inoldhollywood

This film had enough budget to have some good actors, almost accurate uniforms, good lighting, cinematographer and story outline...... but there are clearly serious problems with this production: Underwhelming CGI, careless authenticity, wooden direction and the music score which tries too hard to sound like a cross between "The Great Escape" and "Star Wars".

The main problem for me is the dialog. EVERYONE in this film speaks in sentences that are way too lengthy. I can almost forgive the words that are way too modern for 1945, but it seems like everything is over-explained in this film, yet the characters very little. They are also monotone in their delivery with horrid accents. This gives the production an almost robotic and lifeless feel and we end up not caring about what happens to any of the characters. The "Pink Hulk" is so lumbering and clumsy, I am not sure why he is a menace to more than a couple of soldiers at a time.

Finally, I really like Corin Nemic as an actor, but he was directed to be more of a Bruce Willis type of "Die Hard" hero in this film and it just doesn't work for him. He neither has the stature or the presence to pull it off. He ends up looking tense, angry and overwhelmed.

The show reminds me of some of the spontaneous episodes on Carol Burnett and the Dean Martin Show where the cast can't help but crack. Though the episode gets off to a pedestrian start with Lucy taking the lead, Berles comedic genius takes off mid-way and he shows why he was such a legendary comic in earlier years. He is just plain funny being himself in awkward situations. Much like comic Jack Benny, Berle's deadpan approach is priceless and should be studied by comedians today. The show also features beautiful Ruta Lee, who was a household name during the 1960s, when this was filmed. Ruta was in dozens of television show episodes, including "Gunsmoke", "Twilight Zone", "Wild Wild West", "Mannix" and countless more. Her role as "The Other Woman" is not meant to be convincing, but rather overly-dramatic and provides the perfect "straight role" to Berles talents. Mrs. Berle is just having a great time in this romp and it's clear she is just along for the ride. The laughs are real on this one and I was cracking up myself. A real slice of what television comedy was like in 1967 and the genius of Berle! Highly recommended.

I am a Van Damme fan... and own a number of his films on DVD. The original Universal Soldier is great, as is Time Cop and so many others. This film is a bona fide TURKEY. It's dreadful! The sets are great. The cinematography is first rate. The music is good and I find no fault with the special effects.... BUT... the story is absolutely lame.... AND this is some of the WORST direction I have ever seen in a major film... the action is totally pointless and the female newscaster character is so distasteful, stupid and wooden, I was hoping Goldberg would terminate her at the earliest opportunity. I would have been happy if Claude had just turned around and punched her out. At least that would have been authentic. Honestly, the direction is what really destroyed this film. NO ONE has emotion in this bomb... everyone walks through their parts. This could only be enjoyable if you were a stuntman in training and wanted to see the basic moves stunt men make... over and over and over again. Oh, Goldberg looks great, but he just can't act to save his life.. of course, his character is rather robotic, so I don't fault him. Don't bother with this one. I did not see the whole film... just the first 45 minutes or so and decided (along with my other 2 action film fan friends) that we really didn't care what happened to the characters... so we shut it off and watched "True Lies" once again. The DVD I bought of this film will be my newest coaster.