Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 27, 1993 TAG: 9302270290
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`FIFTY/FIFTY' IS A CHEAP PRODUCTION THAT'S BORING/BORING
"Fifty/Fifty" is trying to be a low-budget "Dogs of War." It winds up being an unintentional "Bananas" with lame humor and anemic action sequences.Filmed in Malaysia, but with no sense of place, it's the story of two mercenaries who are recruited by the CIA to arrange a coup in a fictional dictatorship. Wyer (Peter Weller) and French (Robert Hays) don't trust the Agency, but Spru (director Charles Martin Smith) makes them an offer they can't refuse.
Off they go into the jungle to train the scroungiest-looking bunch of peasants you've ever seen. They also encounter the standard flirtatious subplot involving the obligatory pretty and committed female freedom fighter. The only suspense in the plot involves the CIA. Will their bosses sell them out for political reasons? You don't need three guesses.
Oddly, the people behind the camera have respectable track records. Smith, best known for his acting work in "American Graffiti" and "Never Cry Wolf," also made the competent horror movie "Trick or Treat." Writers Dennis Shryack and Michael Butler also wrote Chuck Norris' "Code of Silence" and Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider."
Weller and Hays don't embarrass themselves. They are, after all, professionals; and even if this isn't the classiest production they've ever worked on, they earn their pay.
These days, it is unusual for a movie made this cheaply to be released in theaters. Normally, these flicks go straight to home video where viewers have the luxury of fast-forwarding through the boring parts. Moviegoers are not so fortunate.
Fifty/Fifty: *
A Cannon release playing at the Valley View Mall 6. 100 min. Rated R for foul language, graphic violence.