À contre-courant

I'm a big Lorenzo Lamas fan so I'm going to love anything he does. This picture was different from the kind of films he usually is in (macho action stuff). This was more like a twist and turn type thriller and I loved him in it. I thought the way the film was sold was very misleading however (it was sold like an action film). I was pleasantly surprised but think it was unfairly marketed. Other than the story I thought the picture really looked great. The director and cinematographer did a very nice job.

Starring Lorenzo Lamas, Brenda Strong(Seinfeld's braless wonder) and Frank Vincent, Undercurrent is an intense, sun-splashed, psycho-sexual thriller filled with intrigue and an array of cagey characters. The film has plenty of twists and unexpected scenes. Great locations and cinematogopry capture the fascinating urban locations of historic old San Juan, elegant hotels, palatian homes, picturesque seascapes, and even the cockfight colleseum. This is a change of pace film for Lamas and he carries the role very well.

Liked the story (James Hardley Chase type - likeable guy falls in trouble because of beautiful women and riches) and also liked the location. Brenda Strong was amazing!

Ending was a bit contrived though.

Mike Aguayo(Lamas) is a strange combination of naive friend and ex-cop,ex-con. He's got a good heart but he's a little weak on the moral issues. There is the friend(ex-partner) who is setting him up for the second time. There is the girl who loves him and the woman he is being paid to seduce but who he would willingly follow on his own without any kind of encouragement. In fact, the harder time she gives him the more he has to have her. But she is the one who has him just where she wants him. Thank God for a fair minded police detective with even better instincts who is willing to put himself on the line to find the truth! It would be wrong not to mention bedroom scenes with both women. I'm still trying to figure what it is they are doing in the first one!

This movie is misguiding, since this is not your brainless action flick Lorenzo "I have a father and a mother too" Lamas is associated with. The problem is that, instead, we get a boring, slow-moving, predictable "suspense" with a plot straight out of zillions direct-to-video movies, where Lamas' "interpretation" of his "character" sinks it to new depths (who ever asked him to be an actor anyway ?) The only good point for this turkey are the competent diirection and good cinematography - plus the fact that the French video wasn't pan&scanned.