Tactical Assault (1998)

 

Tactical Assault (1998)- * *

Directed by: Mark Griffiths 

Starring: Robert Patrick, Rutger Hauer, and Isabel Glasser

Col. Lee "Tiger" Banning (Patrick) and Captain John "Doc" Holiday (Hauer) are high-flying Air Force warriors, and they used to be buddies. Seemingly for no reason, Doc flips out - while in mid-flight - and begins harassing, taunting, and firing upon a harmless civilian airplane. Banning is forced to act and he shoots down Doc's plane so he can save all the innocents on board. 

Some time later, while on assignment in Hungary, Banning's actions come back to haunt him. Even though he did the right thing, he still feels bad and questions himself. His wife Jennifer (Glasser) is pregnant with their first child and things generally seem to be looking up for the Bannings. 

However, Doc - who is still a psycho nutjob - makes it his mission to ruin Banning's life. So he begins stalking them and doing all sorts of creepy things. Naturally, it all comes to a head in the ultimate confrontation between Doc and Banning. Which one will be the victim of a TACTICAL ASSAULT?

Tactical Assault is a cross between a Plane Slog and a "...From Hell" movie. You know, like a Babysitter from hell, Temp from hell, Crush from hell, Ex-Wife or Girlfriend from hell, or any person who generally stalks and harasses you because they're crazy. These sorts of movies were huge in the 90's and many were made for TV, specifically Lifetime. (Director Mark Griffiths made a lot of TV movies, so perhaps he was really in his wheelhouse here). If you read this site regularly, you can almost guess what we're about to say next. Well, here it goes: we didn't like the Plane Slog scenes, but we did like the From Hell scenes. 

The From Hell moments worked far better and were massively more entertaining than anything else on show in Tactical Assault, namely the Air Force lingo, people on the ground looking at screens and saying coordinates, and seemingly endless scenes of guys in the cockpits of their planes. Unless you're a plane fanatic, there's nothing much to sink your teeth into as far as those scenes go.

Things begin to fire on more cylinders (we won't say all of them) once the stalking/confrontations begin between Tiger and Doc. The ace up the movie's sleeve, of course, is the fact that they got two heavyweight actors - Patrick and Hauer, of course - to try to anchor the proceedings. It was nice to see two fan favorites like them face off, but in our opinion they could have jettisoned most of the Plane Slog stuff and just concentrated on the From Hell stuff. That would have raised the level of Tactical Assault considerably. 

Of course, Zero Tolerance (1994) remains our favorite Robert Patrick film, and it's hard to go from that to this. We kept wanting to see him shoot Mick Fleetwood in the head. Or something like that. While there are some blow-ups and some plane-shooting, this really concentrates more on the drama of the relationship between Banning and Doc. That's good for the actors, but things only really pick up around the 70-minute mark, when Rutger Hauer begins chasing Robert Patrick around in a stolen tank. Sorry, Doc and Banning, I should say.

The drama is underlined by the Jennifer character, who drops a lot of coffee in the film. There is more than one scene of her being so startled or afraid that she drops her coffee. She should have picked up a sword and stabbed Doc or something to that effect. Multiple coffee-drops just don't cut it anymore.

Director Griffiths is the mastermind behind not just Hardbodies (1984) but also Hardbodies 2 (1986). So since he's so fond of genre mash-ups such as Tactical Assault, how about a Plane Slog/80's Teen Sex Romp? Or perhaps a Romp/From Hell? The possibilities are endless. The whole "Air Force Captain From Hell" idea is not a bad one at all but there's a ton of waste in Tactical Assault. It should have been 90% From Hell and 10% Plane Slog. That would have helped a lot. Instead it's more like 70% Plane Slog and 30% From Hell. That balance should have been corrected.

So, while we appreciate that Griffiths was trying to do something different with the tired Plane Slog template, and that he got quality actors to do it with, in the end it just doesn't come together like it should. For that reason, we can't really recommend Tactical Assault.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

Decoy (1995)

Decoy (1995)-*1\2

Directed by: Vittorio Rambaldi

Starring: Peter Weller, Robert Patrick, Charlotte Lewis, Darlene Vogel, Peter Breck, and Vladmir Kulich












Travis (Patrick), a former government op, is hired by his old commanding officer, Wellington (Breck) to protect his daughter, Diana (Vogel of Ring Of Steel fame) for a temporary amount of time because bad guys are after him and his family. Travis agrees to the job, but only if he can bring in his buddy Baxter (Weller) to help out. Even though Baxter is a nutty guy, Wellington reluctantly agrees. What then follows is Travis, Baxter and Diana moving from place to place in the woods, as Katya (Lewis), Daniel (Kulich) and other baddies try killing them using various means, but usually shooting. Most of the rest of the movie is this cat-and-mouse game, but there are a few twists every now and again to try to keep the viewers’ interest. Who is the real DECOY?

Sure, Decoy may have some bigger names, like Robert Patrick and Peter Weller, and it may be shot well using picturesque Canadian locations (shot in Regina and La Ronge, Saskatchewan), but don’t be fooled: this is just as dumb and run-of-the-mill as many other DTV productions out there. It was clearly trying to be more upper crust and be almost theater-quality, but ultimately doesn’t get there and is a disappointment.

There are some cool killings, and the baddies have these futuristic wrist rockets that they use on their enemies, but that’s really the only noteworthy invention here. And that doesn’t a good movie make. There are some utterly stupid, time-wasting “romantic” elements between Baxter and Diana for a while, which don’t need to be there. Diana is the cliched “complaining woman dragged along into an adventure” we’ve seen so many times before. On the other end of the female spectrum is Charlotte Lewis, looking amazing with her outfits and high-powered weaponry. It’s quite a change from her role in Men of War (1994). Robert Patrick puts in a personable enough performance, but it’s hard not to compare this to the awesome Zero Tolerance (1994), which is Patrick at his absolute best. Weller puts in a “quirky” performance, with his pseudo-philosophical dialogue, and he’s always good, but Decoy as a whole is mediocre, with tons of “pew-pew” gunfighting scenes that don’t really add much.

Also on board as one of the baddies is Vladimir Kulich, who has played the “Eurotrash Bad Guy” in such movies as Crackerjack (1994), Red Scorpion 2 (1995), and Breach Of Trust (1995). We’re definitely getting used to seeing him. There’s also the prerequisite torture scene, but this time the movie opens with it and gets it out of the way. But the problem with Decoy is every time it starts to get good, it pulls back. It’s almost like the movie has a fear of success.

Decoy is ultimately wasteful with what resources it has, and it never rises above your standard action premise.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Zero Tolerance (1994)

Zero Tolerance (1994)-* * * *

Directed by: Joseph Merhi

Starring: Robert Patrick, Titus Welliver, Mick Fleetwood, Jeffery Anderson-Gunther, and Miles O'Keefe

PM knows action, and by this point in their history they had refined their craft to such a point that they  turned it into an art. Case in point: Zero Tolerance. This movie is awesome. It delivers the goods in every possible way.

Jeff Douglas (Patrick) is a by-the-book FBI agent and family man. On what he thinks will be just a routine assignment, he must go down to Mexico and pick up Manta (Welliver), an evil, but charismatic killer and drug dealer. He is a member of the White Hand, a sinister underworld organization intent on putting a new form of liquid heroin on the streets. Things don’t go exactly as planned, and Manta escapes. Now back with his criminal associates Vitch (Fleetwood), Kowalski (O’Keeffe), LaFleur (Anderson-Gunter), and others, he commits an act that is so horrendous against Jeff Douglas, Jeff must go rogue and systematically kill all the baddies. His FBI counterparts don’t approve of his reckless ways, but Jeff doesn’t care. He’s traveling around the country on a no-holds-barred revenge mission, and for the people that wronged him, he has ZERO TOLERANCE.

Robert Patrick as the hero, Jeff Douglas, was an excellent choice. Zero Tolerance has way more emotion than a normal film of this type, and Patrick is just the man to carry it off. That’s something that makes this movie special. You can see Douglas slowly losing patience with life, and being stripped of everything he has. With his emotions flooding, we see he has nothing left to lose, and he takes out his grief and pain, as well as anger, on his aggressors. Another interesting casting choice was Mick Fleetwood as one of the top bad guys. It seems the filmmakers wanted to go with Donald Pleasance, but seeing as how the drummer for Fleetwood Mac is evil in real life, the casting decision was a no-brainer. O’Keeffe puts in one of his best roles also, as the conflicted baddie with the Matt Hannon-like hair.

Titus Welliver is also noteworthy as the sinister, purple suited Manta. He’s actually not the only one in the movie that wears a purple suit. He even has a multi-screen videoconferencing system with his fellow evildoers which can only be described as GoToDrugDeal (patent pending). This was way before Skype and a lot of other technology. As we discussed in the Bloodmoon (1997) review, direct to video action movies oftentimes are ahead of the curve technology-wise, but no one gives them credit because no one ever talks about them.

But the bottom line is, this is a mega-entertaining, fast-paced gem that delivers the goods times ten. It’s the best kind of revenge movie. It has a well-written plot, a likable hero, a hate-able villain, and action and stunts galore, but it actually has underpinnings of emotion and depth. What more could you want?

Zero Tolerance gets our most enthusiastic recommendation. See it today!

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Cop Land (1997)

Cop Land (1997) -* * *1\2

Directed By: James Mangold

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Robert Patrick, Peter Berg, Method Man, Annabella Sciorra, Frank Vincent, Bruce Altman, Harvey Keitel, and Robert DeNiro

The version I will be writing about is the Director's cut.




"I gave you a chance and YOU BLEW IT!!!"- Moe Tilden



Cop Land is a underrated film.

Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Stallone) is down on his luck. He's overweight and deaf in one ear after an accident. He stumbles upon a corruption case that could be a ticket out of his situation. The case is also connected to a cop killing that involves Ray Donlan (Keitel) and his band of cops (Robert Patrick and Peter Berg). His only ally is Sgt. Moe Tilden (DeNiro) who's on the rat squad. Can Freddy figure out the mystery?




The director's cut is a definite improvement over the theatrical version. It has over 20 minutes of new footage that really fleshes out the characters. Stallone's and Keitel's in particular. They have a fantastic scene towards the climax. In the theatrical version, the climax feels rushed and underdeveloped, but in the new cut it makes sense. The whole cast does a great job. Liotta is very intense. It's Sly's best performance ever. DeNiro and Keitel are at their best.



I highly recommend the director's cut of Cop Land.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Rogue Force (1998)

Rogue Force (1998) -* * *

AKA: Counterforce, Renegade Force

Directed By: Martin Kunert

Starring: Michael Rooker, Diane Di Lascio, Louis Mandylor, and Robert Patrick








Rogue Force is brainless action at its best. The plot: FBI Agent Matt Cooper (Rooker) has to stop renegade cops who are killing mafia members and other assorted bad guys. It doesn't seem like a problem, but they have gone too far, because innocents are also being targeted. He is saddled with a partner: Helen Simms (Di Lascio) to bring down the ringleader Jake (Patrick).

What Rogue Force excels at are the action scenes. All the action is brisk and exciting. The climax in particular is very well executed. It's just non-stop bullets and mayhem. Rooker, Di Lascio, and Patrick put in good performances too.

In the end: Rogue Force is 90 minutes of cool FBI\SWAT action. The plot is routine but who cares when you're having a good time?

Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Eye See You (2002)

Eye See You (1999) -* * *

Directed By: Jim Gillespie

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Polly Walker, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Wright, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Dina Meyer, Sean Patrick Flanery, Robert Prosky, and Courtney B. Vance







First off: "Eye See You" is a terrible name for a film. An investigation proved that wasn't the real title. It's "D-Tox". Another one for it was "The Outpost". With a title like "Eye See You", no wonder this was on the shelf for almost 4 years. It was supposed to be released in 1999 by Universal, but they dumped it from their schedule and their company all together. They sold it to DEJ Productions and they put it out on video.



Poor Sly. He puts in one of his better performances here.  He plays FBI Agent Jake Malloy. When a serial killer claims his girlfriend, Malloy goes into a drunken stupor. He is sent to a D-Tox program for other alcoholic cops in a remote part of the snowy wilderness. Unfortunately, the killer has followed him there and he's picking off the cops one by one. Can Malloy save the day?



The movie is well-acted, but the writing could've used some work. For example, if you look at the above picture, you can probably hear Sly's voice uttering the words, "Yo, I'm Cold.". The huge supporting cast get their time in the sun, but the best part is the silly ending.

If you like Stallone or the serial killing genre, it's worth watching.


Comeuppance Review by: Ty