Hidden Assassin

Hidden Assassin (its proper name is The Shooter) is not just another mindless Dolph Lundgren actioner. It's a fairly well-plotted and exciting political thriller with some fine acting and great action sequences. But the real best thing about this movie is the setting. Filmed on location in Prague, the film looks beautiful and often stunning. Dolph plays a US Marshall (surprise, surprise) who is sent to Prague to find the assassin who killed the Cuban ambassador. Detmers is a beautiful bisexual assassin who Dolph gets caught up with, and before long the two of them are walking on dangerous ground while trying to stay alive the whole time. The suspense is always growing, as we never know who the killer is, wondering if it's Dolph's boss or even Detmers herself... I really like this movie. It's entertaining to watch and full of twists and surprises. Overall, I would probably recommend this one over some of Dolph's most well-known movies (Red Scorpion, Universal Soldier). Though without it's share of plot-holes, this remains a fun and very enjoyable romp.

At the beginning, there is a prologue that explains the following: If a foreign national commits a crime on U. S. soil, the U. S. government reserves the right to capture that suspect anywhere in the world and return him or her to the United States for prosecution. Jurisdiction over this activity falls to the U. S. Department of Justice's Marshall Service. The Cuban ambassador has been assassinated in New York. A hired female killer is the prime suspect in the murder. She allegedly shoots the ambassador to the U. N. and escapes back to her home base in Praga. To prevent another terrorist attack during the US-Cuba summit to be held in Prague, Czech Republic, the CIA sends Michael Dane (Dolph Lundgren), one of its best federal agents to his homeland. It seems that Simon Rosset (Maruschka Detmers) is the executioner, she's a professional assassin who is now co-owner of a restaurant along with Marta (Assumpta Serna). Michael Dane's partner in the mission is his CIA friend Alex Reed (John Ashton). The suspected killer is a lesbian restaurant owner, Simone Rosset, but Michael starts to doubt she is the murderer, that's why she's long retired and is being set up. But as usual everything is much more complicated than it seemed at first; and therefore Dane has to work much more with his brain than with his muscles to survive. Seduction is a deadly weapon!

A thriller with nonstop action and noisy chases from beginning to end. It deals with the two protagonists, Dolph Lundgren and John Ashton, who become more and more involved in a complex plot of political conspiracy, betrayal, violence, and plot twists. So the two agents are assigned to prevent another attack of the terrorists at the US-Cuba-summit in Prague . Along the way the duo attempts to find the truth amid lots of double-crosses, and pursuits. Resulting to be an uneven thriller with its ups and downs, which is acceptable enough, but does not delivers the necessary tension and intrigue in its action scenes. Stars Dolph Lundgren who gives his mediocre and ordinary acting as a CIA agent gets caught up in political intrigue after he gets brought in to solve the murder of a Cuban ambassador. While Maruschka Detmers is supposedly an assassin who shot an ambassador, providing a passable acting. Other actors include John Ashton as the sympathetic CIA colleague, Gavan O'Herlihy as the CIA boss and Spanish players as Assumpta Serna and Simon Andreu as a nasty Cuban agent.

This routine motion picture was averagely directed by canadian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff, he provides many action scenes but it doesn't make sense in any case. His film career started in England with Tiara Tahiti (1962), a social comedy, Life at the Top (1965) and Two Gentlemen Sharing (1969). Kotcheff returned to Canada in 1972 to make The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974). This film, thought to be one of the best Canadian films ever made, won the Golden Bear First Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. Kotcheff also directed Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), starring Jane Fonda and George Segal and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), starring Jacqueline Bisset and George Segal. His next film, Wake in Fright (1971), was made in Australia. Kotcheff got great success on action cinema ( First blood, Uncommon valor, The shooter) and comedy (Switching channels, Fun with Dick and Jane ). Nevertheless , today he only realizes TV episodes (Law and order, Family of cops, Red shoes diaries). 'Hidden assassin' rating : 5/10. Acceptable and passable But only for the wonderful sightseeing of Prague, where most of the action takes place, beautifully photographed by Spanish cinematographer Fernando Argüelles. If you're a fan of Dolph Lundgren, you'll want to see this entry in his already somewhat monotonous action films.

****SPOILERS**** After the Cuban Ambassador to the UN is assassinated in New York City the CIA, with the help of Cuban government officials, trace the killer to be the daughter of an exiled anti-Castro Cuban living in the Czech Republic who's a professional assassin named Simone Rosset and using the name of Yanna Natova, Maruschka Detmers.

With a major meeting by the Cuban and US government set in Prague to re-establish diplomatic relations between those two countries it's expected that Simone will disrupt the meeting by trying to kill both the Cuban and US officials expected to sign that agreement.

Sending US Marshall Michael Dane, Dolph Lundgren, to arrest Simone and bring her back to the US to stand trial for the Cuban Ambassador's murder Michael is met by his long time friend and US government agent Alex Reed, John Aston, to help him in finding and arresting Simone.

After tracking her down during a number of car and train chases as well as a dangerous jump, from a high bridge into the Danube River, that almost killed both Michael and Simone, Michael finally captures her. Later as Michael is about to take Simone to the Prague airport to fly with her back to the US, to be tried for murder, Simone tells him that she never was in New York the day of the Ambassador's killing and never left the Czech Republic in five years; Simone also tells Michael that she'll never live to stand trial. Simone's prediction comes sadly true when she's assassinated in a Prague hotel room after Michael saved her life from a number of assassin attempts that he foiled.

One of Dolph's better efforts showing that he could act as well as haul and kick butt that he's so well known for. Realizing, too late to save Simone's life, that it's evident that there are those in higher ups in both the US and Cuban governments who don't want that signing to take place Michael goes to the signing ceremony in Prague to prevent it from being disrupted by the real assassins of the Cuban UN Ambassador.

Great action scenes that leave you black and blue just from watching them with Dolph Lundgren at his best as the reluctant hero who breaks with his superiors, to stop the very assassination that he was assigned by them to prevent, who think that the real killer is already dead.

Maruschka Detmers is the biggest surprise in the movie by being every bit as good as Dolph in the action scenes but also touches the heart-strings with her both sensitive as well as tragic performance as the doomed Simone. Tremendous final under the streets and on top of the buildings of picturesque Prague with Dolph Lundgren, bloody T-shirt and all, saving the day by putting the bad guys on ice as well as single-handedly restoring US-Cuban relations for the first time in some forty years.

I got it because I'm a Maruschka Detmers fan, and I wasn't disappointed in her part, however limited it was in showcasing her talents. I didn't take this movie seriously, and I'll bet the actors had fun making this movie.

The scenery and location were very impressive, the interaction between the main characters was good, with a touch of (unintended?) comedy throughout. Some of the scenes were unbelievable, but that just added to the feeling that you couldn't take this seriously as an action-adventure movie. For example, how could Michael pass by all the security points, evil bad guys pursuing him unscathed? If it isn't taken seriously, well that's the fun of it.

I had never seen Dolph Lundgren act before, and was comparing him to Arnold... both are hard workers.

The story line is this movie's weakest point, along with a few minor characters who obviously were put in the movie for appearance but no acting ability whatsoever.

Overall, I liked it and after repeated viewings, I still enjoy it.

I quite like watching Dolph Lundgren movies that are high on atmosphere. One of my favourite movies is Silent Trigger, which is just gorgeously shot. So I read reviews of this one as being also beautiful, and there's sniping in the movie too, so I went with it.

I'm not going to make a huge fuss and tell you that the movie is Barry Lyndon, but it really is purty. I'll get to that after a brief round up of the plot.

So the Dolphage here is US Marshal Michael Dane, who has been sent abroad to kidnap Simone Rosset (Maruschka Detmers), a sniper who is accused of assassinating a Cuban official in New York, and bring her to trial. I don't quite know how controversial such an extra-jurisdictional kidnapping is, there are documented cases of the US doing it, but I wouldn't have thought the US Marshal service would have been employed. It's morally wrong, as Rosset says in the movie, if the Czechs abducted a US citizen from Pittsburgh for trial in the Czech Republic, that would be a huge international incident.

Thing is she may not even have done it, and Dane (like Waxman in Silent Trigger) has a troubled conscience. Rosset has been in retirement for at least a decade and is now running a restaurant in Prague with her lover Marta (Assumpta Serna), their world is not just a little intoxicating to Dane. You get a sense, when he sees Simone's expressive dancing in a lesbian night club, that it's an image that will be engraved into his mind for the rest of his days. Assumpta Serna's presence is welcome, she's an unbelievable sauce who actually appears to have more sexual power 10 years later in the Quay Brothers' superb movie PianoTuner of Earthquakes at the age of nearly 50.

Purty places include the fabulous Czech restaurant, which I suspect is probably a little more touristy than the movie suggests (you can see Alphonse Mucha designs on the backs of the menus - famous artist of Prague). There's also a lovely wine cellar, and Marta's flat is quite beautiful. Something I harp on about a lot is the transformative quality of interior design in movies, it really does help if you have good diegetic lighting and plush dream apartments in movies. Marta has candles a plenty, cushions on the floor to lounge on, and lovely greenery everywhere, cheese plants, mimosa, and the like. Marta and Simone, one gets the impression, are experts at living.

Although others have said that the special effects are not all that, I think there's a couple of pretty cool ones, take the leap to the metro car for example. It's true that the movie is a cheapie compared with modern stuff, but I don't think a few cases of movie explosives were going to make this one better.

The plot is fairly much all over the place, and the Cuban officials in the movie a big annoyance, the fact that Dolph is basically the adopted son of one of the spooks comes off as pretty silly, as does the major plot twist. Despite what is also a fairly ludicrous ending, there are very cool parts to the script, such as the observation by Alex (the adoptive father), that the only time self-doubt is useful is when you're playing Hamlet on stage. There's also a kind of strange beauty to the fights between Dolph and Simone, in that he's more than twice her size, and yet she has enough nouse to make them last out.

The lasting value is in the film's aesthetics, and the haunting of Dane, as well as the occasional fairly cool special effect. It joins my list of flawed but very purty and lovable movies that were made during my childhood, alongside the likes of Albert Pyun's Cyborg, and Wes Craven's Shocker.