Dark Angel: Ángel de la muerte

You can say what you want about Dolph Lundgren - yes, he's made some HORRIBLE movies and at times can make Keanu Reeves look talented - but I Come in Peace is a sizeable cut above the rest of his body of work. The plot is OK, has a few interesting touches but just as many derivative ones, but that's not what makes this film so good. It is the entertaining interaction of Lundgren and Brian Benben - their constantly ripping each other and acting macho, it's hilarious. And the other supporting characters are fun to watch, too, from Matthias Hues as the one note alien heavy, to Jay Bilas as the alien good guy, to the hilarious Mark Lowenthal as Bruce, the paranoid scientist genius. Even Lundgren gets into the act with some awesome one-liners that even Ah-nuld would be proud to have uttered. A 5-star B-movie classic!

Big Dolph Lundgren tackles even bigger Matthias Hues in this fairly enjoyable sci-fi outing from 1990.

Our Dolph plays a tough cop who inadvertently becomes involved in a spot of alien trouble after a hulking interplanetary miscreant murders a group of bad guys Dolph was staking out (and high tales it with the haul of heroin they had in their possession). Why would an alien want heroin you may well ask? Well, it turns out that our alien bad boy has discovered a rather gruesome method of producing an even more powerful drug via it's utilisation.....he simply shoots up unwilling victims and then sucks out their resulting endorphin enriched cranial fluids which he intends to sell back home (where ever that may be)!!!

Hardly impressed with this, Dolph decides to investigate this grisly case but finds himself constantly undermined by a number of shady factions entering the fray.

Matters eventually come to a head when our two mighty leads battle it out in a factory setting (a popular location for action film finales) and Dolph gets to fire off the obligatory final quip before sending his alien nemesis into oblivion.

OK, despite the intriguing premise this is utterly ridden with clichés - the new cop partner, troubles with the girlfriend etc etc etc. Added to this Dolph's acting abilities are somewhat less than spectacular. However.....the film works despite it's many flaws and proves to serve as a fun ninety or so minutes.

At the end of the day, what more could you ask for? Check it out.

You've got to like 80's Sci-Fi to really appreciate movies like this. I rank it right up there with Terminator, Hawk The Slayer, The Guyver, Highlander, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for good, hilarious sci-fi fun.

No, I don't think the mainstream public would like a movie like this, but if you like B-rated horror movies & sci-fi, then you should find this one to your liking too. Beastmaster, Krull, and many other movies from that era come to mind when I see this one.

Wonder if it's available on DVD yet....nope. Darn. Maybe one day.

8 out of 10 stars.

An alien humanoid is murdering citizens of Houston to gather stocks of a rare drug only found in the human brain. With the help of a FBI Agent a Vice Cop sets out to stop the killer, whatever the cost.

Director Craig R. Baxley's Dark Angel or Stateside known as I Come In Peace is entertaining and of its time. Written by Jonathan Tydor and Leonard Maas Jr. Dark Angel is surprisingly above average for a sci/fi thriller for the time. The character of Jack Caine played by Dolph Lundgren is partially fleshed out and tries it's hardest to go against the 80's stereotype macho cop.

The other characters are well rounded but it's the delivery and how the actors realise some of the characters that skewer the production including Lundgren. That said, aliens Azeck (the Good Alien) Jay Bilas and (Bad) Talec played menacingly by Matthias Hues steals the show. With his size, white eyes and hair Hues' composure Talec is particularly creepy.

The unlikely pairing of Caine and FBI Agent Smith add that buddy cop element synonymous with action films, similar to Red Heat and Alien Nation and although worn adds some humour. There's an over powering sometime misplaced and intrusive score, that said the lasso extraction and insertion/extraction spike effect are basic but effectively done and sci-fi fans will get a kick out of the spinning blade reminiscent of Predator 2.

There's lots of explosions, gun-play, chases and clichés aside, the partner murdered, cop suspension, no one believes to name a few there's a good science fiction tale.

While by no means a masterpiece, this is entertaining from start to finish. With a running time of about 90 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome, and its fast pace and surprises prevent you from being bored at any point in it. There are a ton of clichés, but the story is pretty original. Brian Benben(whom, I won't lie to you, was the thing I most looked forward to seeing in this, and I wasn't disappointed) is the procedural jerk, and Dolph is the cop who plays by his own rules. The action is excellent and thoroughly enjoyable, with shoot-outs, car-chases and some physical fighting. The editing is fairly good for this sort of thing, and the camera-work is never downright poor. This is non-committal, guilty pleasure fun throughout the entire thing, and that is reflected in the dialog, the characters, the acting, etc. There is a bit of quirk here and there in the writing. I will not give away too much of the plot; all I'll say is that there is, indeed, an alien(with bad-ass weaponry) in this, and the flick is a blast to watch. There is plenty of strong language and a little nudity, and both are gratuitous. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys kicking back with something simple that clearly had effort put into making it something that delivers what it promises. 6/10