oscarlawren

Typically period-movie, not very good, not exceedingly bad, clear division between the good and the bad. Story about a handful of mercenaries supplying revolution to south- America. Simon Bolivar and Rambo in one package. Anyone familiar with the Stallone vehicle The Expendables will recognize the similarities between this picture and the Expendables fighting El Presidente. This might be called the unauthorized prequel so to say without the bravado and speed of the Stallone picture. Not very uplifting, cliché-filled, but worth every teenage penny, if you like the thrill to be fast and easy and like the old style novel with torn banknotes and honour-killings. I lacked the patience to concentrate dully on this movie, harvested from a rumble sale. Not memorable and soon forgotten. Nicer period-character is Mrs Fletcher from Murder she Wrote. Thrown in the problem of US POW's after withdrawing from Nam, solving it with an ambush and killing th bad guys.

A movie about the power of guilt and shame, and the resolute and ruthless exploitation of an obsessed person, who is mentally very vulnerable. This picture is an attempt at shooting a picture in the best tradition of Hitchcock' Dial M for murder. But here no hysteria, no black suspense and no gallant gestures a la Rex Harrison. An interesting movie despite the nasty reviews the picture got in the Netherlands.. Still, the characters of the policemen are rather sketchy, and the helpful janitor is not as homely as one believes. So, what is the problem with this movie? I think it is lack of passion, Hitchcock submerged passion in a polar sea, yet it was fiery. Too many crooks and vileness behind sociable masks are not good for the popularity of a work of art. And that, 19th century writers already knew. Anyway, still an enjoyable picture..

This picture builds on the many years of SciFi entertainment and borrows its metaphors seemingly from cult-series as StarTrek.. The main idea of the storyline is that the earth is nothing but the coast of pioneer America. And it is visited by alien Conquistadores after the poor Indians, us, stupid earthlings, and people like civil servants, scientists and NASA, have sent an invitation to the Planet G. So then the game can begin.. The hero in this fantasy is a lost, bright kid, who knows his Homer. This kid is on the loose, but saved by joining the navy, and he learns humility in due process, fighting aliens. The aliens appear to be modeled on Klingons crossed with Transformers, who fly in bug-like vehicles. Locusts? So, the plague is here. But hey, we stupid humans send out the invitation to come and eat at our table. Nothing better than the old Greek Hybris. Hey surprise, from deep-space they have come... Hence we need to be saved by drastic measures, courage, panache, old veterans and an old battleship. Unbelievable..? Well.. These creatures who can fly great distances haven't caught the earth on their radar before. Anyway, lots of fairytale stuff but amusing movie. Great for the kids, because no sex, no lap-dancing, no F-words, only square decent americanship. Entertainment for the boys on a rainy day, with gungho and geronimo, and some pumping of the adrenaline. Rihanna included.