Very well executed

Awesome Movie

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

First watched this movie late at night about 20 years ago with my wife, and it has since been, one of our go to films. Video worn out, DVD worn out and now on Blu-ray. It's a fantastic B movie and Rutger Hauer, along with Neil Duncan are perfectly casted and make this a film that can be watched and watched over again

This film is not for everyone and I completely understand those who will not like it because this is not an analytical film filled with easter eggs of messages pertaining to social importance, apart from maybe its apocalyptic theme. Rather it is kind of "fast food" cinema. However these are the kind of films that can be very fun to watch. It also holds some nostalgic content for me because I saw it as an impressionable teenager. At that time I was into action, sci-fi, horror and comedy films. This film attempts to blend them together and does a good enough job, especially if you are the kind of person who can just sit back with your popcorn and enjoy the movie, than you are capable of enjoying this film.Yes it has a bunch of components which were prevalent in this type of genre at the time. One-liners, a buddy cop relationship, action and a bit of comedy, and of course BIG F***ING GUNS. I'm not embarrassed to say I enjoyed it. Rutger Hauer provides a good performance as the unstable yet admirable lead character who functions on "anxiety, coffee and chocolate". Yet another cliché as he is unwillingly partnered with Dick Durkin, from the moment you hear his name you know that he is there to provide some comedic relief as the pair track down "The Scorpio Killer" who Rutger's character Harley Stone seems to have a unique connection with. He and Durkin work together to bring down the killer who turns out to be much more than they imagined. The film has some memorable and stand out actors in the supporting cast such as Kim Cattrall, Pete Postlethwaite and Alun Armstrong. The latter providing one of my most favorite moments in the film when he snaps and exclaims "What do I do? Put out an APB on the devil? answers to the name of Lucifer?" The way he delivers it is quite priceless. The antagonist also provides a very real threat level and kept somewhat obscure as to the motives and patterns involved, until quite late in the film which helps to keep you engaged. All in all a quite predictable but enjoyable film.

I admit, I did reflect on how Rutger Hauer had gotten out of shape since Bladerunner 10 years earlier. But then we all are probably guilty of a little makeup handed over to us by time. Anyway, the movie is entertaining and enjoyable.Much like wearing your favorite comfortable pair of jeans to Walmart to buy some mundane thing like bananas. You slap on your clothes, hop into your car, drive up to your favorite parking space at your local Walmart. And before you know it, you're in and out, back home.It was revealing to see Kim Cattrall, who familiar face and hairstyle brought out memories of her in Star Trek - The Undiscovered Country (1991) where she portrayed Lt. Valeris. The movie definitely has lots of Bladerunner crime noir moods in it.You could even say the place where this story takes place could easily have been a few blocks away from where the characters of Bladerunner were at.It's as if you could zoom out of the set of Bladerunner with a satellite image, and then move over to another part of that city, zoom in and find these characters running around chasing the deadly path of the killer monster.The creature: The creature was definitely held back and revealed in layers, adding to the suspense. The audience is permitted to experience the entire creature eventually. Not like other last minute reveals where you only see the head, or a hand.Acting: I found the ability of Hauer's character to play both a shallow and insensitive bad ass cop, while at the same time portray genuine feelings of intimacy and compassion on the screen to be successfully accomplished. These are evidence mostly during the intimate moments between him and Catrall's character. Where the alternative is many of these types of "Cop vs Creature" films leave out any interpersonal depth, especially between a partner of theirs in the story. If at all, only a bedroom scene, but here, there feel the weight of their feelings throughout the film when it lets them. On that note, bringing depth to the film, Hauer remains consistent.Hauer ability to be a menace to his profession, and to the people he interacts with, he is quickly forgiven throughout the film where he is permitted to delve into deep, complicated themes of his personality surrounded around devotion, and a sense of purpose for life. A balance all to often forgotten in similar films.As in Hauer's portrayal of the character he played in Bladerunner. There, his character left behind a violent, and bloody trail. However, the purpose of which was to seek a way to overcome the expiration date he was body was programmed with. In that sense, he is forgiven at the end of the movie when, in the rain, he reveals his deep insatiable desire for life.

Rutger Hauer is a police detective in London, a few years in the future, when global warming has flooded much of the city. Hauer wears dark spectacles, keeps a cigar in his mouth, wears a long black overcoat with a turned-up collar, and strides down alleys with the wet pavement reflecting the neon lights advertising debaucheries of various kinds. Well, if Arnold Schwarzenegger could do it, why not Rutger Hauer? Hauer is probably a better actor than Schwarzenegger, although I respect Arnold enormously. He was my supporting player in "Raw Deal" in the first violent scene in which he and two other human mammoths knocked me on my rear. It was strictly in accordance with the script because in real life I could easily have decked him. Only the fact that I was wearing a black T shirt with "Walker Museum, Minneapolis" stenciled on the back must have given him enough faux courage to bump against me so viciously. Probably thought I was some kind of egg head freak with one foot in fairydom, sitting on floors and talking about intellectuals like Deepak Chopra. He'd have had another think coming if I hadn't been hobbled by the role of cowardly gambler.Where was I? It was a horrifying smash against that Boulder Dam with legs and when I hit the poker table I think there was some brain damage. Yes, the movie. Thank you. Hauer is on the usual revenge kick because his former partner was murdered, and now his new one has been butchered. He carries a long-barreled revolver with a scope and an abundance of other blocky attachments. Of him, his colleagues say, "Now he lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate." It's quickly established that Hauer is a loose cannon who dislikes rules and, in fact, doesn't obey them. But he's experienced and he's "the best." Of course he's assigned an assistant, Dick Durken, a novice Oxford graduate, whom Hauer mistreats at every opportunity. As Dirty Harry said to HIS first novice assistant, "Don't let your college degree get you killed." Not to worry about any political implications of global warming. It's just an excuse for wet streets and rubber boots, which help to distinguish it from other undistinguished action movies. That when the serial killer is nearby you can hear a loud heart thumping on the screen and hoarse breathing, is almost a requirement in a dumb movie like this. Half-way through it turns from an ordinary action flick into "Predator" and loses its wits completely.