Point Men

(2001) The Point Men THRILLER

Adapted from a novel "The Heat of Ramadan" by Steven Hartov which opens with a failed assassination attempt at a Palestinian terrorist led by anti- terrorist covert, Tony Eckhardt (Christopher Lambert). It turns out the intended target, Amar Kamil (Vincent Regan), and as a result of not knowing what he actually looks like, he is able to turn the tables and execute each member from Eckhardt's team.

Some of those executions conducted by the terrorist outsmarting the anti-terrorist unit was 100% avoidable, any one of them can be used as bait to lure the terrorist to them. It was dumb from the beginning.

The movie Point Men is essentially a start to finish action movie. Director John Glen gives a trademark stylish view of terrorism set in the middle east. The story is horrific, and even more so knowing it's actually based on a true story.

Cinematographer Alec Mills makes the film look very real and gives it the air it needs in forming an atmosphere that's both nice to watch and somewhat difficult to look at as it depicts the tone of violence in an very effective way.

Although the film has obvious lack of budget, John Glen somehow manages to make an effective action film that mainly look gloss and feature some breathtaking driving sequences.

It has, in glimpses, a sort of Glen's Bond feel to it. The performance from C.Lambert is at his best. Although that doesn't say too much as I have a sneaking suspicion he just about always acts as himself.

I'd give it a 7/10 for it's Glen/Mills/Lambert touch.

Hard to believe that the director of this film was once trusted with directing some of the films in the James Bond series. This is a worse than average action film, badly written, acted and directed. The subject is of an Israeli anti-terrorist squad mistakenly targeting the wrong man, and as a result its members becoming the target of a revenge series of murders. The way the Israeli ambiance and individuals are being described is completely wrong, and the complete idealization of the Israeli side does not help. The Middle East conflict is much more complex than a good vs. bad guys gun fight, but even for an action movie there are not too many new, unexpected or interesting things to be seen. A waste of time - 3 out of 10 on my personal scale.

Me being a huge fan of Lamberts movies I decided to splash out and buy "The Point Men" for a mere £2.98.

I wasn't expecting too much from this movie. I had a suspicion it would be just another dumb B-movie action movie...and I was correct.

At times, I drifted off while watching "The Point Men". At times this movie seemed quite confusing. I also experienced deja-vu on numerous occasions during this movie, it had a "seen it all before" feel to it.

But when I compare The Point Men to some of Lambert's earlier movies such as Gunmen, Road Flower, and even the dreadful Highlander II (the first Highlander is a classic)then The Point Men doesn't seem all that bad.

Overall, there's nothing special about The Point Men, it's just another low budget action movie with little purpose but I have to say, it's certainly not the worst "terrorist" action movie I've seen.

And whats with that ridiculous moustache Lambert wears towards the end?!?

5/10

THE POINT MEN, made in 2001, is an action vehicle centred around waning star Christopher Lambert, whose HIGHLANDER days were long behind him by this stage. The plot is very much run of the mill for genre, involving a shifty Middle Eastern villain who's got a vendetta against a team of crack operatives, and it's all very familiar. But there's one thing that makes this special: the presence of Bond director John Glen at the helm.

Yes! Incredibly enough, Glen's star has also fallen far enough for him to be reduced to this kind of low-budget fare. That's great news for the film, which incorporates a series of stunning action sequences which are clearly handled by a master director; the opening chase is particularly vivid and exciting, good enough to rival Glen's work on the Bond films a couple of decades earlier.

As the story progresses I found myself highly entertained, purely down to the direction. The bit with the truck is also excellent, and if it does tail off a bit towards the end then that's forgivable. Cast-wise, Lambert gives a typical turn, leaving me with the usual impression: that he's a nice guy, but that he doesn't have much presence. Kerry Fox is miscast, but GAME OF THRONES star Donald Sumpter lends some gravitas and Vincent Regan is ever decent, this time as the bad guy. Watch out for former Bond girl Maryam d'Abo in a minor role...