I've got a bit of a "buddy" theme going on this week - from Gene Wilder + Harrison Ford in "The Frisco Kid", to the Lone Ranger and Tonto, and Joe Buck and Ratso last night. So let's keep it going with a buddy cop film, which as a bonus is also a "fish out of water" story, and as a 2nd bonus, Birthday SHOUT-out #46 goes out to Jim Belushi (last seen in "The Man with One Red Shoe"), born June 15, 1954.
THE PLOT: A Russian policeman is sent after a Georgian drug dealer who has escaped to the United States and is awaiting extradition in Chicago.
AFTER: This is a pretty serviceable action film, the kind that Arnold Schwarzenegger (last seen in "Predator") made before getting sidetracked by comedies, and politics. So it's nice to be reminded of that time. When acting for him just involved being a big dumb slab of beefcake and speaking in one-syllable words. Not that his character is dumb here, but he is unfamiliar with American culture and Chicago police techniques.
Belushi plays the foil character here, a wise-cracking fairly effectual cop - his boss describes him as "a good cop" but also "a complete screw-up" - well, which is it? How can he be both?
Of course, the two are thrown together (saw that one coming, did ya?) and have to track down a Russian gangster and drug-dealer before he completes a deal that will (apparently) flood the Soviet Union with cocaine, and bring communism to its knees (because enough coke will do that...). Can these two very unlike cops work together - without driving each other crazy?
As in "Cop Out", the police captain takes away the cops' guns - but that doesn't stop them, it just makes them more determined. Plus they have no problem getting more guns, they just happen to have spares in the glove compartment. Gee, I feel so much safer knowing that cops keep extra unlicensed guns lying around within arm's reach.
NITPICK POINT: People shoot at Schwarzenegger all through the movie, and everyone misses. How do you miss a target that big?
Also starring Peter Boyle (last seen in "Honeymoon in Vegas"), Laurence Fishburne (last seen in "Class Action"), Ed O'Ross, Gina Gershon (last seen in "Face/Off"), and cameos from character actors Brion James (last seen in "The Fifth Element") and FOTB Peter Jason (last seen in "Milk").
RATING: 5 out of 10 police reports
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