Danger - Keine Zeit zum Sterben

Should have been called PLENTY OF TIME TO TALK. Ted Barner (John Phillip Law) is hired by a company to transport a freaking' laser cannon across Indonesia to a mine. Accompanying him are old pal Ratno (Barry Prima), company exec Martin Forster (Horst Janson of CAPTAIN KRONOS) and nosy reporter Judy (Grazyna Dylong). On the chase is Barner's angry former partner Von Clef (Winfried Glatzeder), who has been hired by Mr. Gull (Christopher Mitchum) to steal the device. Things get even more convoluted when our team receives word the mine needs the cannon, like, now because some miners are trapped and - cue ominous trumpets - Forster's brother is among them.

Law, Prima, Janson, Mitchum! This should have been killer, right? Sadly, that is not the case. A German-Indonesian co-production, you can see they are trying to do THE WAGES OF FEAR (or SORCERER, for that matter) but it is neither intense or thrilling. The first 40 minutes are spent setting up that relatively simple plot and absolutely nothing happens. It is also the kind of movie where characters talk about how important the item they are transporting is, yet they haul it around on an open flatbed. Mitchum gets in his contractually obligated Lanky White Guy Fu towards the end. Law is actually likable and shows a personality here, which is strange to me. Freakin' not giving Barry Prima a single kick to throw? Sacrilegious! Seriously, if I ever sent this to someone, I would type up a small plot paragraph so they know who everyone is and tell them to start at 40 minutes in. Nicht gut, Herr Director.

My review was written in June 1986 after watching the film on Trans World Entertainment video cassette.

"No Time to Die" is a low-energy, instantly disposable action film, one of the endless flow of European features shot in the Far East. Made in Indonesia under the title "Hijacked to Hell" in July 1984, pic manges to be even duller than a Filipino-lensed actioner shot four months later with the same U. S. stars, "American Commandos". Latter pic achieved a theatrical release recently while "No Time" went directly to video cassette.

John Philip Law (the only cast member here who does not sleepwalk) toplines as Ted Barner, a soldier of fortune and a womanizer currently working as a flunky in Indonesia fro Multi Industrial Corp. MIC is planning to test a new laser cannon in a remote mine with Barner, engineer Forster (Horst Janson) and Barner's local pal Lesmany assigned to drive it there.

A rival industrialist from Texas, Jack Gull (Christopher Mitchum, as animated as a zombie), is out to steal the cannon. After a very talky first half, film segues to endlessly boring footage of bad guys chasing the truck. Improbably, a beautiful news agency reporter Judy (Grazyna Dylong) joins up with the truck driving heroes for the trip. A dumb plot twist has miners and scientists trapped in the mine, with the cannon needed pronto to save them.

Poor dubbing helps make this one a deadly experience .

I was travelling in Indonesia in 1984 and got picked up as an extra for a day, filming some of the chases between the two jeeps near Bogor. I've only seen a rough copied version of the film from German TV, but I don't think my scenes made it. I was 19, got paid US$15 plus lunch, and it was great fun! I had to wear a checked shirt and had my hair blackened and plastered down. I had thought I would be one of many extras, but when I turned up outside the backpackers that morning I was the only one. They then checked I could drive, and I was told to drive the jeep at about 70kph up a hill outside Bogor. That turned out to be very fast, so we had to do it again. I often wondered what happened to the film, and then one day found it accidentally browsing this site.

The story, the acting, the stunts are deserving a 10 with a very fat "-" in front of.

The laser gun could be better created by LEGO, the stunts and car chases ( the amateurish without sense and tension )are helping to find minutes in the movie without any dialog, which are absolutely silly... The cast itself with the most unknown ( and untalented ) actors of Germany ( Horst Jansson, known as German anchorman in the German Sesame Street-series of late 70th and early 80th )! Exception is Winfried Glatzeder, but why the actor, who played main character in "The Legend of Paul and Paula", make his signature under a contract for a movie like this could just be explained that he was maybe bankrupt and had to pay his rent, or could not afford a holiday in Indonesia and find his chance with a role in this crap.

At least, the sets of Jakarta ( but a lots of them in the ANCOL holiday park ) and country side of Indonesia are nice, and wasted for a shameful movie like this.

I'm a big fan of b-movies and can forgive a lot of mistakes when the movie is othwerwise unique, funny, memorable, bizarre, or an obvious labor of love. Sadly this movie has almost none of those qualities. Instead it presents a series of unengaging conversations (the English dubbing doesn't even help to entertain) that lead up to an uneventful drive through the Indonesian jungle. Unlike so many other jungle treks this journey provides almost nothing useful in regards to exciting action, interesting dialog or memorable character development. Instead of being a unique and noteworthy product of it's time, "No Time to Die" offers none of the elements that made it's contemporaries (among others "Lady Terminator" and "The Devil's Sword") so successful. It lacks the brutal action of Lady Terminator or the over the top energy of "The Devil's Sword". The only noteworthy scenes are a surprisingly good motorcycle stunt in the first 10 minutes of the movie and a rather well shot scene where the heroes must drive over a perilously decayed bridge. Unless you are a truly dedicated fan of 1980's Indonesian movies I would strongly suggest you pass on this one.