Given that the user reviews for this film were so nose in the air, I was compelled to give the film a higher rating than it really deserves. (Forgive me Father.) Let's not make any bones about it; this is one of those run-of-the-mill, get it off-quick-on direct video (now DVD) action films, the kind you forget soon after watching. You can't expect anything special from such a film. So let me accent the positives, particularly after fellow reviewers have gone so far as to rate this among the worst films ever. (Yes, the sound you heard WAS a groan from the spirit of the Marquis of Queensbury.) I loved the relationship between our heroine and the hero. They obviously went all out to provide a study in contrasts, he a beer drinking slob from the Big Easy, and she a stuffy British bird who is not easy at all. And it worked! I wasn't familiar with the actress; I noticed in her listings she is something of a "B" queen, and I greatly appreciated her showing her wares (the film's dialogue comments, after she gets drunk and our hero brings her to bed unconscious, that she is a "10," and that not far from the truth. ((Those who might lecherously ask, "What, me Whirry?"... the answer would be a resounding "yes.")) By the way, let me jump ahead and provide another reason why I liked this film... it broke the rules, in this scene. Normally, the hero would be too much of a gentleman to take advantage of a lady in this state of stupor, but our cad of a hero actually did! I thought they were kidding, and at the end it was going to be one of those, "naw, I was a good boy" sort of thing, but that was positively ground-breaking..! Certainly only wonderful in movie terms; in real life we'd be talking downright contemptible, date-rape without question. She actually tells him, once she wakes up in the morning and over the phone, "I hope you used a condom." And her character was meant to be uncool!) So I loved this relationship. And our hero... whom I see from his listing has a tendency to cast himself, as the producer of many of his own vehicles... looked like a real hunk a' man as we used to appreciate in the old days, good manly build (in a natural way, without the superficial buff) hairy chest and all. And even though he was a rapist, there was a soft side to him, not one of those clichéd and boring heroes we would expect in a film like this. There were a lot of wonderful and clever lines in the film, I guess not too memorable as I can't think of an example now, but as I was watching, I thought to myself, hey. That was kind of witty! So the writing gets a plus... kind of. The plot? Well, what do you want. It moved. It's not boring. What do you want, for Pete's sake?
I'll tell you what else I liked. (Man, my glass is hopelessly half full compared to the other reviewers, thus far; theirs barely had a drop.) I love these B-movies that fill up the cast with familiar faces. I mean, Robert Z'Dar? Charles Napier? (At 62, a swinger with the chicks. This movie may not exactly rule, but it breaks the rules, I tell you!) And Larry Linville, an old guy here, but still getting it on with the lovely lasses. Again, not conforming to the rules of our youth-oriented society... yes, men still have sex after forty. (Women? Not in too many movies, alas, especially not this one. Okay, there are limits to the rule-breakings.) Malcolm McDowell can walk through the kind of evil boss role that he plays here, but he does a great job. Even if he's walking through it. His hopelessly young girlfriend (there's a trend here with the older men getting it on with the beautiful young women, yes I spotted it) is a kind of psycho, which is almost a cliché, but still kind of fun. We even get the obligatory twist ending... well, not quite a "twist," but you know how in horror movies we get the resolution, and after the dust settles with what appears to be the finale, there's room for one more cheap scare? We get that here too. And after the bodies pile up, our heroes (the lady has been won over by now; I thought her English accent was winning, by the way, as someone mentioned it was not consistent. I thought Ms. Whirry pulled it off) say, let's have sex! Yes, even with the dead bodies around them. Now if that is not a cool movie, what is?
