Giochi di guerra

I'm a big fan of Burt Reynolds and his performance and presence is the best thing about this otherwise run of the mill cheap action flick. For action fans there is quite a bit of gunplay, explosions and hand to hand fighting. It wasn't done well enough to make up for the film's other shortcomings. This was pretty poorly written and with the exception of Burt, really poorly acted. Raven is nothing special, but actors need to work and I'm sure it got Burt a paycheck.

A very tired looking Burt Reynolds plays a mercenary battling his former employers for some gizmo these non-heroes plan to sell to "the Iranians." Low-rent video nonsense by the producers of "Silk Stalkings" offers some decent action footage and a lot of ineptly staged "drama"...a lack of logic and truly dreadful dialogue are the defining aspects, although the final twists and allegiance shifts could've been a nifty end to a better movie. Burt still has presence, although it also means you notice more when he mouths insultingly half-baked "one-liners".

This movie is bad, but in the best possible sense of the word. The dialogue is so terrible that it's hilarious. Interestingly, two of the movie's stars, Matt Battaglia and Krista Allen (who is totally hot), appeared in many scenes together in the NBC daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives." All I can say about Burt Reynolds is: Thank goodness he redeemed himself with "Boogie Nights." I have one main recommendation about this movie: Rent it, don't buy it. Unless you rent it and truly believe you'll want to watch it multiple times, don't waste any more money than the cost of a rental. It's entertaining, but for me, it certainly doesn't demand multiple viewings the way many of my favorite movies do.

If you loved other Burt Reynolds action flicks like "Malone" or "Stick", which of course you did or you wouldn't be reading this, you'll like this one. Burt plays Jerome Katz, AKA "The Raven", an assassin for the government. When his latest mission busts, he goes underground. He turns up a few years later as a mercenary who plays by his own rules. His newest job is kill Martin Grant (Matt Battaglia) who is a fugitive. As usual, it doesn't go as planned. The best action sequence was in the beginning, so watch out for that. "Boogie Nights" was only a few years away at this point.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I had actually never heard about this 1996 action movie titled "Raven" before now in 2023 as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. Initially I picked up the movie because I saw Burt Reynolds on the movie's cover. And since I had never seen it, of course I opted to watch what director Russell Solberg had to offer.

Writer Joe Hart actually put together a fair enough script and storyline for "Raven". Sure, it wasn't the most of innovative storylines, and it was a somewhat generic mid-1990s action movie for sure, but it was still watchable and enjoyable enough for what it turned out to be.

While "Raven" isn't Burt Reynolds best movie, it was actually a fair enough movie to his name. He carried himself and the movie well enough, taking into consideration the type of movie that this was.

There were a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, aside from Burt Reynolds. And the acting performances in the movie were actually fair enough.

"Raven" is, however, hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing, unless you are a diehard fan of Burt Reynolds, I guess.

My rating of "Raven" lands on a five out of ten stars.