Red Heat

Arnie's best days are long gone but here, he gets to shine, maybe because the character of Danko perfectly matches his sometimes "wooden" performance. It's definitely one of his strongest roles. it's a movie that has clichés and the story is nothing extraordinary, but the movie works well and is entertaining every time, even if you know what's going to happen.

It's a fun action-comedy and that's that! You can make all the arguments you want. This is definitely not for the discerning viewer. Maybe I'm just easily satisfied by the buddy cop genre. Plus, I love Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies, in general. His action scenes are always fun to watch, and he always seems to come up with great one-liners. In this case, he spouts out a few dryly humorous lines as his stonefaced Russian character. Jim Belushi provides most of the laughs, though, as his unorthodox partner. They both do a good job, though Arnold's Russian accent seems quite strained. Then again, as the film heats up, you really don't pay attention to details like that. Also look out for the beautiful Gena Gershon in an early performance. Those in the mood for "Henry V" should definitely steer clear. Those in the mood for mindless buddy cop fluff that'll keep you excited and keep you laughing should check this movie out.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Red Heat is a surprisingly good movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi have good chemistry in this Russian cop/cop buddy film. In this film at least it makes sense for Arnie to have an accent. There is some good lines and the back and forth between these two is pretty funny sometimes. When Jim Belushi plays a cop he puts on this irreverant "I don't like the rules but I get things done" style. It is this style combined with Arnold's "complete objective at all costs" style that makes this film work. The footage that was shot in Red Square is breathtaking, and overall the movie manages to take a basic plot and make it entertaining. On a side note, the holdout gun used by the villian (Ed O'Ross) in the movie is pretty damn cool if you're into that kind of thing. Bottom Line: This is worth getting, or you can rent it every once and awhile if you can only take Arnold for so long.

Walter Hill is a director known for his tough guy action movies (The Warriors, Extreme Prejudice, Southern Comfort) and in the early 80s he scored big with 48 Hours, a story of mis-matched partners working together to catch the bad guys. He repeated that formula again in 1988 with Red Heat, though it had become a regular cliché by this point.

Ivan Danko is a no-nonsense Soviet cop sent to Chicago to extradite a notorious Russian criminal back to Communist soil. While in America he is teamed-up with easy-going Detective Art Ridzik as they jump over new hurdles and suffer multiple setbacks. As an action comedy it offers a fare amount (but just not enough) of laughs and thrills. Big Arn is amusing a the brick-faced Danko and Belushi (in his first of three appearances in Arnie movies) is likable enough. Peter Boyle and a young Laurence Fishburne help appear in smaller roles as Ridzik's cynical superiors, but are not given much else to do. Gina Gershon (yum yum) shows up as a damsel in distress, but extends the plot without deepening it. Even James Horner's score is kind of middle-ground, neither good nor terrible.

There's no real problem or fault with Red Heat except that is just doesn't offer an exhilarating amount of what it sets up. It's so straight-forward and lacking in mystery and intrigue when it could so easily have written in. A bit of a missed-opportunity, but certainly worth watching and owning for action and Arnie fans.

Red Heat, starring Arnold "Sir Accents-a-lot" Schwarzenegger, is a peculiar film on many levels. Released just a year before the fall of the Soviet Union, it stars a famous American actor with Austrian origins as a tough Russian cop traveling to USA in order to fetch a Soviet criminal that has escaped there. Just, think about that for a moment. Arnold as a Soviet cop, trying to do a Russian accent. If that doesn't sell the movie to you, nothing will.

But, does it work? Well, in a word, yes. It follows the usual Schwarzenegger formula in that there's a lot of action, one-liners, muscular men going mano-a-mano, cheesy 80s music and wanton destruction of civic property. It's not the best movie Arnold has ever done, but it is a good example of his typical ware.

The side characters are also a lot of fun, and I do like that the script paints Arnold as a good guy, making this one of the few Cold War era Hollywood films where the main actor is both a Soviet and the good guy. There's no snark aimed at his nation. There are of course jokes about him being from the Soviet Union, but just as many jokes are played at the expense of the Americans, and they're never mean-spirited or trying to put the two nations against one another.

All in all Red Heat is a classic 80s action film with some surprising elements that elevate it above its peers. Worth a watch for all action fans.