contraspirit-1

DIRECT CONTACT surely is a bad movie: the plot is generic, the direction is laughable, the editing sloppy, the acting aside from Lundgren terrible. Furthermore some scenes are taken from earlier Nu Image-movies like U.S.SEALS 1&3, OUT FOR A KILL or DERAILED. Despite these facts DIRECT CONTACT is a highly entertaining piece of B-movie as it manages to keep the pace high and fills 80 minutes with as much senseless action as any sucker for this kind of movie could hope for. Lundgren kicks ass, and anyone who was disappointed with the lack of solid action in MISSIONARY MAN can rejoice. Although the violence often looks ridiculous (blood spurting from hats, etc.)it's fun watching Dolph doing what he's best in, and despite his age he really delivers. Danny Lerner on the other hand should finally finish his attempts to be a director, in more competent hands this movie could have been a b-action-gem since the budget is moderate, the visuals nice, the score okay, unfortunately the many flaws make this movie just another case of trashy but at least amusing guilty pleasure.

MIA 2 is as stupid, racist and hypocritical as typical action-cheapos from the golden 80s can get. But this alone shouldn't stop anyone to have fun with this kind of movie, unfortunately there are some other problems. The first half of the movie is rather boring with it's torturing scenes, the conflicts between the P.O.W.and so on. The actors are bad, Chuck Norris is extremely unlikable as Col.Braddock just like in the first MIA, therefore these scenes are neither involving nor convincing. In the last 40 minutes Chuck Norris strikes back, but in a quite unsatisfying manner. The action is cheaply made, shootouts without any impact, just a few badly staged fights and moves, A-Team-style explosions. It's quite entertaining, though, but pales in comparison with similar scenes in the second RAMBO, although the final fight betwenn Braddock and Yin is surprisingly well choreographed. Nevertheless, if you like 80-Style action and have already seen the gems of that decade, than MIA 2 is an acceptable time-waster, but this movie isn't even one of the better Chuck Norris-flicks. CODE OF SILENCE, LONE WOLF McQUADE or the third MIA are much better movies.