After five young women of Russian descent are brutally murdered, the Los Angeles Police Department contacts Moscow and requests the assistance of one of their best detectives to aid in the investigation. In response, Russia sends "Vladimir Kazatov" (Alexander Nevsky), who always manages to get the job done--one way or another. Sure enough, no sooner does he get to Los Angeles than he manages to get into a gunfight with two armed thugs, leaving one dead and the other severely maimed. That aside, he is quickly paired with a patterns analyst named Emily Smith (Kristanna Loken), who lacks real field experience but compensates for it with her keen understanding of the criminal mind. The problem, however, is that the serial killer has been alerted and is now pursuing them as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie is basically a rehash of the successful Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Red Heat" but with Alexander Nevsky in the lead role instead. He fails miserably. So bad, in fact, that I rank his performance even lower than Jon Voight's attempt at impersonating Al Pacino's "Scarface" in the 1997 movie "Anaconda." Not that it matters, but Jon Voight was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for that performance. Deservedly so, in my opinion. Nevertheless, I didn't enjoy this particular film, and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
