Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful
Lightdeossk Captivating movie !
Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
terekidi The amount of nonsense in this movie is just overwhelming. A group of Americans (3 young men) goes to Finland to drink some beer and shoot some cans from a shotgun (because there is no way they'd be allowed to do that in US... right). Then the story takes a weird turn and becomes un-watchable:The group decides to illegally cross the border into USSR for no apparent reason. Then, they end up in a village, where they kill the priest, a few civilians and a bunch of soldiers who arrive to the village shortly after. We are not even going to focus on the fact that an army of soldiers armed with AK assault rifles can't hit a target located just a few feet away, but the main characters managed to kill everybody by shooting AKs with just 1 hand.Trying to escape, they burn half of the village down and eventually end up... in the same village, where they get caught and sent to prison. In prison, the story becomes so twisted that you can't watch it while being sober. More people get killed. Apparently Russian prisons have bazookas and Israeli UZI in their armory. Who knew? So, what's the bottom line? A few guys illegally cross the border, kill dozens of civilians and soldiers, get imprisoned, kill more people, escape, cross the border illegally again... but it's OK, because they are Americans. TRASH
TOMASBBloodhound This is the kind of film that only could have been made during the mid 80s. It was advertised as a Rambo-style action flick here in the states. Back then, as a junior high kid, I was really pumped to see it. The film ended up being an interesting, but largely unfocused story of three young American men who take an unwarranted trip into the Soviet Union and pay a big price for it.The three protagonists are two Alpha-males and a nerd. One of the Alpha-males was played by Chuck Norris' son, if I recall. These three are driving around Finland above the arctic circle shooting guns, guzzling beers, and taking pictures. After stumbling around in the woods for a while, they come across the border to the USSR. And like idiots, they decide to sneak over to the other side for fun. This is all within the first 10 minutes. After that, one bad thing after another happens to them, leaving the viewer little choice but to feel that these jokers had it coming.First off, they are blamed for the killing of a local village girl. When we find out who really did the killing, that is one of the more intriguing points of the film. I wish the film could have just stayed in the village and explored this plot rather than jumping the tracks and moving on to more ridiculous elements later on. Anyway, the three are set to be executed, and somehow elude their captors in an incredibly violent shootout. Now on the run, with one of their party wounded, the three are easy prey for Soviet troops as they try to make their way back to Finland.Of course, the boys are captured in one of those typical "border scenes" where all the spotlights are instantly turned on, revealing the helpless victims who are now at the mercy of the evil commies. After being brutally interrogated, the three are dumped into a gulag somewhere in Siberia to be forgotten. The place is no Kolyma, but it certainly would suck to be in there. Not only are the conditions rough for regular prisoners, but beneath the prison is a game of human chess! Real people are used for pieces, and the losers are apparently killed! Yes! I have never seen anything like that in a movie before. Too bad they don't spend enough time dealing with this game, or the people who play it.Finally, with the help of a mysterious prisoner the lone remaining American is able to fight his way out of the prison and escape with a young woman he has fallen in love with along the way. All this in just over 90 min!!! This film was directed by a now-famous Renny Harlin. He demonstrates some genuine skill with the limited budget this film obviously had. The problems are more at the screenplay level. Too many questions are not answered, and too many paths not properly explored. Just who in the hell was "The Admiral"? He was no David Robinson; that's for sure. What was he doing in the prison? What were his plans once he got out? And how in the heck was the last American going to get out of the USSR?? After all the damage he did??? Come on! The film could have been much better, but it still manages to hold some interest. Good luck finding this one on TV, but a spare copy of it is no doubt floating around on Amazon or somewhere like that.5 of 10 stars. The Hound has spoken.
dinky-4 This movie begins as one of those young-Americans-on-a-European-vacation affair. Then it shifts into an action-thriller as our three heroes, on a lark, sneak across the border into the USSR and are captured by Russian border-guards. At this point it becomes a grim prison drama laced with surrealistic touches. Then the final scene offers a hint of a boy-meets-girl romance.While the movie doesn't quite succeed as a whole, individual parts worked well enough to propel Finnish director Renny Harlin all the way to Hollywood. Perhaps the best of these parts is the justly-famous torture scene in which a well-dressed interrogator who could pass as a college professor calmly, almost lovingly, attaches alligator clips to the nipples of Steve Durham in a series of screen-filling close-ups. These clips are attached by wires to a portable generator and soon Durham is jerking in pain from electrical shocks. However, the interrogator doesn't get the information he seeks so he concludes with a comment that he has all the time he needs in order to complete his task. (A better line might have included the thought that those alligator clips could be re-attached to other, even more sensitive parts of Durham's anatomy.)Also worth noting are the scenes of a chess game played with prisoners instead of chess pieces, though not enough is made of this material.Top-billed Mike Norris shows enough promise here that one wonders why his later film-career was so undistinguished. Albert Salmi and Thalmus Rasulala provide good support in small but pivotal roles. As for Steve Durham, he must be the only actor in the movies whose nipples are more recognizable than his face.
winginit Not a great movie, but then, it starred Mike Norris, not known for great movies, though in this one he did more acting than usual.David Coburn as KC was the best part of the film (if somewhat uneven) while the character Mitch was the worst. He had no real redeeming qualities. Frankly, I was rooting for him to die so I wouldn't have to watch him anymore.Most striking was how much "stuff" Renny Harlin managed to fit into the film. If only it weren't so disjointed or so full of gratuitous violence.A must for Coburn fans. Great moments and a great comparison piece to see how much he's grown as an actor.
