Last Run

I feel kinda sorry that LAST RUN didn`t get a theatrical release. It is a perfect B-film that Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckeheimer should be churning out between blockbusters. Hickox masterfully direct East European locations, as good as Michael Oblowitz on a good day.

The plot is straight eighties spy yarn. A team of ex-CIA enforcers are hired to extract a former Soviet bigwig that has some useful post-Cold War know-how. The team is led by hardboiled Assante who lost his wife in the last extraction job.

The script follows the plot and gives us enough detail to care for the characters, gives us enough suspense and twists to care for the plot and sets up some nice action set-pieces.

Sadly, Hickox never cut it in mainstream Hollywood and his resume is quite mixed, look at bizarre failure JILL RIPPS or INVASION OF YOUR PRIVACY but in this one he does some A-work with a direct-to-video budget. Every set-piece is smart and juggular and able to grip you by the neck and yet never blow early and uncover the flat budget. Give this man a 25-million-per-actioner-Joel-Silver-treatment (ROMEO MUST DIE, EXIT WOUNDS, CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE) and he`ll outgun Bartkowiak by a mile.

The problem with Hickox making it in Hollywood is that his filmography is too hectic for PR managers. The director of JILL RIPPS is a hard-sell. It is so sad that PR schemes are more important than actual movies in contemporary Hollywood. I cherished the times when Anthony`s dad Douglas was making pictures, when directors were either auteurs or anonymous executors hired to make pictures for pictures` sake. And yet I hope there are enough people unaffected by this PR business who can enjoy a good B-movie and consider Hickox an author that he truly is.

I hope Hickox yet unreleased film BLAST! that seems to be heading to theatres proves to be a surprise hit. We need this man back!

My best friend kept telling me about this movie he'd seen with his dad recently, "Last Run" with Armand Assante. So I finally rented it, and I'm glad I did. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it "knows what it is." That is, the filmmakers had a strict budget and it appears they worked hard to get everything they could on-screen without over-reaching themselves. The plot is pretty standard spy stuff--the action and Eastern European locations had me thinking of "Ronin" and "The Bourne Identity"--yet it was compelling to watch (the cemetery firefight was a thing of beauty).

Armand Assante chewed the scenery pretty well, which was a good thing--because when he emotes, he enunciates. But when he falls into his calmer, deep-throated growl, he might as well be speaking gibberish, he's so hard to understand. Again, not a perfect movie, but if you like the post-Cold War spy genre, you'll find this one worth a rental.

I might have enjoyed this movie more if I had been able to understand the dialogue. I THINK it was in English (mostly), but who could tell with all the mushmouths? I expected better from Armand Assante, at least.

Only one actor in this entire movie enunciated clearly enough for me to understand his lines, but unfortunately we don't see him until half way through the film.

That actor was the unforgettable Juergen Prochnow (best known for his role as the U-boat captain in DAS BOOT), as former KGB-chief Andrus Bukarin.

The plot was thin, the good guys were completely unbelievable as covert operatives, the ending was anti-climactic, and some of the scenes were downright laughable (like the one with the English (or was he an Aussie or a Kiwi? I couldn't quite nail the accent) speaking German to a Romanian circus girl).

I suppose this is what I get for being such a Prochnow junkie that I'll watch almost any movie in which he appears.

At least Wing Commander had a few good laughs (and overall excellent acting), particularly the send-up of DAS BOOT.

Dear All, This exceptional movie proves once again who can you trust?. The plot is greatly narrated at times where Armand thoughts come alive. And he wonders at times if serving your country as a spy is really worth the time and trouble. I enjoyed this movie and own a copy on DVD. The places used to shoot various scenes are very pictureque. Although the swearing at times was unnecessary.This a very gritty production and needs your undivided attention to grasp the whole story. Don't look for everything to explode!!! It's a "cold war" thinkers flick and if we really had thought about it there would not have been a cold war.

Keith.Charles@ubs.com

Although Last Run is just another spy/secret agent/cold war movie, it's working pretty well. A team of American and Russian agents try to bring a Russian agent over the borders of the east into the West... of course the Iron Wall doesn't exist anymore in 2001, and Americans and Russians work together, so there are lots of more Gangsters and double agents kicking the butts of our heroes...

The film is thrilling, and the action scenes (lots of great shoot outs) are photographed very well. The score reminds me a lot of John Barry's old James Bond movie soundtracks and adds a certain sixties' feeling to the film. The locations are also unusual, being filmed in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Germany, mostly on the beautiful countryside.

The actors are also well chosen. Instead of taking dumb non-actors like Michael Dudikoff, Dolph Lundgren or Jean-Claude Van Damme for this movie, the director and producers chose mature actors like Armande Assante, Ornela Muti and Juergen Prochnow of "Das Boot" fame as main actors. Assante plays the cool and disillusioned U.S. agent very convincing, and pretty Ornela Muti looks like a stunning, red-haired version of The Avenger's Diana Rigg.

A good secret agent thriller in the wake of Ian Fleming's, Frederik Forsythe's and Colin Forbes' political thrillers that proves that cold war plots are still worth a good movie in the new millennium.