Have you ever seen an Academy Award winning actor in a film so bad that you just wanted to take that award away from them? That was the thought I had while watching this Brandon Lee film before 1955 Best Actor winner Ernest Borgnine showed up as the villain in this cheaply made dullsville convoluted mess of a cold war film, one of many made in the late '80s, and probably one of the worst of those themed movies ever. Had this actually been done as a comedy, I might have found some interest in it, but outside of its audacity, there's nothing to be amused by.
With a truly horrible Eastern European accent, Borgnine shows up as an old man sitting on a bench on the beach, basically a male version of Natasha Fatale, or a live action version of her fearless leader. When Borgnine knocks Lee out, I half expected to hear a "being, bang, bong" as he fell. It takes only a few minutes to realize how bad this is going to be, especially with the opening theme song, not one to rival even the worst of the Bond themes. By this time, Borgnine seemed to be showing up in practically every film offered to him, much like he had early in his years as a struggling actor. Every bad stereotype and cliche shows up in this film nearly right from the start, and it is painful in every way to find anything enjoyable about it. Even when it goes out of its way to try to be funny in a way that spoofs the genre, it ends up crashing with a thud. Even worse is the editing which is the worst example of cutting I've ever had to suffer through.
With a truly horrible Eastern European accent, Borgnine shows up as an old man sitting on a bench on the beach, basically a male version of Natasha Fatale, or a live action version of her fearless leader. When Borgnine knocks Lee out, I half expected to hear a "being, bang, bong" as he fell. It takes only a few minutes to realize how bad this is going to be, especially with the opening theme song, not one to rival even the worst of the Bond themes. By this time, Borgnine seemed to be showing up in practically every film offered to him, much like he had early in his years as a struggling actor. Every bad stereotype and cliche shows up in this film nearly right from the start, and it is painful in every way to find anything enjoyable about it. Even when it goes out of its way to try to be funny in a way that spoofs the genre, it ends up crashing with a thud. Even worse is the editing which is the worst example of cutting I've ever had to suffer through.