but it doesn't see the harm in using titillation even if it doesn't fit into the plot. Secondly the shootouts (of which there are several spontaneous scenes) are terrible - they don't even try to be close to reality. Imagine Hauer and a call girl on an open rooftop (with no cover), both have handguns. They are under fire by a large group with automatic weapons firing continuously from shielded positions. Both out heroes manage to dispatch the group and escape with great ease and without even one shot coming close to them. This is what most of the scenes are like - Hauer just casually shoots at all enemies and all shots at him hit the scenery all round. It really sucked all the excitement out of these scenes and just made it all look lazy.

The insulting bit is that the director still thinks he's making a clever film. In the middle of the film he puts a scene that is straight out of the Battleship Potemkin (a la "The Untouchables"). Is this an attempt to show us that he is a clever director that has seen classic movies and is using them to enhance his own style? Or is it a clumsy attempt just to look smart? The scene is so out of place as well and just makes the director look stupid - the fact that it is out of place just shows how shoddy the rest of it is. Did the same reference seem out of place in The Untouchables? No! because De Palma's film was all quality and the reason for the scene was not just to make a film reference (as is the case here).

Bad performances, bad plot, bad script, really bad action. I'd read the reviews before I saw it and thought it would pass the time and that Dacascos would multiply the value of the film. Unfortunately any number multiplied by zero is still zero.

Great visuals and a hackneyed plot

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 25 October 2016]

Utterly, utterly bizarre production designs highlight this otherwise routine tale which rehashes the old plot elements from the likes of ROBOCOP and THE CROW with the lead character being brought back from the dead as a "cyborg" and going to get revenge on those who killed him. Once again filmed on the cheap in Hungary and Eastern Europe - and set in Moscow of all places - much like Hauer's 1996 offering OMEGA DOOM - this is bizarre, cheap stuff with a mish-mash of plot ideas and sub plots thrown into the arena to usually poor effect. I'm not sure if this film was heavily cut in the television version I saw but some scenes suddenly jump from one sequence to another, very confusing, and when characters change hairstyles or disguise themselves as each other that just muddies the waters still further.

Although set in the near future, REDLINE has lots of old-fashioned machinery and devices and some of the settings are very old buildings in Europe. The bizarre cross between old and new is kind of disorientating but gives the film a unique visual look you won't find anywhere else. And check out the strange set that's used at the beginning and end of the film - a field full of huge statues of people's heads and hands. Very weird and never explained.

Although Hauer's character in the film is dead, this plot element is never explored - instead it degenerates into a mindless display of brutal violence and routine chases and encounters to appetise the masses. There are plenty of shoot-outs in the film to enjoy, which use John Woo-style slow-motion in the deaths of the bad guys as they stagger backwards, still firing their machine guns, and usually fall over banisters or through windows. However, there are also other scenes which drag loads with too much plot exposition and by the time the triple-cross comes at the finale, it's just too late. What the heck happened to the plot?

Rutger Hauer once again dons the same black trench coat as in OMEGA DOOM and hams through his role like there's no tomorrow - yet still you can't end up but liking the actor. Mark Dacascos is cast this time as the bad guy and he has ample opportunity to show off his figure in some homoerotic bath sequences and his martial arts skills in the action. The explicit, hard-knuckle violence and numerous sex scenes will no doubt mean this is mildly watchable for the male audience but it's frustrating because it could have been so much more. As it is, REDLINE has some great visuals but a rubbishy plot which drags it right down into being a confused, muddled mess.

I actually quite enjoyed it.

[johnson50 · 7/10 · 6 December 2003]

I actually quite enjoyed it. It is a rather confusing film but Rutger Hauer is, as always, good value for money and there was plenty of pace to the confusing plot - plenty of action and violence too.

It always makes a film more interesting when you have some connection with it, as I have with this one. It was filmed in Budapest and, in the the scene on Budapest Keleti Station, I saw the bench that fell off when I was asleep a couple of years ago! A pretty tenuous claim to fame, I suspect. That also explains why all of the prostitutes are half naked - it's always very hot in Budapest, both the climatically and socially!

A complete waste of time!

[Miss_MiChiMi · 1/10 · 31 January 2004]

Who are the people saying this movie is good? I am a huge Rutger And Dacascos fan, which is why I rented this clunker! Let this serve as a warning to others: Rent this at your own risk!

The plot, which is senseless, is thin is some areas and then so convoluted in others, you feel as if you are on a roller coaster. This movie begins on a tepid note and limps along. There are so many question unanswered. Of course, there are the gratuitous nudity and violence that all these low budget stinkers throw in to attempt to mask the fact that there is no plot. The nude assassin scene just screams "desperate attempt."

The acting, if you want to call it that, was mediocre at best. Dacascos and Rutger are usually very good in their roles. I am sure the fact that there was a terrible story line to work with didn't help to make them look any better. Both of these actors seem as if they are on valium and just flying on autopilot. Everyone in this movie has the emotional range of an android who's batteries are getting low. The female lead gives bad acting a whole new meaning. It seems that these low budget eastern European "films" just throw everything together. Anyone who needs work and is willing to throw away their reputation (past, present, or future) can make a quick buck by appearing in or working on pathetic films such as this one! Lousy, underacted, confusing, sleep inducing...... This movie would have gotten a zero had that option been available.

Very good film

[m_wonderful · 10/10 · 25 December 2011]

Give me a break. If you watch this and are griping then you are the dummy for watching it. You know in 5 minutes what this movie is about and it mainly delivers.

Here is why you should watch and love this movie: Yvonne Scio. This babe is totally, and I mean T TOTALLY!!!!!, babeulicious hot. She has this gorgeous curly hair, but kissable lips, and a rocking hot body.

Plus, there are other nekkid women in here, too. Still, the hot hot hot Ms. Scio is the best reason and yes she is nekkid quite a bit.

The one and only gripe I have is Ms. Scio's role seems to change about 3 times in the movie. I wish someone could explain that. But, hey!, if David Lynch can do it and be hailed a genius, why not this movie? If you want to be nerdy Roger Ebert wannabe and hate on this, why aren't you watching Oprah or some Julia Roberts chick flick? Be a real man, grab some sweet tea and snacks, and sit back and enjoy Ms. Scio, who will make you feel much better about being a man.

The Coat Returns

[helltopo · 7/10 · 13 April 2002]

Rutger Hauer always entertains regardless of budget and he again serves up another laid back performance in this unusual Sc-fi movie. Still wearing his now trademark long coat from 'The Hitcher', Hauer with the aid of the kung fu kicking Yvonne Scio, seeks revenge against his deceitful ex business partner. Filmed in Eastern Europe, it looks stunning, and there are plenty of unusual touches, such as tramps with kalashnikovs, a nude female assassin & a very amusing spoof of a 'real crime' TV show. Now available on bargain DVD, it's well worth a look

Awful

[Jona-5 · 2/10 · 5 April 1999]

This movie is Awful. It´s totally stupid and nut. The director really likes nude women, because who comes up with the idea to have nude boxing women in a corridor that Rutger Hauer passes through. These women start to fight with Rutger.

NORMAL???

So you who like nudity and violence, see this - otherwise skip it.

The action sucks too.

I started out to watch an Action Film and ended up a Fan.

[spidymac · 11 May 2000]

Rutger Hauer has done a number of action films in which the story and overall production where much more entertaining e.g., "Split Second". However, I am an avid "Action" movie devotee and my personal appraisal of them is usually much higher than say, most movie critics. For what its worth, I think most action lovers would enjoy this film. I, however, never expected more than the action promised in the given film synopsis i.e., until I saw Miss Yvonne Scio. In my opinion, this young lady stole the movie in both an acting and physical sense. She has a wholesome beauty and a fantastic physical presence. I became a "Fan" immediately.

Further, I was just as pleasantly surprised with Miss Scio's action performance as I was with Mira Sorvino's in the "Replacement Killers". 'course the critic (Maltin) only gave this movie 2.5 stars and I thought it deserved at least 4.5 stars. Hell, I guess I'm still the only one who thinks "The Matrix" was the best movie of the year and can't understand why I must be the only one with such keen insight. Oh well, I'm buying the DVD (USA) version titled "Redline", if for no other reason than to ogle Miss Scio.

Awful

[Jona-5 · 2/10 · 25 March 1999]

This movie is Awful. It´s totally stupid and nut. The director really like nude woman, because who come up with the idea to have nude boxing woman in a corridor that Rutger Hauer passes through. These womens starts to fight with Rutger.

NORMAL???

So you who like nudity and violence, see this otherwise skip it.

The action sucks too.

you have got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!

[papadea1953 · 1/10 · 2 March 2006]

This has got to be the WORST Rutger Hauer movie EVER made. I have got to think that his agent is such an a**hole that Mr. Hauer needs to make some changes. Look at his filmography!!! Although many of his films really sucked, there were MANY that were fantastic. "Blade Runner" was one of his best, but I refuse to go into all the rest of his movies. Go look at his filmography. This movie is one of the worst "C" grade movies I have ever seen. The plot didn't work, the flow really sucked big time, I found myself fast-forwarding through MOST of the stupid dialog, which, upon looking at afterward, I was correct at, and the director, the producer, and anyone else who had anything to do with this movie, need to find new agents.

Pretty bad movie

[kelgraham · 1/10 · 2 April 2007]

If you like bad writing and even worse acting, you'll like this movie. Whoever signed off on this script must have been having a bad day. The Russian accents were poorly done, the plot coupled with cheesy acting was stagnant, and there was nothing original or creative about this film. This is the type of movie that one does not want to claim credit for on their resume. I quit watching it less than halfway through and took it back. I didn't even ask for my money back, as I was that embarrassed to have even watched it. Some movies that are bad one can tell that there was at least some creative effort in the production, not so with this stinker.

better than you think!

[leno · 6/10 · 15 June 2003]

Actually this is just another thirteen in a dozen movie, you'd think. But the location (Russia) makes the movie a bit more original and gives it a certain atmosphere and second Hauer is acting very convincing. These kind off roles (mysterious ruthless man) are perfect for him..

Where's the cyborg I was promised?

[fleroux-96950 · 5/10 · 18 September 2021]

I read the tags before watching it, they said Cyborg, there was no cyborg. I like everything I've seen Rutger Hauer in. This is a budgeted film, not really a bad film. More T&A then I prefer but, no Cyborg! So that lowered it to 5 from probably 7.

Slow, Uninspired, But Has Hauer & Dacascos!!

[Movie-Misfit · 4/10 · 12 April 2020]

At a time when films like The Matrix, and Equilibrium where making waves, a host of sci-fi action movies, set in the near-future, were a dime-a-dozen. This time, Hungarian director Tibor Takacs, the same man behind cult horror flick The Gate, as well as episodes on The Outer Limits, Police Academy The Series, Sabrina The Teenage Witch and much more, manages to get the great, late Rutger Hauer (complete with trademark trench-coat) and martial arts star, the handsome Mark Dacascos, to star as smugglers in a dystopian future Russia full of brain-washing, corruption and dictatorship - hmmmm...

Its not dreadful, and I only bought it to see Dacascos in action expecting some great martial arts, but Armageddon is quite forgettable and very slow paced. The team-up of Mark and Tibor a couple of years earlier with Sabotage, was a little more exciting, but this does have some nice moments and futuristic ideas, along with a lot of flesh, and some okay action scenes - but its hardly amazing.

Also known as Deathline, and Redline, Armageddon is like a late 90's TV movie with a god-awful script, cheesy acting, bad accents and ridiculous shoot-outs. Rutger looks like he's having fun though, getting to shag Yvonne Scio and getting attacked by naked women left, right and centre. As I've said before, Mark is too sweet and soft spoken to play a bad guy, although isn't terrible - and any film to see him half-naked is a plus. Its hard to think that the year between this and Sabotage, Dacascos wowed the world with his moves in Steve Wang's amazing film, Drive. You would think anything after that, directors would want to see more of that..?!

I must note, the re-enactment newsflash of Hauer as a killer is hilarious my favourite part!

Overall: Die-hard fans of Hauer and Dacacscos might get a kick out of it, but otherwise, nothing new here...

An excellent near-future sci-fi for genuine fans of this genre.

[sixmoons · 9/10 · 21 April 2007]

This movie is actually quite good - but only for fans of near future sci-fi and non mainstream movies. If you were expecting Hollywood action then you're better off renting one of the millions of action clones at your local DVD store. For a start, the overall near future atmosphere is excellent - grubby, seedy, and not quite the utopian fantasy enjoyed by Hollywood. The old world Eastern-bloc architecture makes perfect cinematography and is a world of contrasts. This movie pays a lot of attention to detail - the fashion and scene locations in particular. The cyber-punk aspects are pleasantly NOT overdone. The plot isn't hard to follow (I don't know what the critics are whining about, perhaps they should stick with day time TV plots) even if it is a standard revenge type thing. My only quibble would be some of the gun fights - a little spaghetti western for my taste and a tad unrealistic. I thought the acting was excellent throughout and the characters portrayed well - especially the gangsters. The women are particularly sultry and beautiful. Not sure what the nudity fuss is about, not that big a deal and I thought tastefully done. The underground party scenes are very cool and I also rate the entire musical score highly - soundtrack would be excellent.

another Rutger Hauer action flick

[postmaster-3 · 8/10 · 21 July 2000]

In the context of low-ish budget action flicks with Rutger Hauer in them, this really is quite a gem. What sets it apart is the location shooting in really run down Russian looking locations. The slightly futuristic slightly gone to seed look is great, and equals Blade Runner (though I might be the only one to think this). Remember the start of the James Bond film in the scrap yard with all the Russian statues, well this is like that only better.

The film might never attain greatness, but it has a great Point Blank type standoff which even makes sense, a great Blade Runner type ending which makes sense. Did the other reviewers see the same film, there was not that much sex and violence when I saw it.

Bang, bang, shoot 'em up

[Scott-8 · 11 March 1999]

This movie had the kernel of something different in its concept and layout, but blows it completely. Back from death movies with an action twist have been done several times, (good ones being "Robocop" and "The Crow") but this one doesn't even approach the philosophical aspects other than people looking at Rutger Hauer and saying, "I thought you were dead."

No, what made this movie start off different was the bizarre mix of old Eastern European backgrounds and settings with near future technology and lifestyle. This different look was reminiscent of (and done better) in Rutger Hauer's other recent movie, "Fatherland."

If the movie had tried it could have been a so-so Bladerunner set in Russia, or if it really made a leap it could have been something uniquely it's own. Instead it ruins any hope it had with endless shoot-outs and sex scenes. These in and of themselves don't make much of a plot or a movie, and I kept thinking of those parodies of Hollywood movies, which this one quickly became.