As Good As It Gets

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Since the last "CIA" film, Alexa (Kinmont) has given up working for the government and now relaxes in a small town, content to raise her daughter on a horse ranch. She thought she put her former life behind her, but Graver (Lamas) comes back into the picture. He asks her to infiltrate yet another criminal organization, to get yet another microchip, which would control yet more nuclear weapons. This time around, the main baddie is Franz Kluge (Savage), and his henchmen are Straker (Ryan) and Lana (Fetrick). Will Graver and Alexa be able to work together again to defeat the bad guys? And who can you really trust? Lorenzo Lamas must really care about the CIA franchise (such as it was at the time) and the character of Graver, because he stepped into the director's chair for this one. Sure, this movie didn't really need to be made, as it covers very similar ground to the first film while not being as good - but this movie is a lot funnier than the first one. The dialogue is sillier than ever before and some of the situations are pretty ridiculous. But it all has the backing of the classic PM stuntwork and blow-ups behind it.Alexa's daughter has a horse named Fred the Horse, Lamas continues on with his tank top/black hat combos for his wardrobe, and his hair is much funnier and more feminine this time around. It's truly "dueling ponytails" for both him and Kinmont. John Ryan was last seen as the baddie from American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993), and his name in the film, Straker, is one we've seen before (last seen being used by Richard Norton in Raiders of the Sun, 1992). John Savage plays a toned-down, but very similar character to the one he played in Red Scorpion 2 (1994), and he even has some dialogue involving scorpions. Weird, eh? Plus his international criminal organization seems like a boy scout camp, and his minions even dress that way.Lori Fetrick is mainly known to American Gladiators fans as Ice, and her presence here shows this film as pure 90's. She looks like Jenna Jameson but with much more ripped arms. I wonder why OJ Simpson didn't return for this sequel? While not strictly one of the better PM's, this does have comedy, chemistry between Lamas and Kinmont, and does have the Lamas you want to see, all told. It has another noteworthy Louis Febre score, plenty of blow-ups and shooting, and is still of a good quality all around.While it can be confusing trying to determine the difference between "Code Name Alexa" and "Target Alexa", if you must see only one, go with the first (Code Name). But this one isn't bad at all, it's still worth watching. It's just a little bit unnecessary.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Quite possibly the most hilarious action movie ever made, but more likely the most homo-erotic action film ever made.Perpetuates the stereotypes of action films made after 1994 beautifully. Apparently, militias in parts of the world contain only mustached/bearded sweaty men in camouflage wife-beaters, with additionally hilarious ponytails.I'm fairly certain that I saw one of the uniforms in the film contain the word "Military" on a patch, which would be akin to a police officer wearing a badge that said "Cop" or "Police Office", as if it weren't obvious enough.I especially enjoy the scene where the helicopters come over the horizon and begin firing on everything in sight - including horses, tents, vehicles, plants, etc. The only thing that doesn't explode in a giant fireball are the horses...everything else goes up in flames, particularly, the empty tents.I sort of feel bad for the actors in this film because all of their IMDb profiles have this film listed...but...they did agree to be in the film, so this film is their punishment I guess.

"CIA II: Target Alexa" is a typical low-grade action film with medium-grade fights, stunts and explosions. Which is about what you'd expect when the name Lorenzo Lamas (here as director AND star) is involved. Thankfully, Lamas is kind enough in this case to share the spotlight with two women, Kathleen Kinmont (the heroine) and Lori Fetrick (the villainess), who both have superb bodies: sweaty, muscular and fit. They even have two fights against each other, and even though Fetrick has an obvious strength advantage, Kinmont holds her own pretty well. If any of this sounds like your cup of tea (and it certainly is mine!), then you should check this film out. If not, then there is not much else to see here. (**)

I don't get attached to that many action movies, and this isn't one of them, actually. One off-putting thing about it is a scene where a character gives a sort of "war whoop" while machine-gunning someone - what's weird is that it's one of the GOOD GUYS doing it. But one thing made me watch it. Like "Brad the Lad", I've always been mad about Lori "Ice" Fetrick. And as he says, she's very convincing in that villainous role (that smile of hers works in a role like that as much as any other way, and, needless to say, everything else about her). I just wish she'd gotten to wear the kind of skimpy clothes Kathleen Kinmont did in the previous movie. No offense to Lamas and Kinmont, but 5 stars for the movie, and 10 for her.