Seduction Is A Deadly Weapon!
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Maruschka Detmers, Assumpta Serna, Gavan O’Herlihy, John Ashton
Director: Ted Kotcheff
1995 | 89 Minutes | Rated R
“Gay?” – Michael Dane
“God, I hope not.” – Alex Reed
I truly believe that Dolph Lundgren has been criminally misused for the better part of the last 25 years. He is a legit ICON of action but has had less hits than almost any other action icon. Now, box office numbers certainly aren’t everything to me. I could live with Dolph having a career full of awesome DTV releases but the true shame is that there are so many movies released with him as the main attraction that don’t use him to his full potential. Hidden Assassin is another Dolph release that is just a passable action movie instead of the balls to the wall action extravaganza that he deserves.
After a Cuban ambassador is assassinated in New York, U.S. Marshal Michael Dane (Dolph Lundgren) flies to Prague to apprehend the suspect to bring them back to the U.S. for trial. The assassin, he is told, is Simone Rosset (Maruschka Detmers) who now co-owns a restaurant with her girlfriend. After Dane has Rosset in his custody he finds out that there is much more to this story than meets the eye.
The story is all pretty standard government conspiracy stuff. Simone may or may not be guilty of the assassination, may or may not be a lesbian. You know, the usual.
As Michael is trying to catch up with Simone he is mostly focused on chasing after her and we are just dragged along for the ride (much like the guy that Dolph hits with the truck). There isn’t much in the way of action for about the first hour. After that we get a couple of good scenes, the best being the final shoot out on the rooftops of Prague. Dolph is finally unleashed in this rooftop scene. Had it been a bit longer it would have made the wait feel a little more worth it but as it is we don’t have a proper payoff for the long wait. The action is all well shot as one would expect from the director of First Blood. We get a few very memorable bloody kills as well. The opening sniper shot to the eye for example. It’s just a shame that there isn’t more.
Prague is a great backdrop for the action and Hidden Assassin uses the beautiful city to the fullest (unlike its use of Dolph Lundgren). The action goes from the sewers all the way up to the rooftops of the city. This is one of those rare times that a movie could not have had the same effect had it been filmed anywhere else.
Hidden Assassin isn’t a horrible movie or anything. There is a little fun to be had. I just want more for one of my heroes. Give the man a shotgun and let him go to town. You will mostly want to watch Hidden Assassin for the cinematography and the few great Dolph Lundgren action scenes.
Action Movie Fanatix 