I'll tell you why so serious

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I was interested in watching this film in part because it was directed by John Glen, who had directed several James Bond movies in the 1980s that I had liked. However, after watching this movie, all I could think was that Glen's status as a director had fallen greatly in the years between James Bond and this film. To be fair, Glen was working with a script that really needed a few more rewrites before filming - the opening is kind of vague, the chief villain character is kind of vague, and various plot details here and there are vague as well. Despite this inadequate script, the movie could still have been fun with some energetic direction. But the movie is slow-moving and the few action sequences really lack zip and punch. Though this may have been in part due to the low budget, which also results in the movie having a somewhat cheap look and feel that resembles low budget Canadian television shows from the 1990s. To date, this is the final movie that Glen has directed. Maybe that's for the best.

John Glen holds the distinction of helming more James Bond movies than any other director. He got his start on the Bonds as an editor and graduated with "For Your Eyes Only" as the director. Each of his 007 epics are classic, polished, and exciting. Glen displayed a knack for action filmmaking. Alas, when audiences turned away in droves for the second Timothy Dalton Bond adventure "License to Kill," the Bond producers cleaned house. Glen's career went into decline because nothing he made thereafter benefited from the force of a dynamic character like James Bond. The former Bond helmer hasn't lost his punch. Indeed, "The Point Men" has all the trappings of a Bond movie since it concerns one of the Mossad's ultra-hush, hush, assassination squads. Essentially, this briskly-paced 90-minute melodrama is a revenge thriller about a killer whittling down the squad one operative at a time. The PLO villain is as ruthless as he is methodical. At one point, he goes under a plastic surgeon's knife to disguise himself. After he has been given a new visage, the villain shoots not only the plastic surgeon but also his nurse. The action was lensed on actual locations in Luxembourg, France, Israel, and New York City, and this enhances the film's authenticity. Lenser Alec Mills' cinematography is solid stuff; he served as Glen's director of photography on "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," "Iron Eagle: Aces: Iron Eagle 3, "The Living Daylights," and "License to Kill." Actress Maryam d'Abo has a small role as one of the squad. She played the romantic lead in Glen's "The Living Daylights."The opening scene bristles with action, explosions, and death. There is no shortage of melodrama in Ripley Highsmith's adaption of Steven Hartov's novel. Hartov wrote the two "Mercenary" straight-to-video movies. Mind you, Glen still knows how to orchestrate action scenes. "Highlander" star Christopher Lambert plays a sympathetic Mossad assassin who is convinced that his team iced the wrong terrorist. Miraculously, Tony Eckhardt (Lambert) survives an opening shoot-out in broad daylight but his partner (Hendrick Haese of "Contaminated Man") dies. No sooner has Rainer shot Amar Kamil than two unknown guys with small arms show up and blaze away at them. Maddy Hope (Kerry Fox of "Shallow Grave") pulls up in her car as the wounded Tony staggers away from the shooting. Maddy and he wind up participating in a careening car chase that ends disastrously with a fireball explosion wherein two men are barbecued. Tony winds up in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He asserts that the man they killed was not the notorious Palestinian terrorist. Naturally, nobody believes Tony. Eventually, our hero leaves the hospital with his left arm in a sling and an automatic pistol tucked behind his back. Tony explains that the man they shot had a look of surprise in his eyes. Consequently, Tony and his 'foreign legion' of comrades are disbanded and reassigned. Nevertheless, the Middle-East villains aren't content to let old ills lay quietly. Tony is forced to take a desk job while one of his buddies goes back to college in New York City. Harry Webber (William Armstrong of "The Dark Knight") is the first member of the team to bite the dust. The killer stages the killing as if it were collateral damage during a convenience store robbery. The next man in their team, Peter Hauser (Nicolas de Pruyssenaere of "Black Book") dies next, in an explosion after his automobile is smashed and pushed off a mountain. Tony accuses Israel Intelligence of killing their former comrades because they still don't believe. Unfortunately, our hero cannot convince his superiors and some of his friends until it is too late. Eventually, Tony learns that the villain is motivated because his hit squad killed his two brothers and his wife. The villain plans to kill a PLO leader seeking peace, even though he is his half-brother.Glen directs with a sure hand. "The Point Men" is better than average with a villain who struggled against the irony in his predicament. Not bad, but not great.

After watching it yesterday I basically have a mixed feeling about this film. The piece has a strong start with a chase and some action which looks gritty and not all "over the top" like in most action films, so that's a good thing. There are moments when the action displayed in this film, like shootouts and car chases, looks surprisingly realistic.However the film is plagued by too many plot holes and moments where the viewer is treated like a brainless observer. Just some examples:*Possible spoilers*1. After the guy who went back to the USA to study gets shot in a store by the main baddie they bury him back in Israel. Directly after the funeral Christopher Lambert and the blonde woman talk in the car about how excited they are that she acquired a job at an embassy in Greece.Their best friend just died horribly, they buried him and seconds later it's all "lets be happy together again and oh did I already tell you I have a new job"? No normal person would respond in this manner.2. When the main bad guy goes to Israel to pick up the hardware, that he needs for the final hit, at an old man's workshop he gets attacked by some Palestine kids. Seconds after they start throwing stones 3 Israeli soldiers race around the corner, down the street and "liberate" him.3. The old military guy in charge of the whole operation is your stereotypical hard ass who doesn't use his common sense. "Oh sure we just lost 3 members of a top secret strike force in a row but he they are probably all accidents anyway so no reason to be alarmed".------------------ Basically the film has too many of such plot holes and moments where the viewer is asked to suspend disbelief. It's also heavily focused on the Israeli point of view, with little room for a more balanced point of view where both sides of the political spectrum are brought into view.

Me being a huge fan of Lamberts movies I decided to splash out and buy "The Point Men" for a mere £2.98. I wasn't expecting too much from this movie. I had a suspicion it would be just another dumb B-movie action movie...and I was correct. At times, I drifted off while watching "The Point Men". At times this movie seemed quite confusing. I also experienced deja-vu on numerous occasions during this movie, it had a "seen it all before" feel to it.But when I compare The Point Men to some of Lambert's earlier movies such as Gunmen, Road Flower, and even the dreadful Highlander II (the first Highlander is a classic)then The Point Men doesn't seem all that bad.Overall, there's nothing special about The Point Men, it's just another low budget action movie with little purpose but I have to say, it's certainly not the worst "terrorist" action movie I've seen. And whats with that ridiculous moustache Lambert wears towards the end?!?5/10