The Zone

Ben Gazzara's mustache and three-piece suit frame retired Air Force pilot Robert Davi and forces him to sleep with Lara Harris and destroy Alexander Godunov's nuclear plant, where he is producing weapons-grade plutonium. That's because the CIA mustn't be blamed for doing anything nasty. There's location shooting in Hungary, Miss Harris running in high heels, the usual machine guns that work only when the good guys handle them, a score dominated by electric guitar, and eventually shots of military planes flying around each other.

Davi talks to himself a lot so we know what he's thinking. Godunov is evil and creepy. Miss Harris is pretty. In case you couldn't guess, I wasn't particularly impressed by this by-the-numbers movie.

First off I'm probably more kinder to this type of Low-budget film because i grew up watching & loving them & loved seeing all the cool artwork of B-movies in video stores back in the 90's.

Also I'm a big fan of the underrated Robert Davi as i loved him in Maniac Cop 2&3 & Raw Deal & The Bad Pack & Die Hard & Predator 2 & many more Awesome films. Davi was a guy i loved to see in anything & he was a regular face in many movies i grew up watching.

The ultra cool Davi here plays a Former Gulf War hero named Rowdy Welles & is framed for murder by slimy CIA boss Dick Althorp played by Ben Gazzara (Road House). For his own freedom, Welles is sent on a mission to destroy a nuclear processing plant run by Eurotrash terrorist Lothar Krasna played by Alexander Godunov (Die Hard, The Runeston, Waxwork 2) but it won't be easy. I liked the main European villain Lother as he was very sinister & very untrustworthy lol & i liked the chilly bleak winter look of the film that gives a cold-blooded feel to the movie. The story is very basic & been done many times, it's a good American on a mission in a dangerous foreign country but because its Davi the film is more enjoyable.

There is some scenes that drag on abit & some jet fighter sequences that go on abit to long but all in all The Zone is a decent little Conspiracy thriller & a fun B-movie.

Honestly Robert Davi is at his Coolest here, he smokes cigars alot (would make Columbo proud) he wears a suit, he's sarcastic with a witty sense of humour & is brutal at the drop of a hat lol. Davi reminded me of a low-rent version of James Bond & you can see that although this is a low-budget DTV B-movie, Davi was having so much fun getting to be the cool lead in his own movie. Davi really was a cool action hero of the B-movie genre & in todays high-tech world & CGI infested cinema he remains a great Retro action star of the great video era.

My top 3 Robert Davi movies would be: The Bad Pack, The Zone & Under Surveillance, but he's great in pretty much everything.

Also i really liked the music score.

Not bad considering it's low budget limitations. It's a solid movie that tells it's story well and Robert Davi does a good jod as the lead roll. The action scenes are well put together but the ariel stuff is a mix of re-used material. Worth a watch for 90's action fans and also as a tribute to Alexander Godunov, who sadly passed away not long after release.