Archive for October 21st, 2007

A body hopping alien with a taste for loud music, fast cars and gratuitous violence – it must be the ‘80s!

The film is a buddy cop movie with only one half of the duo human, a bit like Alien Nation only good. Director Jack Sholder wastes no time getting things moving, in the first ten minutes we get a bank robbery and a superb car chase that sets the tone for the rest of the film.

There are some brilliantly staged action set pieces, excellent gross out effects and great performances from the two leads and from the people “possessed” by the alien, in particular William Boyett and Claudia Christian.

To me there has always been something a little odd about Kyle MacLachlan, he’s not an actor I’d find convincing in overtly emotional parts but here, and to a lesser extent in Twin Peaks, that works in his favour. As the alien half of the team he’s not completely emotionless, there is an inherent sadness in the character, but it’s subdued and MacLachlan plays it perfectly.

Michael Nouri gets the more traditional cop role, tough guy at work but a loving family man at home. He does a good job but it’s really MacLachlan and the alien villain’s film.

Tomas Milian stars as a Mexican vagabond in search of a hidden cache of gold in this superior spaghetti western from director Sergio Sollima.

Milian’s Cuchillo has a talent with a knife but prefers to make his living as a small time thief. After helping a revolutionary poet escape prison he finds himself in search of hidden treasure to aid the revolution when the poet is murdered by bandits. He’s not alone, an American ex-lawman, Mexican bandits, French mercenaries and even a Salvation Army woman are in on the hunt.

While there’s the usual spaghetti western violence the film also has a softer, more comical side. Cuchillo is no Eastwood style superman, he’s a scruffy little tramp but one with a heart of gold. He provides the film with its sense of fun while Donald O’Brien has the more traditional role of the former lawman turned treasure hunter. While he’s no Clint, he does a fair job as the gunman who ends up working alongside Cuchillo.

The film has plenty of action, with the snowbound chase scene particularly memorable. Sollima’s finest moment though comes at the film’s climax, with a The Good, the Bad and the Ugly style showdown given a twist in that Millian uses a knife rather than a gun.

At two hours it’s a little overlong, much of the Texas town sequence could have been excised, but it’s a good film nonetheless. Veteran spaghetti western composer Ennio Morricone’s score isn’t as original as the ones he did for Leone but it’s still memorable with a suitably rousing main theme.