FILM REVIEW OF "BRAND OF THE DEVIL" (1944)

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“Brand of the Devil” qualifies as a second-rate horse opera about three heroic Texas Rangers working undercover. They are trying to flush a gang of rustlers out that have been preying on a defenseless female rancher.  “Randy Rides Alone” director Harry L. Fraser helmed this thoroughly ordinary nag from a screenplay by Elmer Clifton. If you’re counting, “Brand of the Devil” is the fourteenth entry in the long-running PRC Texas Rangers franchise.  PRC produced 22 of these epics.  Incidentally, not only was "Brand of the Devil" (** out of ****) the last Texas Rangers movie starring Jim Newill but also it was his final film.  This saddle-sore sagebrusher unfolds with this noble foreword: "Dedicated to the law officers of the Old West, who led the fight for law and order in the pioneer days of the country in 1880."  Actually, our heroes have a rather easy time turning the tables on these owlhoots. Essentially, the good guys know their quarry because they have been investigating him. Nevertheless, the chief adversary is wily enough to last 57 minutes.  Texas Rangers Jim Steele, Tex Wyatt, and Panhandle Perkins appear separately in the town of Willow Springs so they don't look like friends.  Fraser establishes the identity of the villain early on while our heroes align themselves with the rustlers-plagued, damsel-in-distress.   Nothing spectacular occurs in “Brand of the Devil.” The most unusual thing occurs when the villains frame the frontier gal for rustling. One of her own treacherous ranch hands dresses up in drag like Molly. The owner of the cattle being rustled spots him and jumps to a hasty conclusion.  Earlier, Tex and Jim encountered him, and he asked them to serve as witnesses that Molly was rustling.

“Brand of the Devil” opens as one of our heroes, Jim Steele (Jim Newill of “Spook Town”), attempts to infiltrate the gang of rustlers. The tight-lipped  chieftain, duded-up Jack Varno (I. Stanford Jolley of "Backlash"), refuses to hire him, even after Jim triumphed over an opponent in a bar room brawl.  Meanwhile, Panhandle Perkins (Guy Wilkerson of “To Kill a Mockingbird”) masquerades as "Branding Iron" McGee.  He claims he can forge branding irons that no rustlers can duplicate. Later, angry rancher Molly Dawson (Ellen Hall of "Voodoo Man") storms into the Gold Ace Saloon in Willow Springs.  She claims Duke Cutter (Reed Howes of "The Walking Hills") has purloined her white stallion. Molly starts throwing liquor bottles at the bar. Varno urges his henchmen to restrain Molly before she destroys his entire stock. Our gallant protagonists, Tex Wyatt (Dave O'Brien of “Reefer Madness”) and Steele, intervene for Molly.  Varno's gunmen tangle with Tex and Jim.  Adroitly, Jim blows the gun out of Panhandle's fist and then blasts out the saloon lights out. Jim is incredibly adept with his revolver. Molly, Tex, and Jim skedaddle into the night.  After Molly, Jim, and Tex have cleared out, Varno discovers a card with the mark of the devil's brand on it. Varno supervises a band of gunmen rustling beef in the territory.  The sight of the card unnerves Varno since the devil's brand serves as the emblem of his gang.  Moreover, only Varno and his three partners know about the symbol. The actual symbol is a white devil’s pitchfork against a black background. Mind you, the Texas Rangers aren’t advertising their official presence until they feel that it is necessary. Eventually, the villains to learn about their true identity, but not before Panhandle manages to infiltrate their ranks.  

The next morning our heroine rides back into Willow Springs. She locates her stolen white stallion along with its saddle in the stable where Duke had stashed him the night before for Varno to inspect. Panhandle watches with concern as Molly saddles her horse.  He suggests she contact the authorities.  "A lot of good the law does," Molly retorts defiantly, "Why in two months rustlers have taken most of my cattle.  I've complained and even written to the Rangers asking for help, and do they show up, they do not. From now on I'm taking the law into my own hands," Molly informs Panhandle as she appropriates her stolen horse.  "And if they want to stop me, just let them try."  No sooner has Molly ridden off on her horse than Varno and his henchmen pursue her.  Tex and Jim gallop up just as Varno and company have halted Molly.  "You two seem mighty interested in other people's business," Varno observes.  Varno's men invite Tex to look at the brand on the stallion. Tex admits the animal could belong to anybody because it has two brands. Molly pleads with our heroes. "There's not much anybody can do unless you can prove he is yours," Jim concedes.   "I'd like to give you two a friendly tip," Varno warns them.  "Keep out of my business, and you'll live longer." At this point, Tex and Jim have become Varno's mortal enemies. "You know," Tex states, "I didn't like you when I first saw you and right now I like you less because I think that horse belongs to Miss Dawson." Tex knocks Varno to the ground with a single blow when he tries to draw on him. Varno is pretty fed up with our heroes now and threatens them. "After that warning, we'll be sure to keep our backs away from you." Reluctantly, Tex allows Varno to ride away on Molly's steed.  Of course, Molly isn't happy with the outcome.  "You'll get your horse back," Jim assures her.  "You bet I will," she  vows,"but after what's just happened, I can see it won't be through you two."

 After our heroes have a rendezvous with Panhandle, they ride up onto a valley where they meet another fellow, Jeff Palin, who explains that his cattle are being rustled.  He gives Tex a set of field glasses to view the rustling.  From a distance, it appears that a woman is supervising the rustling when in fact it is Molly's ranch hand Henry Wilburn (Budd Buster) doing it.  Our heroes run down Wilburn and they give him to Panhandle. Meanwhile, the sheriff arrests Molly and puts her in jail.  Varno has a conference with his cronies and they pick cards to see who will "silence" Molly.  Bucko gets the task but cannot do it so Varno takes it.  Later that evening, Varno shoots into the jail cell that Molly occupies.  Afterward, Varno learns from the sheriff that Tex and Jim are Texas Rangers and they have taken Molly into custody.  Varno decides to set a trap for the Rangers and uses Panhandle to set it.  When our heroes show up at a cabin in the old cottonwoods, Bucko is waiting for them.  Tex and Jim go after the cattle while Panhandle rides off to protect Molly.  Bucko catches our heroes at the cabin while Varno and his henchmen chase Panhandle after he exits Molly's ranch. Varno leaves the chore of disposing of the Rangers to Bucko.  Up till now Bucko has been portrayed as a straightforward villain but he reveals his buffoonish nature when he is left alone with the Rangers to kill them. 

 Ostensibly, this low-budget, lightweight western is about defending the weak from the wolves.  Just as the heroes have standards, so do the villains.  When Varno asks his hired gunman Bucko Lynn (perennial western heavy Charles King) to "silence" Molly, Bucko balks.  He has no qualms about killing guys, but he draws the line at the opposite sex. Elmer Clifton's screenplay is satisfactory up until Bucko is left with Tex, Jim, and Panhandle tied up and ready to die.  The cretinous Bucko decides to strum a guitar while Jim warbles a lackluster version of "Old Paint."  So engrosses is Bucko in the melody that he keeps his eyes shut while Panhandle and Tex work their way out of their bonds and jump him.  Sadly, "Brand of the Devil" is available only as a scratchy public domain print.  This lame sagebrusher is strictly a potboiler, though Wilkerson is pretty funny. 

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE FAN" (1996)

 Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro has made a name for himself playing psychos in memorable Martin Scorsese pictures, such as “Mean Streets,” “Taxi Driver,” “Goodfellas,” and “Cape Fear.”  In “Top Gun” director Tony Scott’s thriller “The Fan,” De Niro creates another psycho but one with greater credibility.  As Gil Renard, De Niro plays a Willie Loman-like knife salesman whose obsession with baseball in general and the San Francisco Giants in particular takes him over the edge.  When the Giants play $40-million to obtain the services of Atlanta superstar slugger Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes of “White Men Can’t Jump”), Gil gives new meaning to fan worship.  He thinks that Bobby can solve all of the Giants’ problems.  During a radio call-in show, Gil defends Bobby from the barbs of catty talk show host Jewel Stern (Ellen Barkin).

The plot of “The Fan” (** OUT OF ****) cross-cuts between the lives of Gil and Bobby.  Gil’s sales sink to the point that he finds himself out of work with the knife company that his father formed.  Nevertheless, Gil’s descent into self-destruction isn’t the only one.  Bobby shows up in the Giants’ locker room and learns to his chagrin that he will suit up a number 33 instead of his lucky number 11.  As it turns out, rival Giants’ outfielder Primo (Benicio Del Toro of “License to Kill”) wears number 11 and refuses to give it up for less than a half-a-million bucks.  Their first day in the outfield, Primo and Bobby collide in persuit of a fly ball. During the collision, Bobby loses his good luck necklace with the number eleven on it.  Afterward, Bobby falls into a batting slump.  He starts striking out on a regular basis.  Before long the fans are booing him every time that he steps up to home plate.  Gil decides to give Bobby a little help, but this is the last thing that Bobby needs.

Veteran action director Tony Scott pulls out every cinematic trick to propel “The Fan” along to a thrilling conclusion.  Unfortunately, the film loses momentum in the last half hour because predictability paralyzes it. By that time, Gil has turned against Bobby.   The gratuitous, blood-squib squirting finale comes as less of a thrill and more of a thud in a film that is ultimately downbeat.  In other words, you won’t feel chipper after to watch it.  RoberDe Niro’s psycho character earns a little sympathy because his son in the film loves him.

It is difficult for audiences to hate a villain who can elicit sympathy from another character.  Their troubled father-son relationship shows a human side of De Niro’s Gil Renard so he never degenerates completely into a toxically overblown monster.  Instead, he is a man who paranoia and poor luck undermines him and takes him into the danger zone.  Wesley Snipes brings a virile athletic presence to the role of Bobby Rayburn.  Ellen Barkin hovers on the sidelines as a tabloid-minded sports announcer, but her role appears to have gotten lost on the editing room floor.  Sorry, guys, no nudity here either. “The Fan” is a must see for De Niro fans, but if you’re not up for foul language and the grim side of the human psyche, this R-rated effort may be out of your league.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU" (1996)

Sitting through “Prophecy” director John Frankenheimer’s pretentious, half-baked, horror fantasy “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” (** out of ****) starring Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, may be enough to turn anybody into an animal.  Presumably, the financial success of genetic thrillers such as “Jurassic Park” and “Species” prompted producer Edward R. Pressmen to reanimate H.G. Wells’ literary classic for its third rendition.  Ironically, this deeply flawed but imaginatively updated version suffers a fate similar to that of the genetic mutants created by the titular villain on his remote island.

The movie opens on three plane crash survivors who have been adrift in the Java Sea for days.  Two of them are killed by a shark leaving our hero, Edward Douglas (David Thewlis of “Naked”), a United Nations peace negotiator.  Douglas awakens to the sight of a sailing vessel hovering over him.  He collapses from exhaustion and reawakens to find Montgomery (Val Kilmer of “Tombstone”) attending him.  Douglas is too weak to do anything more than swoon.  Eventually, the ship deposits them at an exotic island where the research center of Dr. Moreau is located.  Montgomery persuades Douglas to join him; on the basis that they have a telecommunications system on the island that Douglas can use to contact the UN.  As we soon learn, however, Montgomery is lying.  The island is actually the home and refuge of Dr. Moreau, a brilliant geneticist who was forced into seclusion due to his controversial experiments on animals.  Moreau has learned how to transform common animals into human beings, or almost human beings.

 Douglas finds himself trapped on the island, surrounded by Moreau’s beastly creations.  He tries to escape several times to no avail.  First, he stumbles in on an ungodly birth scene, and then finds himself in a half-man, half-animal zoo at an abandoned military airfield.  Finally, Douglas meets Moreau.  They argue about which way the scales of morality should tilt and dredge up Biblical passages to support their arguments.  Moreau tries to explain how his experiments will help mankind.  He reveals that he has discovered that the devil is a collection of genes.  Moreau means to sort out those bad genes and produce an ideal human.  He is even willing to accept a failure or two along the road to success, which accounts for the vast number of beast-men.  Moreau keeps these ugly creatures under his thumb by means of implants which he uses to shock them into paralysis.  Meanwhile, Montgomery keeps the creatures dazed and confused with narcotics.

The inventive but predictable Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson screenplay updates the 1896 Wells novel and does a good job of establishing the action in the 1990s.  The opening 40 minutes introduces audiences to everyone and everything they need to know about the plot.  Sadly, the script packs no surprises.  If you cannot figure out what’s going to happen from one moment to the next in the film then you must be on horse tranquilizers.  Suffice it to say, “Moreau” doesn’t qualify as a date movie, (unless you never want to see your date again).  Some of the gruesome looking creatures may even go on to inhabit the island of your dreams.  Stan Winston’s creature designs are impressive.  His mutants look as convincing as mutants could possibly look.  Sometimes, they are even nauseating.  Typically, they retain the basic shape of the animal from which they were mutated so they have a beastly looking head, hands and feet, while the rest of them is hidden beneath their apparel to conserve on costs.  The first grisly glimpse that Douglas gets is a multi-breasted beast mother siring an “E.T.” infant.  The other animals are a hideous collection of mutants with claw hands and snaggled teeth.  They gallery of beast men and women appears twice as grisly, gyrating their horrid bodies as Montgomery peddles narcotics to kill them happy. 

Marlon Brando treats moviegoers to another of his characteristically peculiar performances.  There is nothing ordinary about Brando’s brilliant but eccentric Dr. Moreau.  Brando stages a dramatic entrance, swathed in white garments under a pagoda-style hat, resembling a Japanese Kabuki actor in sunglasses.  He tolerates the steamy island heat and wears chalky make-up to preserve his delicate skin from the sun.  Metaphorically, this sun allergy relates somehow to Moreau’s moral infamy; he cannot stand up to the light of morality.  He appears like the great white hope in the camp of the beast men.  Brando adopts the same sissified voice that he used for his Fletcher Christian in the 1962 version of “Mutiny on the Bounty.”  He also never appears twice in the same wardrobe.  One scene finds him garbed like a nocturnal fridge raider while in another scene he appears bundled up like an Arab sultan.

A similar air of mystery surrounds Val Kilmer’s Montgomery.  Montgomery gravitates between moments of extreme clarity and apathetic zombie like drug dazes.  Either the script is purposefully vague or (more realistically) the editors sheared Kilmer’s performance to reduce the film’s running time to 90 minutes so they could squeeze in more showings and parlay a quick profit.  Ultimately, Montgomery assumes a Lucifer-like character in his apparent rivalry with Moreau.  Again, the script doesn’t clarify this part of the story.  Is Montgomery Moreau’s rival?  We never know for certain.

Audiences are meant to identify with the David Thewlis’ narrator.  Incidentally, Thewlis replaced actor Rob Morrow of CBS-TV’s “Northern Exposure.”  As Douglas, Thewlis is required to make his eyes bulge and to act in a manner that makes him appear ineffectually wimpy. The Stanley &  Hutchinson screenplay doesn’t allow Thewlis to cut the heroic profile that Michael York did in the 1977 version of “The Island of Doctor Moreau” with Burt Lancaster as the eponymous character.  The best that Thewlis can do is fire ill-aimed bullets at the rowdy beasts.

The trouble with this take on Wells classic is that movie audiences may find themselves frustrated because the only sympathetic character is a dud.  Thewlis does hold his own in his confrontations with Moreau as they argue about morality.  Moreau alleges that they has found evil and resolves to destroy it.  In destroying it, Moreau has recreated evil in his own warped image.  The atmospheric photography by William Fraker makes “Moreau” both fun and interesting to gaze at for long stretches.  Fraker lensed the action on location in sunny Australia.  In fact, “Moreau” looks as god as any movie that Frankenheimer has directed. The 66-year old director carved out his reputation back in the 1960s with classics such as “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Seven Days in May,” “Grand Prix,” and “Seconds.”  In his 1979 thriller “Prophecy,” Frankenheimer explored the theme of wildlife gone crazy because of polluted streams so he brings considerably artistry and some knowledge about the genetics in “Dr. Moreau.”

“The Island of Dr. Moreau” ranks as an ambitious but flawed horror fantasy.  Anybody who relishes Frankenheimer’s version of “Moreau” can hope that someday New Line Cinema will release a director’s cut that restores the lost parts of the film.  Indeed, an unrated director's cut was released, but it included on four extra minutes of footage. This well-made but routine epic concludes with Douglas moralizing about how Moreau’s island serves as a microcosm of the world and that we must all go in fear of man’s unstable nature.  The only thing that audiences can really go in fear of is the sequel that might lie over the horizon.  Troubled plagued the production from start to finish. Kilmer switched characters from Douglas to Montgomery.  Reportedly Kilmer--who was enduring a divorce at the time--clashed with director Richard Stanley.  Kilmer's clout was such that Stanley was gone and Frankenheimer took over the helm.  Frankenheimer experienced similar problems with Kilmer as well as Brando.

FILM REVIEW OF ''GET THE GRINGO" (2012)

Mel Gibson is back in top form as a gimlet-eyed career criminal in freshman director Adrian Grunberg's "Get the Gringo," (*** OUT OF ****) a gritty, gory, hard-boiled crime thriller set inside a corrupt Mexican prison, like Tijuana's El Pueblito, where anything goes. Good movies don't dawdle, and rarely does this bullet-riddled, shoot'em up about life behind bars telegraph its next move. Any prison where an inmate's family can move in with him while he serves time is pretty unusual. This prison resembles something out of a trigger-happy Robert Rodriguez actioneer. Men come and go with loaded weapons in plain sight. You can even shell out bucks for a shot of heroin administered by needle in a grungy shop. Everything in this replica of Tijuana's El Pueblito has a price. As an anonymous convict, Gibson provides the kind of voice-over we usually hear in a loquacious Martin Scorsese film. Gibson's sarcastic commentary about El Pueblito with its unusual routines and procedures highlights the surreal nature of the squalid setting. Nobody delivers a bad performance, and Hollywood regulars like Bob Gunton, Patrick Bauchau, and Peter Stormare flesh out the film with familiar faces.

You never really know for certain where things are going in this violent, amoral, tongue-in-cheek, 95-minute melodrama."Get the Gringo" opens with Driver (Mel Gibson of “Payback”) and his wounded partner in clown outfits careening down the highway with cops in close pursuit. Desperately, Driver plows his car through the border fence, and the Mexican police arrest him. The Texas police try to persuade their Mexican counterparts to remand him into their custody. Instead, one glance at two duffel bags bulging with a million dollars prompts the Mexicans to keep him on their side of the border. Once Driver lands in the big house, he gets chummy with a 10-year-old kid (Kevin Hernandez of "The Sitter") who is plotting to exact revenge on another criminal, Javi (Daniel Gimenez Cacho of "Cronos"), who killed his father. The 10-year old's mother and father were incarcerated for selling narcotics. Initially, Driver uses cigarettes to bribe the youngster into silence. You see, the youngster saw Driver rob a fat, slimy heroin dealer after he set a fire to create a distraction. Afterward, Driver decides to use the youth as his eyes and ears inside the prison. Interestingly, "Get the Gringo" could be compared to the silent Charles Chaplin comedy "The Kid" because an adult sets out to help a less fortunate child. Primarily, the filmmakers use the child to make Driver appear more sympathetic. Gradually, Driver learns the ropes and uses them to get ahead of the opposition. 

Before long Driver's nemesis Frank (Peter Stormare of "The Million Dollar Hotel") dispatches professional killers to ferret out the millions that Driver stole from him. They track down the crooked cops who arrested Driver and start cutting off toes to recover the purloined millions. Meantime, Driver struggles inside the prison to gain Javi's confidence and engineer a deal so he can get out, go back to America, and kill Frank. Driver has no respect for anybody but himself, and he abhors Javi with a passion. It seems that the bathrobe-clad prison kingpin has singled out the 10-year old for preferential treatment. As it turns out, the youth has a liver compatible with Javi's blood type, and Javi needs a fresh liver.  Javi hires a surgeon (Patrick Bauchau of "A View to a Kill") to harvest the youngster's liver and transplant it into his body.  Interestingly, "Get the Gringo" could be compared to the silent Charles Chaplin comedy "The Kid" because an adult sets out to help a less fortunate child.  Indeed, aside from the urchin who befriends him, Gibson is as virtuous as Saint Peter compared with the murderous malcontents who populate the prison.

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Life in "Get the Gringo" is cheap, and death occurs when you least expect it. Three armed guys stroll into the prison at one point and try to ice Driver. They hit everybody but Driver. Bodies litter the premises. The Warden (Fernando Becerril of "Ravenous") informs Javi, who rules the prison with his thugs, that the government plans to shut them down as a consequence of the gunfight. Of course, the whole point to any prison picture is how the hero manages to escape. Happily, Gibson survives with everything intact, while the treacherous villains bite the dust. Grunberg orchestrates several chaotic shoot-outs, and Gibson is by no means a typical convict. When they fingerprint him, the authorities discover that he has burned off his fingerprints. Everybody is out to take advantage of him, even some treacherous Americans, but Driver turns the tables on everybody.

 "Blackout" production designer Bernardo Trujillo has performed miracles with the closed down Veracruz prison where "Get the Gringo" was lensed on location. Grunberg and Trujillo have managed to recreate a world teeming with the dregs of humanity, a microcosm of Hell, where men degenerate into brutish savages and display no qualms about killing each other. Basically, what you've got is survival of the fittest in the worst place on Earth. This miserable hell hole turns out to be a paradise ripe for the plucking for the self-serving Driver who has just eluded the Texas police with several millions of dollars in loot.

Initially, "Get the Gringo" was entitled "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." At least the latter title has some irony, but "Get the Gringo" gets to the point quicker and summarizes the action. Director Adrian Grunberg gives a good account of himself. The prison setting looks thoroughly authentic, and Grunberg relies on Mexican music to evoke the culture. Fans of Mel Gibson who haven't seen him in a gripping action thriller since his "Lethal Weapon" days won't feel like they have been shortchanged. Gibson has done nothing like "Get the Gringo," and no Hollywood epic has depicted life behind bars as "Get the Gringo." Life below the border has never been presented so pungently unless you've seen something comparable like Luis Buñuel's 1950 crime movie "The Young and the Damned."  Incidentally, "Get the Gringo" is available in America only as a video-on-demand through Direct TV, while the film is showing in theaters in the rest of the world.

FILM REVIEW OF ''ABOVE THE LAW" (1988)

Steven Seagal looks emaciated in director Andrew Davis’ hard boiled crime thriller “Above the Law,” (*** out of ****) co-starring skull-faced Hollywood heavy Henry Silva as a knife-wielding psycho.  Reportedly, Seagal broke into the film business because one of his students, the highly respected Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz, made it happen. “Above the Law” qualifies as a formulaic law and order epic about narcotics smuggling and an assassination attempt on an incorruptible U.S. Senator.  Most of the action takes place in Chicago with Seagal defeating the loathesome villains with his usual brand of aggressive tenacity.  Seagal uses Aikiko on them when he isn’t swapping lead. The title refers to nobody being immune from justice.  Ironically, Davis emphasizes this point with newsreel footage of U.S. President Richard Nixon quoting Abraham Lincoln on the subject. Remember Nixon was the Republican who resigned in disgrace over the Watergate Scandal.  The Andrew Davis & Steven Seagal screenplay features more autobiographical material about the martial arts star than any of his other epics.  Indeed, “Above the Law” provides a glimpse of Seagal as a youngster with several genuine pictures of the actor.  Composer David Michael Frank betrays the late 1980s origins of “Above the Love” with his cheesy B-movie score.  Nothing surprising occurs as our stalwart hero tackles the villains with a vengeance.  The villains are merciless dastards, but Nico cuts them little slack.  As it turns out, the CIA has ties with organized crime. 

Making his motion picture debut, Seagal casts himself as an Italian-American born in Palermo, Italy, who immigrated to America at age seven.  He saw a martial arts demonstration at a baseball game later on when he was a teenager. Company agent Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross of “Major League”) initially recruited Nicolo ‘Nico’ Toscani into the CIA. Before the Agency approached him at an Embassy function in Tokyo, Nico had studied and taught martial arts in Japan.  Our naïve protagonist totes an M-16 along the border of Vietnam and Cambodia on assist and observe missions. He witnesses some things that he should haven’t seen.  “Above the Law” gets off to a good start as Nico encounters Colonel Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva of “The Hills Run Red”) as the latter is interrogating a native in the jungle.  Somebody, it seems, has been tampering with Zagon’s opium.  Our hero doesn't understand what any of this has to do with acquiring intelligence about the enemy. Nico and Zagon clash, setting up expectations for a gory finale about an hour later.  

The action shifts years later to contemporary Chicago.  Toscani has a wife Sara (Sharon Stone of “Basic Instinct”), and they have just attended the communion of their first child  Giuliano.  Nico’s pals on the force laugh about him for having more relatives under federal indictment than any other cop in Chicago.  When he isn’t patrolling the streets, Detective Sergeant Tosconi takes care of personal business relating to the disappearance of his attractive young niece.  Seagal’s first cinematic fight takes place in a bar as he is searching for her.  Even the bartender knows what to expect when Nico enters.  “This ain’t nothing but trouble coming in my place tonight,” he observes with dread.  Nico gets a tip from the low-life, Alex (Christopher Peditto), who was getting his niece hopped up on drugs.  Alex doesn't want to go to jail so he babbles about a hooker and a cocaine lawyer setting up a deal.  Nico slaps him around enough until he provides a name.  Nico is the kind of cop who isn’t above breaking the rules.  He eavesdrops via a wiretap on a conversation between a couple of Columbians. He gets wind of a shipment arriving in an engine block at the Fulton Meat Market. Later, at the market, the Feds blow the case for them and Nico chases the villains in their car on foot.  He throws himself in front of their Lincoln and tumbles across the hood and atop the roof.  After they blow some holes in the roof, Nico smashes a passenger window and clamps a hand onto Tony Salvano, one of the lawyers.  This is a reasonably suspenseful scene.  Nico is shown spread-eagle clinging to the roof of the Lincoln while the driver swerves in an effort to dislodge him.  Eventually, the driver obeys his boss and pulls over. Afterward, Nico and his buddy Detective Lukich (Ron Dean of "Code of Silence") take apart the engine block.  Instead of narcotics, they discover several packages of C-4 explosives.  The Feds arrest Tony Salvano, but they let him off the hook because he is a government snitch.

  

After FBI agent Neeley releases Salvano and his driver, they check out St. Mary’s Church where Nico has attended.  While they are in the church, , Father Gennaro (Joe V. Greco) introduces Nico and Jackson to Father Tomasino and his refugees who are hiding in the basement of the church.  The next time Nico shows up for church, a bomb goes off.  The Father delivers a message about knowing the truth.  “Our leaders tell us and talk to us about them and us.  But almighty God talks to us about all mankind as one.  Now, we have an obligation to find out what is the truth.  We need to study.  We need to question.  We need to read and we need to find out what they are doing in our name.  And we must support those brave souls who seek the truth.”  Not long after the sermon, a woman departs the sanctuary.  Nico spots a suspicious sack moments before it explodes and kills Father Gennaro.  Later, Nico discovers that the blast was meant for Father Tomasino.  The blast kills Father Gennaro.  After the explosion, a carload of thugs tries to assault Nico and he shows them his stuff.

Afterward, the Feds come down hard on Nico and persuade the Chicago Police Department to suspend him.  He surrenders his gun and badge.  This doesn’t prevent Nico from carrying out his own investigation.  Nico meets Fox on a skyscraper.  We learn that Zagon has a four thousand acre ranch in Costa Rica.  Zagon wanted Senator Ernst Harrison assassinated because he was going to expose their plans to invade Nicaragua using cocaine money.  As it turns out, Father Tomasino learned about it while in Nicaragua and Zagon fears that he may have told the senator.  Zagon doesn’t want to kill the senator is word has been leaked about it.  Nelson holds Nico at gunpoint about the same time that Zagon and his cronies arrive in an underground garage.  A gunfight erupts and the bartender kills Nelson who slides Nico his gun.  More shots are fired and Salvano is hit.  Nico backs a car into Salvano and runs the car half out of the high rise parking lot so Salvano plunges onto the elevated railway and is electrocuted to death.  Zagon and his thugs pursue Nico in another car.  They run Nico down, pick up him, and prepare to torture him. Nico surprises them, breaks through his restraints, and devastating them.  He kills two with a shotgun and breaks Zagon’s arm when he threatens him with a knife.  Afterward. He snaps Zagon’s neck.  Later, Senator Harrison drops by Nico’s house and thanks him.  Apparently, Nico appears before Congress as “Above the Law” concludes with his testimony.  “Gentlemen, whenever you have a group of individuals who are beyond any investigation who can manipulate the press, judges, members of our Congress, you’re always gonna have within our government those who are above the law.”

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE RAVEN" (2012)

The age old issue that arises for every generation is the impact of the media on society. Does watching movies, playing video games, and perusing literature prompt us to imitate the actions of fictional characters in certain situations?  “V for Vendetta” director James McTeigue with “Loverboy” scenarist Hannah Shakespeare and rookie writer Ben Livingston have contrived a complicated but uninspired serial killer murder mystery about Edgar Allan Poe.  Basically, an anonymous criminal has decided to use Poe as a blueprint for his diabolical deeds.  The idea isn’t even that original.  Back in 1973, horror icon Vincent Price played a vengeful Shakespearean actor in “Theatre of Blood” who murdered several callous theater critics in re-enactments of death in Shakespeare’s plays. No, Poe is not the serial killer stalking and killing innocent victims.  Beware, although “The Raven” (** out of ****) gets some of Poe’s biographical details correct, the filmmakers err horribly in other instances.  Ironically, the poor slob cut in two by a giant pendulum outlived Poe and did his best to destroy Poe’s literary legacy.  The individual referred to here is Rufus Wilmot Griswold.  Sadly, “The Raven” unravels about an hour into the narrative, and McTeigue and his scribes have tacked on a finale that looks like loose threads being tied up.  The biggest mistake that the filmmakers make is the absence of red herrings to throw us off the scent.  Simply put, "The Raven" never allows us to guess the identity of the villain and the alternatives to the villain are none.  Consequently, the mystery part of this movie is woefully underwritten.

  

 You can almost imagine how this formulaic thriller with gorgeous costumes and atmospheric locales came about during the pre-production phrase.  Presumably, the studio picked Poe not only because he was one of America’s leading literary lights of the nineteenth century, but also the copyright has long since lapsed on his literature.  Imagine this scenario at a production conference.  Studio Executive # 1: “Let’s make Edgar into an action hero like they did Sherlock Holmes?”  Studio Executive # 2: “Of course, the authorities will threaten to arrest Poe if he refuses to help them solve the crime.”  Studio Executive # 1:  “The police want Poe to psychoanalyze the killer to predict his next move.”  Studio Executive # 3: “Our killer must imitate the homicides from Poe's stories.”  Studio Executive # 2, “Naturally, Poe has a blonde girlfriend straight off the cover of Cosmo.  She must be abducted by the killer and held hostage.”  Finally, Studio Executive # 1 says: “Presto, we’ve got the greatest hits of Edgar Allan Poe.  We can make allusions to “The Pit and Pendulum,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Mystery of Marie Roget.”

 “The Raven” opens with some minor biographical details about Poe and his mysterious death on May 7, 1849, in Baltimore, Maryland.  Typically, movies about a hero who dies are usually box office poison.  Moreover, Poe is such an obnoxious fellow that you don’t care what happens to him.  He admits at one point, “I’ve got nothing left,” adding, “I’ve used up all my tricks.”  The Edgar Allan Poe that “The Raven” presents is an egomaniac skidding into obscurity.  A hopeless alcoholic, Poe doesn’t possess enough money to purchase his next drink.  Initially, it appears that he has no friends except for a pet raccoon named Carl. If all this weren’t awful enough, Edgar learns he is not going to be published.  Earlier, he assured a bartender that he would be living like a sultan when the newspaper published his literary criticism.  Since he cannot pay for a drink, Poe appropriates a stranger’s drink. outside Before he realizes what has happened, Poe finds himself unceremoniously expelled from the taven.  Actor John Cusack strives to make this tortured, nineteenth century genius appear sympathetic, but there is little to like about him.

Predictably, the first image is a raven perched on a tree branch overlooking a park where our dour protagonist is sitting on a bench. Afterward, the filmmakers backtrack about a week before with a scene that looks straight out of the first “Sherlock Holmes” movie with Robert Downey, Jr.  A madman has slashed a woman’s throat with a razor, strangled her daughter, and stuffed the daughter’s body in a chimney. When the police arrive, they hear a key locking the door from within and have to smash their way into the room.  They are genuinely puzzled because they can find nobody else in the room.  Further, the window through which the suspect could only have escaped is nailed shut.  Detective Inspector Fields (Luke Evans of “The Three Musketeers”) arrives and manages to open the window.  Eventually, he remembers that he read about a similar incident in the macabre fiction of Edgar Allan Poe.  Fields recruits a reluctant Poe to serve as a crime consultant.

When Poe isn’t dabbling in real-life murders, he is having an affair with stunning Emily Hamilton (Alice Eve of “Sex in the City 2”) whose father has nothing but contempt for him.  Indeed, Captain Hamilton (Brendan Gleeson of “Safe House”) threatens to shoot Poe on sight if he catches the renowned author with his daughter.   No sooner does Poe propose to Emily than the insane psycho kidnaps her, and things really come to a boil. The murders in “The Raven” are not for the squeamish.  Make no mistake, McTeigue earns his R-rating for bloody violence and grisly images.  The pendulum scene ranks as the most graphic as the descending blade eviscerates a book critic and then gets jammed in the table where the man lay.  The problem with “The Raven” is that it lacks the compelling quality that a good murder-mystery requires if we the audience are to overlook some of the far-fetched plot logistics.  Reconsider the pendulum scene.  When Poe visits the scene of the crime, he is impressed by the size of the counterweight.  Where could a killer—insane or not—buy a pendulum of that size and install it without attracting attention?  This question and others—like the spring loaded window nails are things that shouldn’t concern us. Furthermore, The filmmakers never provide us with a gallery of suspects to choose from as the killer before the reprobate reveals himself.  Ultimately, the villain doesn't amount to much.  Despite his diabolical exploits, he comes off as hopeless colorless. Unfortunately, McTeigue doesn’t orchestrate the action with enough verve to distract us from these questions.  "The Raven" stumbles from one anemic scene to next with little energy. 

Cusack is acceptable as Poe, but looks morose and miscast.   Poe probably was never in the physical shape required to  pull off the stunts that Cusack's double does.  Luke Evans does an exceptional job as the police inspector who will go to any lengths to solve the crime and get his man.  Alice Eve is a feast for the eyes.  Meanwhile, Brendan Gleeson and Kevin McNally, who plays Poe’s editor, are squandered in thankless peripheral roles. "The Raven" qualifies as Poe-thetic!

FILM REVIEW OF ''THE RELIC" (1997)

Even the most jaded horror movie addicts may find themselves squirming in parts of Peter Hyams’ murky but well-made creature feature “The Relic” (*** out of ****) starring Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore.  Meanwhile the faint of heart may want to reconsider enduring this experience.  You’ll lose count of the number of severed heads.  You’ll also lose count of the number of times that the filmmakers dare you to accompany heroes and victims down a catacomb of spooky hallways.  Special effects wizard Stan Winston has created a huge, slimy, lizard critter with tusks for “The Relic” that would give “Alien,” “Predator,” and those “Jurassic Park” raptors a run for their money. 

“The Relic” is basically a haunted house chiller.  Most of its grisly action occurs inside a creepy Chicago museum, within scores of shadowy corridors, labs, and staircases.  A dinosaur reptile of amazing agility prowls these premises and feasts on flesh.  Mainly, this hybrid monster tears your head off and munches a chunk of your brains.  The melodramatic script pays homage to scary sagas such as “Jaws,” “Alien,” and “Jurassic Park.”  Penelope Ann Miller plays a dedicated but cute evolutionary biologist who pedals a bicycle to work and worries about who’ll fund her research.  She shares many of Ripley’s heroic characteristics from the “Alien” franchise, except Penelope doesn’t perform a strip tease for the monster.  She keeps her clothes on and relies on her wits to outsmart the creature.  Burly Tom Sizemore abets her as a superstitious Windy City cop.  He wants to close the museum, but the mayor needs it open for a gala fundraiser.

Naturally, the monster crashes the gala and heads roll.  When the monster isn’t terrifying the rich, the museum becomes an obstacle course. The monsters shuts down the power, and the wealthy patrons find themselves trapped in the dark, rained on by fire sprinklers.  “The Relic” aspires to be more than just a horror movie.  The worst thing about “The Relic” is its surplus of plot.  What might have been a small horror movie turns into not only a big-scale scary movie, but also a disaster movie. The film opens with a jungle witchcraft scene that is supposed to frighten but winds up being incomprehensible.  The filmmakers then build the plot and introduce their array of characters before the finally unleash the beast.

Part of the time the scenarists clobber us with a load of scientific, computer gibberish that makes the movie sound realistic.  Interestingly, everything that the monster devours becomes part of its DNA and guides it behavior.  

 Peter Hyams lights the museum as if it were the space ship in “Alien.”  Hyams, who helmed “Outland” and “Running Scared,” aims to scare the daylights out of you.  He resorts to every tried-and-true truck to elicit paranoia and hype suspense.  If you aren’t family with how horror movies manipulate their audiences, you may find some scenes in “The Relic” a little intense.  Predictability, of course, paralyzes the plot because Hyams spends too much time trying to be like other horror movies so that it breaks little new ground.  But the effects may be gruesome enough that you forget the formula that the story follows.  Hyams gets great help from composer John Debney whose tense, dramatic orchestral score heightens the tension.

“The Relic” qualifies as a good horror movie boosted by glossy production values.  This chiller is worth seeing at least once while you’re searching for a genuine classic.