Red Heat (1988)

Nothing makes me miss the late, great John Belushi more than seeing his younger brother, James, on the big screen.

Oh well. This movie wants to show off the Governator in his prime. So what's more natural than starting off with a Turkish bath with a lot of nude body-builders (and for some absurd reason, petite women) and Arnie flexing his biceps over a stone from the oven before kicking the crap out of the only two fat-guys in the place out in the snow. The awesomeness has been established, and so they can move on to the directness with a mean streak. In a bar of course, tables breaking everywhere as Arnold demonstrates just how cool it is to be a Russian cop, rather than an American (The Miranda rights are - no kidding - a reoccurring joke in this flick).

Speaking of jokes: Some of the jokes are most amusing, if you have the right amount of testosterone. And by right, I mean a lot. So I laughed. Sue me. Even more peculiar: Arnie is the funniest guy in this flick.

There are a few riddles to solve, but it's done mostly with violence or very simple deductions. There is plenty of action, most of it made to fit Arnie's lack of martial arts and Belushi's general lack of fitness. So they shoot each other or slug it out. And the chicken-part, that I'll get back to shortly

For a film with very little brain, there is actually a lot of talent here. Not including the leads. No, seriously. I don't count those two. But Laurence Fishburne and the brilliant Peter Boyle is here. As is Brion James and Gina Gershon. Both better in other flicks.

Other than that, it follows the same buddy-cop pattern most of these flicks do: Very different cops meet. Very different cops hate each other's guts. Then very different cops are forced to work together. And towards the end very different cops are friends. In addition there is the early screw up, the yelling from the bosses and the cultural jokes. And most people hate cops, it would appear. The difference is though, that in this case, Arnie is really doing all the work. Belushi is his cop sidekick, contributing very little to the apprehension of our Georgian baddie. Or the film for that matter.

And to play chicken with buses as an endgame. Not at all a bad way to go.

It's not bad, it has entertainment. But the leads are not really good enough (Belushi in particular) and Walter Hill never was the director to demand a great script. Hence; mediocrity.


5/10