Cold Steel

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.

Police detective Johnny Modine (Brad Davis) gets a bad Christmas surprise. His father opens his store to Dorian "Mick" Michael Duran (Adam Ant) and gets killed by Isaac "Iceman" (Jonathan Banks). One night, Kathy Connors (Sharon Stone) shows up in the cop bar and starts talking to Johnny. As he investigates, he finds a group of men with a vendetta against him.

Once upon a time, Brad Davis was a rising star, but he never got to A-list status. In this one, he's trying very hard and maybe too hard. Everything in the movie is a little over the top and not well done. It does have some interesting side characters including Sharon Stone as the femme fatale. According to the movie posters, she is the big selling point. It also has Jonathan freaking Banks and Adam Ant. Banks is a legend and Adam Ant is a forgotten name from the 80's. The vending machine gag is not funny and they repeat it. The movie keeps trying for comedy and it rarely works. They do like their car stunts and it's fun to see all the cars flipping around in the air. This is a poor action movie, but it does have a couple of fun scenes.

****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.

Well, this one left me rather bemused. A L. A based neo noir that's a mess of a film, in regard to good and bad aspects. When it's on, it's on, but there are moments where it can labour and the tone feels totally off. And I think the script with its forced dramas and varied performances play a large part to contributing to it.

LAPD detective Johnny Modine becomes a loose cannon, after the death of his father in a robbery. Wanting justice, he soon discovers the killing was anything but random, as his past is coming back to bite him.

Brad Davis as our lead. Is bland, and never all that convincing, looking very much out of his league... especially when the story asks a little more from him. At times looking like he raided William Peterson's Manhunter wardrobe. To be honest, he can be awkward. Though he's not alone. Sharon Stone is no better, with a rather stiff turn. The chemistry between the two, was non-existent. But then you got the likes of Johnathan Banks and Adam Ant. The villains of the piece. Quite a colorful duo, and playing it up compared to Davis and Stone. Banks really had a threatening and somewhat unhinged presence, to go along with his electrolarynx (robotic voice box). While Ant was the less uptight character. Whenever these two were on screen, my interest was piqued. Sy Richardson (Repo Man) was the third wheel.

The story stayed simple. Cat and mouse games driven by a hunger for revenge. Though it felt, especially early on, the central premise would get sidetracked or focus on irregular scenes longer than needed. Example the running gag involving a vending machine. Still when it comes to the third act it throws out a plot twist involving Stone's character, which is easily foreseeable. It doesn't really add much in the way of suspense... probably in a way cheapens it and rids any sense of unplanned danger. But it does go on to deliver an over-the-top climatic showdown and stunt-work involving fire, in which that one moment Stone makes up for her languid performance.

Interestingly it was the one and only feature by director Dorothy Ann Puzo. Yep, the daughter of Mario Puzo. It's actually well-shot, LA locations come through and there are decent action scenes, some nasty/bloody encounters and an obligatory car chase with some impressive stunt work. Technically all round competent. So I can't help but feel she was let down by the writing and a few of the performances.

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.