There's a certain kind of writer/director who sees a premise like "anal slugs from outer space" and decides that, regardless of the source material, the concept can only ever be played for laughs and plants their tongue in their cheek during the adaptive process. Lawrence Kasdan is no such auteur.
Lawrence Kasdan is an entirely separate breed, one who sees said premise and thinks they can weave it into a masterpiece. Not just faithful, but emotional. The audience will see…
The depravity of humanity and the fragility of society as expressed through one band of mercenaries. The decision to center Rutger Hauer's merry band of assholes is what makes this movie both unpleasant and yet totally engrossing, showing us how quickly they descend when untethered from their places in the world and lack anywhere to direct the anger and malice stoked within them; it explodes in every direction. Rutger Hauer is certainly handsome enough to pass for the hero of…
pretty sure I spotted the same romance genre spine stickers that we still use
It's interesting how this is practically restrained by the standards of modern Hollywood? Sure, this is still a franchise-starter that cost tens of millions of dollars helmed by a director who can be told what to do, but there's something almost quaint about watching one of these things with a comparatively low-profile cast and fights that, while a bit shit, aren't always relying on sheer screen-filling bombast. It's horrifically depressing now that I see it written out like this, but…
Between the blaring synthpop score from new wave band Wang Chung and the eye-searing neon green credits, this is about as 80s as it gets. It's the sort of action movie where characters have names like Richard Chance and Rick Masters, though there's a conscious amorality here that director William Friedkin pushes into neo-noir. Chance's methods have no glamour, and they come with no apologies. A lot of the suspense is derived from the sense that he might actually get…
