Cold Steel

After his father is slashed to death on Christmas Eve, handsome Los Angeles policeman Brad Davis (as Johnny Modine) embarks on the inevitable. While pursuing meth-addicted Jonathan Banks (as Isaac), Mr. Davis gets sexy Sharon Stone (as Kathy Connors) to show a little skin. The hero is supported by buddy Jay Acovone (as Cookie) and former glam / new wave rocker Adam Ant (as Mick) helps the villain. A flashback reveals some violent silliness triggered the plot. We get a good chase scene, with plenty of crashing. "The Godfather" writer's rarely seen daughter Dorothy Ann Puzo directed.

***** Cold Steel (12/11/87) Dorothy Ann Puzo ~ Brad Davis, Sharon Stone, Jonathan Banks, Adam Ant

Thats what it received from critics and audiences alike . Except for the over the top violence quota, COLD STEEL is a revenge cop caper more suited to television than general release, which was at best - limited to say the least.

Jonathan Banks, a Frank Stallone look-alike of sorts, gives us a hammy performance as Iceman, who knocks off Brad Davis's dad who understandably then, carries a grudge against the knife-wielding maniac until the last scene.

Sharon Stone's contribution is negligible except for her figure and regularly thrust-forward breasts! Not a solitary viewer's life could be greatly enriched by watching this under-achiever of a movie.

Sometimes those unknown flicks that seem straight-to-video or befitting a light night cable channel can actually work, like COLD STEEL, now billed as a Sharon Stone vehicle since her BASIC INSTINCT breakthrough, a cop action drama actually literally driven by MIDNIGHT EXPRESS actor Brad Davis as a cop whose father is murdered, and he wants revenge...

On the peripheral, looming in the antagonist spot is Iceman, a villain both living up to his name and the film's title...

Like any thug played by Jonathan Banks, fresh from BEVERLY HILLS COP only in charge this time and equally formidable, frightening and with a robotic voice-box in his throat, each pre-kill threat has a creepy and sinister vibe...

As Davis and his comic-relief partner venture from one near-death situation to the next, the suspense builds nicely, as does the action, in particular one car chase starting on the streets and winding up in the middle of a stock car race, about as good as any big venue mainstream action flick...

And he's chasing none other than 80's new wave icon Adam Ant as Iceman's hyperactive limey partner, and a pretty good actor, providing a terrific balance of overboard zany and lethal menace, as if this were his very own cult b-movie, with the line "I feel bigger with a trigger!"

And last but not least is Ms. Stone, whose gorgeous blond ingenue enters our hero's life so breezily you'll know there's something under her sleeve, and, okay fine, so it's not THE FRENCH CONNECTION: but for an unknown underdog cop thriller, this has bite.

Brad Davis plays a cop here tracking down his fathers killer, and on occasion has various encounters with defiant vending machines. Jonathan Banks shows his versatility by giving the same dry performance were all accustomed to, despite an unusual vocal disposition. Oh, and then there's Sharon Stone,…no surprises here. Director Puzo tries to show some visual flair with gravity defying slow-motion car jump's, a la' Blues Brothers, and it comes off just as silly. The films sports cliché' locations and situations, routine acting, and the occasional twist here and there, but really, nothing ever leaves the realm of the status quo. Even the off-casting of Adam Ant couldn't help rise this mediocre entry above it's ilk.

****SPOILERS**** Brad Davis, Johnny Modine, in a 1987 cop thriller set in LA with him looking for the killer of his dad Sam Modine, William Lanteau, and finds a whole lot more then he bargained for in the process.

The movie "Cold Steel" has the distinction of being the first and last film directed by Mario Puzo's, who wrote "The Godfather", daughter Dorothy Ann Puzo. Being a first-time directed film it isn't exactly a modern Film-Noir classic or top-flight police action drama but it is quite watchable. The pacing by Ann does move the movie along with a number of shoot outs and an incredible car chase scene that ends up, in of all places, at a racetrack. The final scene in the film with Johnny having it out with the bad-guy in the movie Jonathan Banks, Issac the Iceman, and his mob at the new LA Police Headquarters construction site is a real thriller. The climatic and exciting scene is as good as anything that you'll see in films similar to "Cold Steel" like "Die Hard".

Brad Davis though very likable in his role as policeman Johnny Modine is a bit off when it comes to being a tough and expert law enforcement officer.You can forgive Johnny early in the movie when he's a bit too aggressive with a robber he arrested at a grocery store in the police station. It was days after his father was murdered and Johnny wasn't exactly interested in following the law by the letter where a person is innocent until being proved guilty, as well as him only being the cop not the judge and jury. But Johnny falling for Kathy Connors, Sharon Stone, who walked into his life, or bar, and practically threw herself at him should have been something that Johnny should have been very suspicious of. Johnny should have known that the drop dead gorgeous looking Kathy wasn't exactly interested in his striking good looks as well as his very refined social graces. Johnny was almost on the floor slouching on a chair at the bar drunk when Kathy first met him.

It later turned out that Kathy had a very personal reason to get to know Johnny and become very friendly with him, and it wasn't love at first sight, in order to set him up for the kill by Issac who murdered his father. Sharon Stone has a much broader range of acting then you would have expected her to have in a B-movie like "Cold Steel" and showed the talent she had back then, in 1987, that later made her one of the top ranking actresses in motion pictures that she later became.

Everybody in the movie seemed to be really enjoying themselves in their roles and it showed on the screen with the film never bogging down and becoming boring. The big secret in the movie about Issac killing Johnnies father as well as Issac's connection with Kathy who's brother Eddie, Michael Warren, was a major factor in her allying herself with him. Kathy trying to kill Johnny was a bit strange and unusual but still interesting and did make sense, to Kathy at least.

Jonathan Banks' Issac was a better then average psycho drug addicted killer but the idea of giving him a gang, when he would have been better as a lone killer, who's job seemed to be committing robberies to get money to buy Issac drugs was a bit far fetched to say the least. The reason for that was because he didn't want anyone to see his face! That's what Issac kept saying over and over in the movie. If anyone did like Johnnies father and the Fishman, Ron Karabatsos, Issac murdered them as if he were some very well known and wanted criminal who would be recognized by anyone as soon as they saw him! Yet both Johnnies father and the Fishman, who were killed by him, had no idea who the heck Issac was when they saw him!

It was sad to see Brad Davis in one of his last movies before he died of AIDS in 1991 and realize what a great talent he was and how many good films and theater performances he would have giving the public had he lived. The movie "Cold Steel" is a fair and modest action film but it didn't give Brad, who did the best he could with his role in the movie, the opportunity to show the public the fine actor that he really was.