Armstrong (1998)

Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

You can take a boy out of his exploitation studio, but you can't take the exploitation spirit out of a boy. I was really interested to see what former Cannon studios head Menahem Golan could crank out years after making so many memorable schlocky movies from there. What made it especially interesting was that he here was working for Nu Image, what I consider to be the equivalent studio of this day and age. Plus, with B movie stars like Richard Lynch and Charles Napier, it looked like the movie would be a fun time.Sadly, ARMSTRONG isn't that much fun to watch despite all that promise that I described above. The look of the movie is pretty cheap - we have sloppy hand-held camera use, and although the action is supposedly taking place in Moscow, it sure doesn't look like Moscow (I suspected this was filmed in Bulgaria, and the end credits confirmed this.) In fact, the movie feels very much like a cheap '80s movie with its look and musical score, suggesting Golan hasn't learned more modern filming techniques.But the biggest sin the movie makes is that it's pretty dull. The movie is very slow-moving, with a lead who's very dull and surprisingly off camera for long chunks of the movie. The action sequences, where the movie should really deliver, are sluggish and lacking zip.I will admit that there are a few laughs in the movie. Menahem Golan's script has some mind-boggling bad lines of dialogue. There are also some hilarious continuity errors. The biggest laugh comes from the clothing the female lead puts on after stepping out of the shower (and keeps this hilarious outfit on for a long time afterwards.) If the movie had more unintended laughs like these, I might have recommended it, but the few laughs there are aren't worth the long periods of boredom you'll have to suffer.

American soldiers Frank Zagarino and Charles Napier plan to thwart the mission of corrupt Russian Colonel and devious American Mafia leader to sell missiles to countries in demand, including a plot to bomb the Kremlin. Joe Lara is the sadistic Mafia thug who needs Napier's wife, Kimberley Kates, in order to find out what he was in Moscow for(..Napier is killed during a shootout as he and Zagarino find themselves in a battle with Lara and his men). Richard Lynch is the Russian Colonel who Zagarino was employed under before Napier gave him the goods on his involvement with the American Mafia, and the secret plans regarding the missiles.I must say that despite everything going against it(..the rather uninspired acting from a cast who seem to be going through the motions, the rather garbage plot, cheap sets(particularly Camp 14 where the crooked operations regarding the missiles take place), and rather sappy dialogue)that I found the action sequences rather thrilling. There's a really nifty chase where Lara and his goons pursue Kates(..who is wearing no bra or panties due to being interrupted by the Mafia shortly after a shower in her motel room)throughout the city of Bulgaria(..substituting Moscow)where she constantly eludes them, allowed to remain alive when often cornered due to the information that might benefit them regarding what she knows about her husband's business in Moscow. You can actually see how exhausted Kates is as she dodges gun fire, cars, and people while attempting to find some sort of escape route or hiding place. Lynch isn't menacing as much as he's nervous, bafoonish, sweaty, and drunk, while Lara goes so over-the-top in his portrayal as the Mafia scumbag that he's unintentionally hilarious. It seems Lara, however, revels in this role because of how despicable his character is..the idea that he is not only threatening the national security of his own country(..because frankly he could care less)but more than willing to watch innocent people perish all over the world due to terrorism from missiles he plans to sell. Napier again stars in a role that lasts only a short bit of screen time before he's off to collect a check. Kates is particularly yummy, in not a very noteworthy performance(..her physical work during the lengthly chase is to commended, though), and she has a full frontal nude scene that remains perhaps the film's most memorable highlight. Zagarino(..of the Project Shadowchaser films)is a low-rent, grade-Z, charisma-less hero phoning it in big time. Justin Carroll is Zagarino's Russian ally, the two joining forces to stop Lynch and Lara's scheming. Kates is often getting smacked around by Lara who needs information and doesn't appreciate it when she's not cooperative. I think director Menahem Golan effectively keeps the pace lively and stages some enthusiastic action sequences, but the plot, characters, and performances are lacking in quality.

cheaply made i only watched originally because Joe Lara was in it. not his best performance.Kimberley Kates does a great nude scene. that girl is worth watching this film for.i picked this dvd up at a local second hand shop for only £2.99 so i am happy i got it.will not go into the plot as the last person to review it said it all.

It should be pretty obvious from other reviews I've done that I enjoy the work of an actor named Richard Lynch. As such, I rented this horrible little film thinking I'd at least get to see one of my favorite actors in yet another role. Oh the things a fan will do!This movie had a few decent actors in it, the aforementioned Lynch, Joe Lara and Charles Napier, but the rest must have been dragged off the street with promises of fame and glory. It's obvious to even the most obtuse person that this film was so bad it should have been buried in a sealed vault, never to be viewed by upright walking homosapiens.The premise is interesting enough -- American hero Rod Armstrong, (Frank Zagarino-in the worst performance in this movie) goes to Russia to freelance his security skills in this `no-nukes' era. A close friend of his (Napier) comes to Russia to warn him that some slimy Soviets are not obeying the order to disarm the nukes. He's killed of course by an American mafia type (Joe Lara) and Armstrong becomes the next target.The movie plods painfully along until the predictable end -- all the bad guys being killed in B movie fashion. This movie would have been better as a one hour episode of a show like `24' or the like. At least we wouldn't have had to suffer through the whole 90 minutes!The only scene worth mentioning is a rather funny scene in a whorehouse where Lynch's character drunkenly cavorts with several prostitutes. The rest should have ended up on the cutting room floor!