Irritatingly unfunny action-comedy sees James Belushi and Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up as a mismatched US/Soviet cop team, with "hilarious" consequences.
Belushi, an hysterically funny, off-the-wall zany comic... in his own mind... overplays his formula "loose cannon" role with irksome predictability. Arnhuld does little better with Ivan Danko, a character you might call one-dimensional if he were that complex.
The film is one of constant contradictions. The brief nudity and frequent bad language work against the MOR buddy cop comedy. The settings are low-key and squalid, yet directed with a brash, mainstream feel. There are good actors, such as Laurence Fishburne, yet wasted on severely underwritten lines, sloppy editing and indifferent direction. All the items commonly associated with half-assed low brow actioners are present: hysterically screaming, half-dressed women; characters yelling with "comic" effect as a vehicle goes out of control and flies through the air; plus police chiefs that threaten you'll be "back to a desk job on Monday."
The cold war politics are dealt with in a childishly patronising way, while the plot is a series of perfunctory set pieces loosely strung together. There doesn't even appear to be three full acts, the climax drawing short and having little emotional resonance.
Yet it's impossible to really slate the film, as it was really just one in a long line of "seemed good at the time" weak star vehicles for then up-and-coming Arnie. It might not be any good, but he does get to take his shirt off, shoot a few people and get into fights. Well that's all right then. 4/10.
Belushi, an hysterically funny, off-the-wall zany comic... in his own mind... overplays his formula "loose cannon" role with irksome predictability. Arnhuld does little better with Ivan Danko, a character you might call one-dimensional if he were that complex.
The film is one of constant contradictions. The brief nudity and frequent bad language work against the MOR buddy cop comedy. The settings are low-key and squalid, yet directed with a brash, mainstream feel. There are good actors, such as Laurence Fishburne, yet wasted on severely underwritten lines, sloppy editing and indifferent direction. All the items commonly associated with half-assed low brow actioners are present: hysterically screaming, half-dressed women; characters yelling with "comic" effect as a vehicle goes out of control and flies through the air; plus police chiefs that threaten you'll be "back to a desk job on Monday."
The cold war politics are dealt with in a childishly patronising way, while the plot is a series of perfunctory set pieces loosely strung together. There doesn't even appear to be three full acts, the climax drawing short and having little emotional resonance.
Yet it's impossible to really slate the film, as it was really just one in a long line of "seemed good at the time" weak star vehicles for then up-and-coming Arnie. It might not be any good, but he does get to take his shirt off, shoot a few people and get into fights. Well that's all right then. 4/10.