Red Heat – 1988

July 15, 2010 by JT
Filed under Film Reviews

It seems like you can pair up anybody in film now and chances are it’s going to work. It worked for Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte, Tom Hanks and, that dog! But Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi? Now there’s a hell of a buddy cop combination, Schwarzenegger was coming off the back of a number of 80s action hits including Predator, Commando and the Running Man so he was on a bit of a roll.

Big Arnie plays a Russian policeman sent after a Russian drug dealer who has escaped to the United States and is awaiting extradition in Chicago. Belushi is his temporary partner and when the drug dealer escapes, the two must overcome their differences in order to recapture him.

YAWN, it’s hardly the best action script ever but it had its moments throughout. The ususal amounts of grunting action topped off by the odd wise crack here and there.

Director Walter Hill who wrote the script for 48hrs practically reuses it here, so we don’t really get a sense of being on new ground. One cop is the law abiding citizen with slightly obscure values and the other is at the last chance saloon and looking to resurrect his career by keeping on the right side of his superiors.

The fact that these films are still being churned out, albeit in a different guise suggests that no one is getting tired of them just yet.

Supporting cast; well you might recognize a younger slimmer looking Laurence ‘Larry’ Fishburne as well as Everybody Love Raymond star Peter Boyle as the hard hitting Cmdr. Lou Donnelly.

There is enough in this one to keep any Schwarzenegger fan happy, while he’s busting heads and throwing people through windows, Belushi is the wise cracking partner just looking to save the day at the end, in the end its all we get. 80s action has the same aura about it, its slick yes, slightly dated but we don’t care. What’s not to love about a gun fight or a chase through the city in two buses.

It’s no classic, but if you are ticking off Arnie films then this one has to be in the list!

View the trailer