ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 23, 1996 TAG: 9611260010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: It came from the video store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
This week we've got a quintet of new crime/action movies that covers the field from solid drama to cheap thrills.
"Shameless" manages to touch both ends of the spectrum.
Model Elizabeth Hurley is surprisingly effective (and realistically unsympathetic) as Antonia, a spoiled upper-class junkie who's mixed up with several shady types. Mike (C. Thomas Howell, who spends far too much time playing with his hair) is the naive American who falls for her. Two veteran supporting actors - Jeremy Brett, as a snobbish pusher, and Joss Ackland, as a cop with questionable motives - easily lift the film from the attractive stars.
Writer Tim Sewell's story becomes needlessly complicated and confusing at times. Director Henry Cole keeps things moving brightly. He creates a sense of buzzy, drugged-out depravity in a world of pampered luxury that lifts the thriller above the normal level of the genre.
"Shameless" is due in video stores Dec. 3.
On one level, "Excessive Force" is little more than your basic martial-arts movie. In fact, the beginning is so formulaic it resembles one of those action parodies on "The Simpsons" TV series. Thomas Ian Griffith (who also wrote the script) is honest cop Terry McCain who cavalierly tortures suspects until they tell him what he wants to hear. His boss (Lance Henriksen) is not amused, even though everyone knows that gangster DiMarco (Burt Young) is guilty of just about everything.
Director Jon Hess shows no real flair for the pedestrian fight scenes, but he does create a believably textured Midwestern atmosphere with gray winter light. At its best moments, this Illinois production is reminiscent of "The Fugitive."
Harvey Keitel's confident screen presence and star power add a lot to "The Young Americans," a lyrically paced and sometimes muddy crime story. He plays a cynical DEA agent who helps London cops against an American drug kingpin (Viggo Mortensen) who's moved onto their turf. At its best, the story works in the gray areas where characters are neither completely good nor bad. The young British supporting actors are excellent, and even if things are sometimes difficult to follow, the film is worth watching. Comparisons to such cult favorites as "The Long Good Friday" and "The Krays" aren't out of place. Director Danny Cannon makes an impressive debut.
One key to a good B movie is unpredictability. Even if you know that it's a horror flick or a dumb comedy or a thriller, the standard formula will be twisted or reversed in enough ways to surprise you. On that level, "One Good Turn" delivers the goods. It's a neatly constructed little mystery that reveals itself through the characters. Matt (Lenny Von Dohlen) is a fast-rising young video executive who's happily - well, fairly happily - married to Laura (Suzy Amis). Then Simon (James Remar) literally bumps into him on an upscale L.A. street. Matt knows him from years before in Panama where Simon saved his life. But Simon, perhaps embarrassed by his shabby clothes, quickly disappears. Matt is compelled to find him, and from that moment on, almost nothing is what it appears to be.
Director Tony Randel begins things with a terrific opening montage, and then spices up the tricky plot with a few standard cheap thrills. Again, though, the key is unpredictability, and it's sustained straight through to a satisfying conclusion.
The most remarkable thing about "Bloodsport II" is the resemblance that star Daniel Bernhardt bears to Jean-Claude Van Damme on the box art. On the tape itself, they're not quite so similar, but the two films are pretty much the same. Both are about the Kumite, a big martial-arts tournament, and both feature lots of fights with loud swoopy-crunchy sound effects. The bouts, choreographed by Philip Tan and directed by Alan Mehrez, are alternately realistic, comic, graceful and staged.
For fans, it's not up to the best of the recent Hong Kong imports but young Bernhardt has the build and the moves to make it in action movies. He gets good support from James Hong, Pat Morita and bad guy Ong Soo Han.
In two weeks: Sex!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491, or by e-mail at 75331.2603@compuserve.com.
New releases this week:
The Neon Bible ***
Starring Gena Rowlands, Diana Scarwid and Jacob Tierney. Fox Lorber. Not Rated.
This film adaptation of John Kennedy Toole's first novel is nothing like Toole's Pulitzer-winning "A Confederacy of Dunces" in content. English director Terence Davies wrote the screenplay, and his vision of Toole's novel is both nightmarish and beautiful. The cinematography evokes Edward Hopper, the dialogue - and its theatricality - evoke Tennessee Williams. The sum is one of the most powerful coming-of-age films in a long, long time. - Katherine Reed
Dragonheart *
Starring Dennis Quaid and the voice of Sean Connery. MCA/Universal. 108 minutes. Rated PG-13 for violence.
My, what a cute dragon! Good heavens, what a lot of violence! If you were thinking of taking your small child to this movie, think again. The dragon (voiced by Connery) is cute enough and the special effects are OK. But the story - of a knight (Quaid) who befriends a dragon, then takes on an evil king - is full of lopping and chopping. In the words of a wise 7-year-old: ``Gosh. It's kind of violent, isn't it?'' - KR
The Essentials:
Shameless *** BMG Video. 99 minutes. Rated R for drug use, violence, sexual content, brief nudity, strong language.
Excessive Force ** New Line Home Video. 87 minutes. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, brief nudity.
The Young Americans *** LIVE 103 minutes. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, drug use, brief nudity.
One Good Turn *** BMG Video. 90 minutes. Rated R for violence, sexual content, brief nudity, strong language, drug use.
Bloodsport II ** FM Entertainment. 87 minutes. Rated R for martial arts violence.
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines KEYWORDS: 2DAby CNB