Onde de choc

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

The age old aidage of never trust a book by it's cover is definitely the case with No Code of Conduct,a ploddingly formulaic DTV actioner with misleading pretensions of being anything but.

The plot has a good looking,well groomed Charlie Sheen as cop Jake Peterson who,along with his father Bill (Martin Sheen) and partner Paul DeLucca (Mark Dacascoes) becomes embroiled in a plot to take down some drug dealers.

I had the DVD of the film lying around my house for ages and put it at the back with all the other stuff I have to watch.But after a while,the front and back cover,featuring all manner of explosions,gunfire and well suited action characters,not to mention an exhilarating plotline,began to wet my appetite like the prospect of a double quarter pounder meal at McDonalds.Sure,it was an obviously straight to video effort,and as such probably had the production values to match,but,all the same...

Oh,how I was to be disappointed.

The 'thrilling' action sequences are practically non-existent and what little action there is fails to generate any excitement whatsoever.The story is riddled with buddy-buddy cop thriller cliches and Sheen's character is promoted as the standard 'cop-who-doesn't-play-by-the-rules' hero,but he does little throughout to make us think he is a renegade in any way or that he has any sort of problem with authority.**

This should have been a good film. Fine actors, a fair story line, violence and guns a plenty.

I hope no-one in Law Enforcement sees this one.

How did the Sheens get their police jobs? Incompetent doesn't describe their performances. I'm a big fan of shootouts, especially the John Woo style with vast expenditure of ammunition, but these were insultingly bad.

Charlie does justify his appalling aim in a scene with his wife where he tells her that he is coming home to his family rather than spending time at the firing range. (He should have spent half the film there if you ask me)

There is a scene where it occurs to me that someone had reduced the powder loads in their ammunition to the point that they bounce off car body panels at 5 metres. (This also explains why the guns jam, there isn't enough power to work the action)

I could have done better. Even I could hit a van at 5 metres!

Watching this will have you squirming with embarrassment for the Sheens, and wanting to help them shorten the film by an hour by actually aiming at things.

Charlie Sheen produced this home movie starring his father (Martin Sheen), his uncle (Joe Estevez) and himself. This is a B-minus film about dirty cops involved in a drug deal. Almost everything about this film is second rate. The story is predictable and unoriginal. The dialogue is mindless and insipid. The photography is dull and the music is awful. The only redeeming elements are the stunts and pyrotechnics, which are reasonably well done.

The acting is mediocre at best. Charlie Sheen is often embarrassingly bad, leaving his dad to carry the film. Uncle Joe is just a throw in to keep the family employed and adds nothing to the film. The three drug goons are wretched.

Charlie Sheen's once bright career continues to grind gears with this clunker. I rated it a 4/10. Action lovers might enjoy it, but others will want to pass.

I was impressed that director Michaels cast against the grain. Really impressed with the work of habitually nice guys Joe Lando (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman) and Ron Masak (murder, She Wrote)as the baddies...Masak's low key approach to the role was refreshing and menacing. Also liked the work of Newcomer Tina Nguyen. Charlie Sheen should watch his Dad more and see what good acting is...Kudos for Brett Michaels.

SPOILERS (maybe)

It may have sounded like an interesting idea at the time to pair up 'The Two Sheen's', but let's face it, the result is not really worth the effort. Believe it or not, the two of them actually look very uncomfortable together and are very mismatched.

As you'd expect, the film churns out flipped over cars, exploding buildings, lesbian Chinese-American psycho's etc. etc., but what cannot be excused is the 'man not spending enough time with his family' routine (hasn't that been done before somewhere?!!).

The highlight of the film for me was probably the sound effect of the stomach stabbing near the beginning - very impressive and dramatically OTT. Good stuff. Those 'whoosh' cuts on the other hand...

But as ever with action films, one important question arises from the experience, and here it is: why do police officers insist on taking their own polished cars out on dangerous police work when they know they're gonna be rained with bullets?