Le bouclier humain

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.

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.

This movie is nothing but one of many american propagandas of 80's and 90's to present the stupid american kids (back then) how great part of arabic world is terrorist. One of worse Michael Dudikoff's movies that has stupid plot, no special twist to the movie and many scenes in the movie have no sense at all.

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.

This is one of those rare movies I can watch over and over again without getting bored. It was a well written story and the acting was surprisingly good for a "low budget" film. Steve Inwood as general Dalal was amazing and anyone who has seen this movie can attest to that...he steals the show (Pardon the pun). I'm not of middle eastern descent, but the directors did a fine job of portraying the culture. From the music, settings, food, lifestyle and nature of the people---and anyone who thinks culture isn't important in a film, it is said that Godfather was so successful because it portrayed the Italian culture to a tee.

Nonetheless, it was a good plot with decent sup-plots such as the romance between dudikoff and laila, his brother being kidnapped and the whole revenge factor.

The movie also has some memorable lines such as: "Insults here can only be washed away in blood" "I like your scar because it reminds me of the man who gave it to you" "Things done in a hurry are done in the ways of Satan. While things done with patience are done in the way of god" "A son should always be by his father's side during his proudest moments" Dalal talking about his 4 year old kid as he's about to go kill dudikoff "Should I wait?" "Not unless your wife has a sense of humour" Dudikoff to cab driver after being dropped off at the Iraqi border "American...what is it you want? Hash? Coca Cola? A woman? And anyone who has seen this movie or is thinking of seeing it should pay particular attention towards the end of the movie when Dalal is being driven to the chemical plant. The car phone rings and he picks up this HUGE MUTHER****IN phone that must have been state of the art at the time but DAMN! The thing easily could have been 5 pounds.

Also Hana Azoulay Hasfari was good as Laila. I say there should be a rule where if you're doing a film that revolves around a certain culture you should get actors from THAT culture to portray characters. It makes things more believable and credible. Even if they aren't known you'll be surprised at how good some "unknown actors" can be. The biggest flaw I can think of was Hollywood using Penelope Cruz to play a Greek girl in Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I love Penelope but that was a joke.