Asalto a Beverly Hills

I remember when I walked into the video store when this movie first came out and how excited I was to see it. I had been such a great fan of Die Hard and I have always been a fan of the one good guy against a billion bad guy type of movies. Well, I am sorry to day that this movie is bad. The plot is extremely unrealistic. The special effects are elementary and the acting is very, very, very bad. But it is still fun to watch one guy go up against an army. If you are a real fan of the genre then I would suggest renting this. If you are a so-so fan or less. Find sometihng worth while.

Ken Wahl plays "Boomer" Hayes, a football star who must become the unlikely hero when the owner of his team, "Bat" Masterson (veteran screen villain Robert Davi), masterminds a false toxic spill in order to get Beverly Hills residents evacuated from their homes. Thus, the empty homes will be ripe for looting by Mastersons' many minions (consisting largely of disgruntled ex-cops). "Boomer" teams up with Kelvin (Matt Frewer), a uniformed BH Cop, who was in on the scheme but took a powder when things got violent. All night long they must dodge attempts on their lives while heading for a showdown with the ambitious criminal.

"The Taking of Beverly Hills" is an amusing credit for veteran Canadian-born filmmaker Sidney J. Furie ("The Ipcress File", "The Entity", "Iron Eagle"). It's WAY over the top in terms of destruction; get a load of all the damage that henchman Benitez (Branscombe Richmond) does while trying to dispose of our heroes. It takes stupidity, implausibility, and chaos to glorious levels, and will likely have its viewers grinning and shaking their heads in equal measure. Fortunately, this is one movie that knows damn well how ridiculous it is, and makes up for in pace and energy level what it lacks in brains.

It begins appropriately enough, with Frewer doing voice-over for a credits sequence that is both a kind of love letter to, and critical assessment of, BH. It benefits the most from Davis' smooth performance as a bad guy who REALLY wants to be accepted by the elite of BH, including the fat-cat father (William Prince) of the sexy lady (Harley Jane Kozak) whom Davi covets. In another character detail, he also happens to be asthmatic.

The supporting cast includes such familiar faces as punk rock star Lee Ving, Lyman Ward (Mr. Bueller in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), Tarantino favourite Michael Bowen, Wahls' "Wanderers" co-star Tony Ganios, Ken Swofford ('Fame'), Michael Alldredge ("The Incredible Melting Man"), and George Wyner ("Spaceballs") as the BH mayor. Pamela Anderson has an uncredited bit as a cheerleader.

Richmond makes such a nuisance of himself in his efforts to eliminate Wahl and Frewer that it's an utter shame that his comeuppance isn't a lot more glorious.

Ultimately, it's all a little too silly for its own good, but it's definitely not boring.

Six out of 10.

If you love high octane B-Movies, then this one's for you. It's a relentlessly paced onslaught of huge explosions and action that never let's up. It's also highly absurd and totally ridiculous, which is what makes it so great! You really have to suspend all disbelief and just check your brain at the door because common sense was not a factor when writing the scrip. It's dumb, but also so much fun. It wears it's early 90's vibe on it's sleeve (mullets!), and easily one of the most enjoyable Die Hard knockoff's out there, not to mention on a visual level, it looks fantastic. Yeah it may be unintentionally hilarious because of how absurd it is, or how totally ridiculous scenario's are what drive the film forward, but again, it rules because stuff get's blown up on a minute to minute basis and it's kind of hilarious, awesome, and ridiculous all at the same time.

I had to give credit to Ken Wahl on the lead performance as a quarterback football player. To me, whenever I see this movie, it kind of asks me this question... "How can one man go through an entire night of running from the bad guys that are robbing the city of Beverly Hills as if this is some kind of real life-or-death football game all of a sudden?" Well, I don't have the answer to that one just yet.

Overall rating: 6 out of 10.

Not a bad film, a fairly unlikely plot (though it's not alone here!) and what I'd call watchable. However I don't think it does Ken Wahl justice as he's a good, natural actor which this part doesn't give him the scope to display. I was surprised to see Ken with a pretty unflattering hairstyle (and brown haired too!) and hear his less than deep voice in this. Would hardly have recognised him in fact. Sadly a good actor can't save a mediocre script and nothing-special direction.

This movie will insult your intelligence. Mindless action movie or not. This is a 4 year olds dream of a hero fantasy that makes no sense and it's not even enjoyably bad. It's bad bad.