AKA: The Shooter
Directed by: Ted Kotcheff
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Maruschka Detmers, Assumpta Serna, Gavin O'Herlihy, and John Ashton
When the Cuban ambassador to the U.N. is assassinated by a sniper, U.S. Marshal Michael Dane (Dolph) travels to Prague to apprehend the suspect. As it turns out, the suspect is Simone Rosset (Detmers), and the relationship between Dane and Rosset becomes complicated. Naturally, there is a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top - and Dane must fight hard to get to the truth. Being a stranger in a strange land, will he succeed?
Hidden Assassin - not to be confused with Silent Trigger (1996), or Hidden Agenda (2001) for that matter (although Silent Trigger has a similar plot that involves male and female snipers who are conflicted about their actions) - was made during the period in Dolph’s career where he was trying to be more serious, and was appearing in films with a darker and more somber tone. Whether intentionally or not on his part when he was choosing his roles, these 90’s Dolphs are different from his 80’s heyday.
What follows is more intrigue than out-and-out action, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a different animal from, say, The Punisher (1989). Here Dolph is put into some interesting scenarios - from a smooth, wine-tasting gentleman, to an action hero not afraid to get hurt and be covered in blood (interestingly, his white T-shirt with the bloodstain will remind you of Andrew W.K.). He even wears an interesting Franz Kafka shirt at one point. The Prague locations are a highlight of the movie. The cinematography is top-notch, and thanks to the interesting setting and good production values, as well as the big-sounding score, Hidden Assassin seems to be going for a classier vibe.
Detmers recalls a more-sane Sean Young in her prime, and as far as casting goes, in lesser (?) hands, Dolph’s role could have been played - should the dire need arise - by Frank Zagarino (similar hair). His sidekick could have been played by Dennis Franz. What’s going on with Dennis Franz? We haven’t heard too much from him lately.
Hidden Assassin is probably one of the better 90’s Dolphs, thanks to the quality of the technical aspects of the film, but had this movie been made in the 80’s, it would have been a more full-throttle action film, and that would have been nice to see.
Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty
9 comments:
Great review! Never seen this one, but the fact that Ted Kotcheff (Frist Blood) directed it, well I'm all over it. Great review buddy!
Thanks for the kind words! Definitely looking forward to your take on it!
Yeah this was a good one, and my own review agrees with you. Solid Dolph.
I liked it, the location was interesting, and if I remember correctly, it was a well balanced movie...the cinematography pretty good as well.
Explosive Action: Totally agree. A Good Dolph flick.
Hellford667: Happy you enjoyed it too. This was a fun Lundgren film.
Best part: the red dot on the guy's forehead acting as a laser sight. This one was a lot of fun, a great one to take people into that next level of Dolph flicks.
That was really cool! This was a really good Dolph flick.
I think the flick benefitted greatly from Kotcheff's direction as it was slightly more character driven than some of Dolph's other efforts. Solid flick.
Agreed. We liked this a lot. Dolph put in a solid performance.
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