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nTitle: I Come In Peace (1990)
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nDirector: Craig R. Baxley
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nCast: Dolp Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, MatthiasnHues, Jay Bilas
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nI Come In Peace is a film that is known as ‘Dark Angel’ innsome parts of the world because that’s the name under which it was marketed worldwide,nthat was the films original title, but when it was released in the UnitednStates, its title was changed to I Come In Peace because two other films hadnthat title already, so to avoid confusion they went with ‘I Come In Peace’,nwhich to be honest is a far better title for the film if you ask me. The title alludesnto the films biggest one liner, just before the alien is about to kill someonenhe says, “I Come In Peace”, which he repeats all throughout the film. But only Lundgren’sncharacter has the bravado to reply “and you go in pieces asshole!”; which is ofncourse spewed in a traditional 80’s one liner tone. So anyhow to me this filmnwill always be I Come In Peace. But alternate titles aside, this movie is sonunderrated!
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nThe films premise is fairly simple; an alien crashes down onnearth looking for one thing: drugs! You see, this alien is an intergalacticndrug dealer, and the drug he sells is something he sucks out of the humannbrain. It’s up to Detective Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) and his obnoxious F.B.nI. agent partner (Brian Benben) to find and stop the alien who keeps killingnrandom people by sucking brain juice out of them.
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nI Come In Peace was directed by Craig R. Baxley; now beforenyou go “who the hell is Craig R. Baxley?” let me inform you that even though thisndirector isn’t a household name, you’ve probably seen some of his films, and ifnyou haven’t then you should. That is if you like 80’s style explosive action. The films Baxley is responsible for are ActionJackson (1988) which is this explosively violent cop movie starring CarlnWeathers as this kick ass cop trying to stop a corrupt politician wannabe, thennthere’s Stone Cold (1991) starring Brian Bosworth as an undercover cop whoninfiltrates a terrorist motorcycle gang in order to stop them from committing anpolitical assassination and finally, I Come In Peace (1990) the film I’mnreviewing today. What do all these three films have in common? Massive amountsnof action, car chases, shoot outs and explosions!
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nWhen I say explosions, I mean copious amounts of them. Inmean, every five seconds something is literally blowing up on this film! Mr.nBaxley understands the effectiveness of a good explosion; he’s something of a kindrednspirit to Michael Bay in that way. Let’s see, first off we start with the factnthat the alien in this movie shoots a big ass machine gun, now this isn’t justnany old machine gun. Whatever this machine gun hits, it explodes into a huge ballnof flame! One of the things this film is praised a lot for is the fact thatnnone of the explosions are computer generated, these actors were practicallyngetting their butts burned by the hot flames, in some instances you can tellnthey were pretty damn close! So kudos to the effects team on this show, thisnwas the time when practical on camera effects were the norm, it’s such a breathnof fresh air from all the CGI seen in today’s films. What the director did wasnfill the film with as many explosions as he could to give to the producers (andnthe audience) more bang for their buck. For a 7 million dollar film, you getnyour money’s worth of action, trust me! Because of its ‘small budget’ the storynis kept small in scale, for example, we never see an alien spaceship or anything.nThe film is scope is small, not epic in the least, but it’s entertainingnbecause it’s got aliens with big ass guns! Director Craig R. Baxley was a stuntncoordinator on a lot of television and films, so he knows his way around annaction scene, and it shows in all his movies, that’s why I recommend them.
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nYes, there are cheesy elements to this movie, mainly the avalanchenof one liners, like the aforementioned “you go in pieces asshole!” and “Fuck YounSpaceman!” The two cops are always fighting and bickering, in traditional buddyncop movie fashion. Lundgren plays the loose cannon tough guy, while BriannBenben plays the dorky and much more vulnerable F.B.I. agent. It’s an unlikelynteam up, Lundgren is a freaking tower next to Benben’s impish looks, but Inguess it works in the end. This movie reminded me a bit of The Hidden (1987),nbecause of the whole angle of having an evil alien wrecking havoc while a goodnone is trying to stop him, plus, same as in The Hidden, I Come in Peace playsnout like a buddy cop movie. Final words is that as you might have figured outnby now, this movie isn’t Shakespeare, but it’s explosive cheesy fun, sure itnwas released in 1990, but it was shot during 89 and therefore still retainsnthat 80’s style action film vibe. Plus it has an alien that shoots deadlynflying cd’s! It’s a prime example of 80’s action; we could say that it was onenof the last 80’s style action films to be released.
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nRating: 3 1/2 out of 5
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