videorama-759-859391 When hearing of this, I expected another Invasion U.S.A of non stop action, but came up pretty short sheeted. I love Rutger and I liked him here and Simmons playing international terrorist, Malak Al Re Haeim, whatever, was even better here than in Runaway. This cool kick arse movie has a visual rawness, some scenes that tend to be upsetting, like seeing a family enter a cinema, where minutes later it becomes a obliterated pile of shrapnel. Terrorism is not a joke, and tends to be more a sensitive subject nowadays. As being a year underage to see WDOR, that scene could of had me running out the cinema, and in no way this film was a hit in Adelaide. Rutger plays bounty hunter, Nick Randall, the son of legendary hero Joshua Randall, from the t.v show, whose lifestyle is far from normal, as is his cleaning habits (check out his silverware and glasses and his houseboat, while cooking his girlfriend, brekkie). Benson's Robert Guiliamme as Nick Randall's (Hauer) old friend and agency buddy, enlists him to take down Malak, offering a big fee, of course, and when it becomes personal, we so much want Rutger to dispose of this piece of s..t in one unforgettable bit of dialogue, in unforgettable finale, the minutes lead up, compulsive viewing. I expected much more action from this, but one gets the feeling it chooses to be more than that, or truthfully, this is what unintentionally unfolded, but really that isn't much of a bad thing. I found it remarkably tame, as in the violence department, but still it has a lot of coolness to it. Rutger pulling into his car elevator, taking him up into his big impressive loft, while listening to a rock track, I still keep playing in my head from time to time, was one cool scene, as was him taking down a wanted roughneck, robbing a liquor store, that had Hauer trailing him, prior. The chase scene was cool, ending with another terrorist, making his suicidal choice. Rutger's Hauer's stereotypical line, he delivers to a fat Vietnam Vet, he confronts at home, who's been selling armament, detonators, unaware of the consequences, was a moment of "der Fred". Meanwhile the vet's trashy wife is making him some mystery meat. Interesting. Still WDOR equals an undemanding standard, that joins the Norris's, Bronson's, whatever, and I'll tell you, the onus is definitely not on the script. It's just how the film's materialized. Hauer as always is good, much a far cry, for his legendary "never live it down" role in The Hitcher prior. Yet still there's a coolness and rawness about the whole film that's also appealing, where I've got my viewing's worth, with this many times. But I will tell you, if you are seeking gore from this, keep walking. It must be hard for Simmons, showing wife, the Shannon Tweed who's the better thespian.

Enchorde Recap: Nick Randall is a former agent that has burned his bridges with his former superiors in the justice system and now makes a living as a bounty hunter. But not any bounty hunter, he is the meanest, and most effective, bounty hunter around. Malak Al Rahim on the other hand is one of the few that got away from Randall's agent days. And in vengeance he becomes the worst terrorist around. Now they both are in L.A. and a showdown is inevitable, especially since Randall's former superiors use him as bait.Comments: Eastwood, Stallone, none of them has anything on Rutger Hauer. He just is the meanest bounty hunter/cop in movies. Just watch the presentation in the intro. Well, anyway that also sets the standard for the movie. This is an entertaining exposé in violence. And it does it very good, like they did in the middle of the eighties, with big guns and massive explosions.More surprising though is that it actually got a decent story. It's the classic revenge thing with an extra edge in the wedge Randall is in between Rahim and his deceitful ex-superiors. Combined with the limitless violence it is really very entertaining. If you like these kind of movies that is.You'll like it even more if you, like I, is a fan of Hauer. I won't say it is his best because I can't imagine ever can top Split Second (or Blind Fury for that matter) but it is right up there at the very top. This is really one for you fans out there.7/10

Scarecrow-88 Rutger Hauer stars as Nick Randall, a bounty hunter, ex-CIA, called into a case to capture(..dead, preferably alive)a wanted terrorist, Malak Al Rahim(..played by Gene Simmons, an undeniably good heavy)whose Arab organization is bombing selected locations across Los Angeles. When Malak kills Randall's girlfriend and cop buddy(..a boat bombing intended for him), it gets personal.The premise is pretty much a by-the-numbers actioner, a skilled hunter after a dangerous terrorist and his dedicated followers while the CIA often look foolish in their attempts to capture their quarry themselves. The real fun for me, being a Rutger Hauer fan, is seeing the man do his thing..he's perfect for a role such as this, a specialist at hunting down and securing the dregs and lowlifes of society, dangerous criminals the police have a hard time capturing, often earning a wealthy pay day in the process. Simmons, while limited to a small number of scene, is quite effective as a cold-blooded Islamic extremist who bombs a theater full of innocent people(..leaving behind his hand print on the window of a phone booth, teasing the authorities)just to make a point..a chilling moment shows Malak greeting a little girl who was walking into the theater with her parents. Robert Guillaume is a CIA officer, Walker, who lures Randall into taking the job of nabbing Malak, helping him along the way with certain information to assist in the search. William Russ, in a thankless role, ably portrays Randall's best friend Sergeant Danny Quintz..his tragic fate, in an effort to help out his pal, certainly amps the frequency, adding extra motivation for Randall to take out the Arab scumbags. Jerry Hardin has the stereotypical role of incompetent CIA leader, Lipton, needing the help of others to catch the bad guys..how he uses Randall as bait in an attempt to get to Malak bares extra emphasis on the joy of seeing him fail at his job. There's always a tug-of-war between Walker and Lipton, over the treatment of Randall.The real fun is watching Randall evading Lipton's men on the street while also successfully uncovering Malak's operation through the various underlings who work for him. Randall is indeed a role tailor-made for Hauer, whose effortless cool and charisma transcends the rather so-so material. Pretty predictable outcome, but satisfying conclusion as Randall gets his revenge and then some. Pretty violent, with lots of people getting shot.

jaspersanten The main reason that I bought this movie was that Gene Simmons is my most beloved rock idol. As well, I'm proud that my tiny little country has the honor to be asked for an actor like Rutger Hauer in a big American movie. The title of this movie sounds full of suspense and the description on the back of the cover sounds lethal, full of nuclear terror and L.A.-wide fear...But I didn't like the movie at all; the tension of the confrontations between the main players hardly ever wasn't built up in a creepy way. The main enemies even hardly ever met each other in the movie. This wouldn't be a real problem if other players would have had fierce clashes with each others, but they mostly remained far away; the one in the police station, the other hidden in the oil warehouse. When they prosecute each other in the factory, the scenes seemed pretty predictable to me. A good thriller ought to be quite unpredictable with a complicated plot. The story was just humble, could be compared to many other thrillers. Even the personalities were neither eccentric nor very expressive. It's a tragedy that the love scenes in the movie were the most beautiful. This ought to be a real thriller, not a romantic movie!! Gene, you should run away back to your far better movie 'Runaway' and Rutger, welcome back to Holland!