Meio a Meio

Plot: Two bickering mercenaries are hired by the CIA to overthrow a South East Asian dictator.

This film was very surprising to me, I'm not the biggest fan of either actors, but they both have great chemistry with each other. The supporting cast also does a good job playing their roles well. I was very surprised by the action that was in the film considering it was low budget for that time.

This is what buddy films should be like, have a good sense of humor with your characters, make us like them, have a plot that's interesting in order to engage your audience. Give this a chance if you can find it, you won't regret it.

My review was written in February 1993 after a Times Square screening.

"Fifty/Fifty", a thoroughly mediocre actioner, fails to hit the required tongue-in-cheek tone. Obviously video-driven pic is an inauspicious return of Cannon Pictures to the theatrical marketplace after an eight-month hiatus.

Peter Weller and Robert Hays topline as soldiers of fortune in the Far East who are commandeered by the CIA for a mission to depose evil General Bosavi (Dom Magwili) of Tenggara. They cornily train the green troops of rebel leader Akhantar (Kay Tong Lim) while vying for the affections of his niece (Ramona Rahman). Of course the CIA double-crosses them and naturally the duo single handedly save the day.

Structured as an old-fashioned buddy romp, pic shamelessly imitates "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" to ill effect. Charles Martin Smith gives a very wishy-washy reading of the nominal CIA bureaucrat bad guy and directs the film in similarly "who cares?" fashion.

Weller is bland (he was far more expressive in the recent direct-to-video release "Sunset Grill"), while Hays, with perennial chin stubble, is comic relief. Stunts and other tech credits for this Malaysian-lensed opus are adequate.

I really liked this movie the first time I saw it, I found it to be funny, intelligent and highly ironic. However, for some reason I have never really enjoyed it since then and I don't know why.

Charles Martin Smith put together a list of cliches and in-jokes relating to action films and strung them together in a somewhat plausible plot. 50/50 is so subtle that it is often difficult to tell if it is an action/comedy or a parody of an action/comedy... I think that this is one of the movie's primary strengths, but also its weakness.

Again, the first time I watched this I thought it was a brilliant satire, but since then I have become less sure about its satirical side (it is clearly a parody, but I am just not sure if it is as brilliant as I first thought). I have met other people who have had a similar reaction to viewing 50/50, people who really liked it on an initial viewing but were not as impressed the second and third time around. I am really not sure what causes this phenomenon, but I advise anyone familiar with the action films of the 70s and 80s to see 50/50 at least once and enjoy it for the fun that it is.

Also, Peter Weller is fantastic anyway and he and Robert Hayes have surprisingly good chemistry on screen.

take one part Commado, two parts Rambo, one part Lethal weapon, and one half teaspoon of Airplane! and you've got Fifty/Fifty. It's yet another one of those eighties b-movie rambo based war movies. Where people in SouthAmerica/Africa/SouthAsia are being ruled by a harsh dictator or some such and our heros come in unite the people defeat said dictator and the movie ends. See McBain, Commando, POW The Escape, Dogs Of War, Rambo, and thousands of others like it at your local video store. These movies rule for the simply fact of low expectations, lots of gun play and explosions and cookie cutter plots and charecters. Thses movies are Americas version of 60's and 70's martial arts films from China and Japan.

Charles Martin Smith who is not the most critically acclaimed director has made some pretty good movies in his time although not many people seem to know about them. However, this did not stop me from finding the movie Fifty/Fifty. I stumbled onto this little token because I was searching for films Peter Weller had starred in. Boy was I glad this film caught my attention with its excellent trailer. I usually do not laugh during trailers but this one was a rare gem.

Fifty/Fifty was released by Cannon Films who seemed to me like a well- known cinema company; I guess not. This film wasn't even theatrically released. But that makes it all the better. Peter Weller and Robert Hays star as two CIA operatives who are given an assignment to overthrow a ruthless dictator. Although both are from two different genres, both of them work really well together. I say this because their wisecracks seemed so natural like they didn't read the script. I'll admit that I did not have one favorite scene in this movie, because almost every scene was too good to pick a favorite. Even director Charles Martin Smith has a role in this story and he does his part well too.

The action is good in this movie too. There are plenty of shootings, explosions and there is some blood but not a lot of gore. The MPAA rating for this movie is rated R mostly for the language. I enjoyed Smith's direction on how he had Weller and Hays act during trouble. Even near death scenes, they never let go of their wit and funny comments.

Making this movie even more rare of a find is the score composed by Peter Bernstein, son of famous composer Elmer Bernstein. It's a little distressing to me because I enjoy many soundtracks to movies and I love collecting them and Bernstein's score is unobtainable. The score is fun to listen to because of its cheery mood and the way it gets fed into whatever scene is currently happening. I enjoyed this film a lot and wished that it was released theatrically. Director Charles Martin Smith outdid himself with this movie and its unfortunate not many people know of this funny action movie.

For some, it would seem like Robert Hays and Peter Weller are not the best duo in action comedy when in fact they deliver goods extremely well. With funny lines, a good soundtrack, and loud action, Fifty/Fifty will please any hardcore action comedy fan.