This was reportedly the first fictional film to deal with the Persian Gulf War. It even was shown in the theaters. Still , it's more of a straight to video product. This movie doesn't work either as an actioner or war drama. Too bad . It could have been fun movie in style of "Rambo 2".
"The Human" shield finds Michael Dudikoff ("American ninja") heading to the Middle East when his brother is taken prisoner just as he's about to leave Iraq with his wife and daughter. The acting here is surprisingly decent and the movie looks really OK for a low budget production.
Aside from the good location this movie is nothing more than a boring low-budget pile cliché. Veteran director Ted Post ("Magnum force") directs the movie very badly. It drags all the time. There is some action in this movie , but it lasts about ten minutes and certainly isn't impressive. The movie is so predictable and boring that you wonder why they even made it in the first place. This is a rescue movie with all the clichés in the world . Yes , even the love interest of main hero is connected to the villain. I've already seen that set up in a hundred other movies.
It's boring right from its ridiculous beginning to its very poorly done end. I give it 1/10.