Lo scudo umano

A seemingly innocent man is taken hostage by a Saddam Hussein look-a-like who then proceeds to hold him to lure his special forces brother back to Iraq in order to gain vengeance for his past vendetta. However our hero takes the bait and returns to Iraq to get his brother out and he's prepared to do whatever it takes. The Human Shield actually believe it or not went to movie theaters. I myself saw it on video but it did actually reach a few cinemas, of course there was no advertisement (Aside from Chuck Norris' Hit-man which showed a trailer) and therefore it was more of a straight to video product. That being said this movie works somewhat as an actioner but hardly as a gulf war drama which the material is treated as. As far Dudikoff movies go, he's actually in decent form here and there are some cheesy fun moments which surface but mainly it's like watching the obvious take place. Although the movie is consistently watchable through out.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Michael Dudikoff stars as Doug Matthews a soldier who returns to Iraq to save his brother Ben (Tommy Hinkley) from a sadistic Saddam Hussein look alike who is using him as bait to get revenge on Doug in this mildly diverting Dudikoff actioner which starts off slow but provides a few good twists and is less racist then most. Steve Inwood is especially good here.

I have to admit that i was pleasantly surprised upon renting this movie. It seemed like just another crappy b-action that Dudikoff usually stars in. Exept from some small mistakes such as the title The Human Shield, which was totally wrong for the movie it was a good action movie. Dudikoff goes to Iraq to rescue his brother who has been taken hostage by a crazy general as payback against Dudikoff for an earlier altercation. See this if you are able to find it.

This was reportedly the first fictional film to deal with the Persian Gulf War. It even was shown in the theaters. Still , it's more of a straight to video product. This movie doesn't work either as an actioner or war drama. Too bad . It could have been fun movie in style of "Rambo 2".

"The Human" shield finds Michael Dudikoff ("American ninja") heading to the Middle East when his brother is taken prisoner just as he's about to leave Iraq with his wife and daughter. The acting here is surprisingly decent and the movie looks really OK for a low budget production.

Aside from the good location this movie is nothing more than a boring low-budget pile cliché. Veteran director Ted Post ("Magnum force") directs the movie very badly. It drags all the time. There is some action in this movie , but it lasts about ten minutes and certainly isn't impressive. The movie is so predictable and boring that you wonder why they even made it in the first place. This is a rescue movie with all the clichés in the world . Yes , even the love interest of main hero is connected to the villain. I've already seen that set up in a hundred other movies.

It's boring right from its ridiculous beginning to its very poorly done end. I give it 1/10.

The first film to be made that references the Gulf War, THE HUMAN SHIELD finds Dudikoff heading to the Middle East when his brother is taken prisoner just as he's about to leave Iraq with his wife and daughter. Like any good brother, Dudikoff gets mad and decides to kick butt in his quest to free his little brother. Sneaking his way into the country, Dudikoff sets out to track down the diabolical dictator who headed the abduction and provide a good example of family values. Though I haven't seen the film in a while, I remember it moving pretty well and containing some decent action scenes, and I recall the climactic fight between big brother and big bad guy (in the big bad guy's stronghold, of course) to be pretty exciting.