Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett Jr reunite (I'm guessing because after The Punisher, there was a huge demand to see Ivan Drago team up with Chappy Sinclair to beat on more bad guys.)in Cover-Up a movie about a chemical weapon being taken by terrorists who then look to use this mysterious chemical to wipe out fifty thousand people during Good Friday. However there is a conspiracy in the works...in that conspiracy lies in the fact that for some unfathomable reason Louis Gossett Jr and Dolph Lundgren agreed to be in this lame thriller. Yes i'm saying this material is below even Dolph Lundgren. I had recently discussed this movie with E-Filmcritic writer David Corneilus who wrote an article about Oscar winners who should send back their gold statue, naming Louis Gossett Jr as a worthy contender for the fact that he was in Firewalker with Chuck Norris, The Punisher with Dolph Lundgren (Which even though how fun it is, it is beneath Gossett's talent), Iron Eagle (Likewise) and Toy Soldiers with Keith Coogan. I reminded him of this movie which I said he had actually worked twice with Dolph Lundgren. His reply was of "YIKES, forgot about that one, for good reason." Yes indeed.
I had seen Cover-Up back when it came out, back when I was 18 and for the most part didn't remember it leaving much of an impression in one way or another. Now years later on rewatch, all one can say is how truly grotesque the movie is in it's ineptitude. Part of the problem is that it has Dolph Lundgren. I know someone might get the impression that am taking a swing on an obvious target but I do want to say that Lundgren has always been far more likable in presence than Seagal. Cover-Up has Lundgren basically run around wussified and not even once throwing a punch until near the end of the movie. It is nothing short of hilarious when Lundgren tries hard to convey emotion in which he flexes his eyebrows and speaks in the same monotone he did in any other movie he was in. Indeed Lundgren seems half asleep the whole time, even when being interrogated by Louis Gossett Jr and he won an Oscar for playing a drill instructor. Then of course there is Louis Gossett Jr who plays the role so by the numbers you could intertwine this with any other movie he has done. Although Gossett Jr manages to provide an unintentional laugh in how he goes off in a huge speech about "Not starting your own revolutions as you see FIT!" It is a parade of bad acting in which Gossett Jr comes off the best and Lundgren coming off second best. (Not good) The whole movie itself is just a bunch of useless talk about who is planning on killing whom, despite the fact we know all of this and in its content the movie fails to really come up with a credible reason of what is going on and what the bad guy truly wants to accomplish. In other words it is slow, dull and just plain bad. People rack on The Punisher that starred both Lundgren and Gossett but at least that movie moved. Cover-Up just remains inert in the moronic plot threads it weaves. The tag-line of this clunker says "If the lies don't kill you the truth will..." Well if the truth doesn't kill you, watching this movie will.
* out of 4-(Bad)
I had seen Cover-Up back when it came out, back when I was 18 and for the most part didn't remember it leaving much of an impression in one way or another. Now years later on rewatch, all one can say is how truly grotesque the movie is in it's ineptitude. Part of the problem is that it has Dolph Lundgren. I know someone might get the impression that am taking a swing on an obvious target but I do want to say that Lundgren has always been far more likable in presence than Seagal. Cover-Up has Lundgren basically run around wussified and not even once throwing a punch until near the end of the movie. It is nothing short of hilarious when Lundgren tries hard to convey emotion in which he flexes his eyebrows and speaks in the same monotone he did in any other movie he was in. Indeed Lundgren seems half asleep the whole time, even when being interrogated by Louis Gossett Jr and he won an Oscar for playing a drill instructor. Then of course there is Louis Gossett Jr who plays the role so by the numbers you could intertwine this with any other movie he has done. Although Gossett Jr manages to provide an unintentional laugh in how he goes off in a huge speech about "Not starting your own revolutions as you see FIT!" It is a parade of bad acting in which Gossett Jr comes off the best and Lundgren coming off second best. (Not good) The whole movie itself is just a bunch of useless talk about who is planning on killing whom, despite the fact we know all of this and in its content the movie fails to really come up with a credible reason of what is going on and what the bad guy truly wants to accomplish. In other words it is slow, dull and just plain bad. People rack on The Punisher that starred both Lundgren and Gossett but at least that movie moved. Cover-Up just remains inert in the moronic plot threads it weaves. The tag-line of this clunker says "If the lies don't kill you the truth will..." Well if the truth doesn't kill you, watching this movie will.
* out of 4-(Bad)