Mörderisches Doppelspiel

This was a very disappointing film. I expect a lot more from Martin Sheen. The plot was week. Oh, and the long winded lectures from "bad guys" justifying their actions...give me a break. The producers slapped the name SHEEN on the title and didn't pay attention to the story line.

This should have been a good film. Fine actors, a fair story line, violence and guns a plenty.

I hope no-one in Law Enforcement sees this one.

How did the Sheens get their police jobs? Incompetent doesn't describe their performances. I'm a big fan of shootouts, especially the John Woo style with vast expenditure of ammunition, but these were insultingly bad.

Charlie does justify his appalling aim in a scene with his wife where he tells her that he is coming home to his family rather than spending time at the firing range. (He should have spent half the film there if you ask me)

There is a scene where it occurs to me that someone had reduced the powder loads in their ammunition to the point that they bounce off car body panels at 5 metres. (This also explains why the guns jam, there isn't enough power to work the action)

I could have done better. Even I could hit a van at 5 metres!

Watching this will have you squirming with embarrassment for the Sheens, and wanting to help them shorten the film by an hour by actually aiming at things.

SPOILERS (maybe)

It may have sounded like an interesting idea at the time to pair up 'The Two Sheen's', but let's face it, the result is not really worth the effort. Believe it or not, the two of them actually look very uncomfortable together and are very mismatched.

As you'd expect, the film churns out flipped over cars, exploding buildings, lesbian Chinese-American psycho's etc. etc., but what cannot be excused is the 'man not spending enough time with his family' routine (hasn't that been done before somewhere?!!).

The highlight of the film for me was probably the sound effect of the stomach stabbing near the beginning - very impressive and dramatically OTT. Good stuff. Those 'whoosh' cuts on the other hand...

But as ever with action films, one important question arises from the experience, and here it is: why do police officers insist on taking their own polished cars out on dangerous police work when they know they're gonna be rained with bullets?

Charlie Sheen produced this home movie starring his father (Martin Sheen), his uncle (Joe Estevez) and himself. This is a B-minus film about dirty cops involved in a drug deal. Almost everything about this film is second rate. The story is predictable and unoriginal. The dialogue is mindless and insipid. The photography is dull and the music is awful. The only redeeming elements are the stunts and pyrotechnics, which are reasonably well done.

The acting is mediocre at best. Charlie Sheen is often embarrassingly bad, leaving his dad to carry the film. Uncle Joe is just a throw in to keep the family employed and adds nothing to the film. The three drug goons are wretched.

Charlie Sheen's once bright career continues to grind gears with this clunker. I rated it a 4/10. Action lovers might enjoy it, but others will want to pass.

I had heard about this movie a few years ago, yet I was never able to find it on video. After all but giving up on seeing it, I found it on PPV one day. Without hesitation, I purchased it. I wasn't expecting much from the movie, but being a Charlie Sheen fan, I thought that it was at least worth a viewing.

I was pleasantly surprised while I was watching it. Now, make no bones about it, this movie won't win any awards and Charlie Sheen is certainly no Tom Hanks, but the material and the stars are a good match. (Although Mark Dacascos is sadly underused.)

Some good action sequences and a strong subplot involving Sheen's relationship with his estranged wife and daughter as well as his father make for a well rounded "B" action film. This is the movie that redeemed Sheen in my eyes after the debacle that was "Free Money".

At just over an hour and a half, the film doesn't overstay it's welcome, and a few comical moments spread throughout the movie are welcome. Overall, on a scale of 1 - 10 (1 being "Hanging Up" and 10 being "Gone in Sixty Seconds), "No Code of Conduct" rates an 8.