The Point Men

(2001) The Point Men THRILLER

Adapted from a novel "The Heat of Ramadan" by Steven Hartov which opens with a failed assassination attempt at a Palestinian terrorist led by anti- terrorist covert, Tony Eckhardt (Christopher Lambert). It turns out the intended target, Amar Kamil (Vincent Regan), and as a result of not knowing what he actually looks like, he is able to turn the tables and execute each member from Eckhardt's team.

Some of those executions conducted by the terrorist outsmarting the anti-terrorist unit was 100% avoidable, any one of them can be used as bait to lure the terrorist to them. It was dumb from the beginning.

Rare are the authors that are able to create a vivid movie about the clashes of Israeli hitmen and Arab terrorists. 007 - veteran John Glen joined the legion of these greats with his latest feature THE POINT MEN. "Ripley Highsmith"`s script (based on Steve Hartov`s novel THE HEAT OF RAMADAN) served as an exceptional reason for the reunion of the reliable B - cast that doesn`t even warm the bench in the mainstream cinema these days. Action fans eventually got an opportunity to enjoy a pretty smart conception of heartwarming cliches from the , allegedly dead, MOSSAD - genre that was revived by an intelligent script, above average budget and Glen`s crafty direction of gunfights and car chases where bullets really hit the flesh and real cars get smashed up. No comment belongs out of this statement. There`s just home cinema for all those action buffs who craved for a good flip of an expensive Mercedes ever since McTiernan`s DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE.

THE POINT MEN, made in 2001, is an action vehicle centred around waning star Christopher Lambert, whose HIGHLANDER days were long behind him by this stage. The plot is very much run of the mill for genre, involving a shifty Middle Eastern villain who's got a vendetta against a team of crack operatives, and it's all very familiar. But there's one thing that makes this special: the presence of Bond director John Glen at the helm.

Yes! Incredibly enough, Glen's star has also fallen far enough for him to be reduced to this kind of low-budget fare. That's great news for the film, which incorporates a series of stunning action sequences which are clearly handled by a master director; the opening chase is particularly vivid and exciting, good enough to rival Glen's work on the Bond films a couple of decades earlier.

As the story progresses I found myself highly entertained, purely down to the direction. The bit with the truck is also excellent, and if it does tail off a bit towards the end then that's forgivable. Cast-wise, Lambert gives a typical turn, leaving me with the usual impression: that he's a nice guy, but that he doesn't have much presence. Kerry Fox is miscast, but GAME OF THRONES star Donald Sumpter lends some gravitas and Vincent Regan is ever decent, this time as the bad guy. Watch out for former Bond girl Maryam d'Abo in a minor role...

I have seen most of Christopher Lamberts movies. I have several favourites like "Highlander 1-3" (of course, Resurrection, Fortress and "The Hunted". I think that "Fortress 2" wasn´t that good, so I really was looking forward to this movie. Lambert plays the agent Tony from Israel(!), he is hunting a terrorist with his group. They kill a guy, who they think is the terrorist but Tony is sure that they have killed the wrong dude. One by one the terrorist (with his new plasticsurgery-face) kills Tonys groupmembers. It´s easy to understand what will happen next. The filming is like they have made the film with a handycam. It is very low-budget-style when they have their carchase in the beginning of the film. Lamberts performance is very solid and I really hope that he will find a better script, because the other film he has made this year also became a sad story for us Lambert-fans. We want you back in the parts that made you the one you are today. Like in "Knight moves", "The Hunted" or "resurrection". It doesnt have to be a fantastic story like in "Beowulf" or "Mortal Kombat" but something that you can understand and still is very exciting. I can not say other than that this movie was a cheap try to make a political thriller. 4 / 10

Point men is a low budget Action Thriller with Christopher Lambert as the lead & it's good fun. I usually always like Lambert movies but like all Actors he has done some terrible films & i know he is usually found in low budget straight to video type movies but hey that doesn't mean they are all bad. Lambert is very cool here in Point men & lifts the film up to a better level of quality by him starring in it & that is because Lambert brings a serious & tense tone to his performance's!!!! This is an action Thriller with bursts of bloody violence about a known terrorist who is believed to be dead but is not who has come back for revenge by killing off Lamberts team called The Foreign Legion & it's up to Lambert to start hunting him down in a game of cat & mouse in true double crossing spy style!!! It's obviously low budget but made well enough & with some really brutal & bloody scenes & a tense atmosphere & a really good performance by Christopher Lambert so yes a worth it watching or buying Thriller. The best Lambert has ever been is in the cult classic prison sci-fi thriller FORTRESS (1992) i don't think he has ever beaten his intense performance in that excellent movie but he is usually good most films such as ADRENALINE: FEAR THE RUSH (1996) another dark sci-fi action Thriller i think lambert is best in dark sci-fi action Thrillers but he's still a very cool & intense actor & he's very good here in The Point Men.