I had almost forgotten what a great simple thriller this was. Simple plot, maverick cop Marion Cobretti (Stallone) is assigned to protect a beautiful female witness from a cult of Neo-Nazi style supremacist bikers who are terrorising Los Angeles with a spate of brutal murders - You get it all here; a scene reminiscent of Halloween 2, where the cult leader (a monster of a man known as The Night Slasher) goes on a Michael Myers style killing spree at the City's hospital, plenty of bloody shootouts and fights and a couple of superb Car & Bike chases that are second only to the Mad Max movies, in terms of violence and spectacle. Really, really good stunt work and special effects! Also, there's lots of firearms, including Cobretti's hi-tech, laser sighted Jatimatic sub-machine gun, well deployed throughout the many chases and firefights!
The tension throughout the film is well sustained and it is superbly atmospheric, creepy at times, but always entertaining and gripping one way or another. Brigitte Nielsen is also terrific as the model witness who they are forced to protect and she is convincingly terrified a lot of the time. Brian Thompson plays the killer in no doubt one of his first roles, and he of course later went on to play the bounty hunter in The X Files. The direction is top notch, and it was a shrewd idea, possibly by Stallone to bring in George P Cosmatos who Stallone had previously worked with on Rambo 2. Stallone is as good as ever, and if your a fan, I'm sure you've seen this a dozen times anyway.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
The tension throughout the film is well sustained and it is superbly atmospheric, creepy at times, but always entertaining and gripping one way or another. Brigitte Nielsen is also terrific as the model witness who they are forced to protect and she is convincingly terrified a lot of the time. Brian Thompson plays the killer in no doubt one of his first roles, and he of course later went on to play the bounty hunter in The X Files. The direction is top notch, and it was a shrewd idea, possibly by Stallone to bring in George P Cosmatos who Stallone had previously worked with on Rambo 2. Stallone is as good as ever, and if your a fan, I'm sure you've seen this a dozen times anyway.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10.