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'Detention'. This is a very formulaic film starring the great (or not so great depending on your point of view) Dolph Lundgren. There seems to be a bit of a dearth of new action stars recently, Vin Diesel being spectacularly disappointing in 'XXX'. So there is still room in the marketplace for ageing actioners such as Dolph. Anyway the story follows all the conventions and cliches expected from this kind of film. Dolph is an ex-marine who is now a schoolteacher in a rough inner city school. He can't stand the strain so resigns but, before he finally leaves the school, he has to take detention for the worst of the school's objectionable pupils
However the school is about to be invaded by a gang of villains headed by Chester Lamb (Alex Karzis) and his purple wigged sidekick Gloria Waylon (Kata Dobó). What follows is the usual stuff of killers who fire thousands of bullets but still hit nothing apart from lots of glassware and characters who are taken from the 'Book of Action Story Cliches'. Yes they are all here, the tough granite chinned hero, the school kids from Hell who are good kids really, the double crossing cop/authorities and the pantomime villain. Kata Dobo looks good in her role but doesn't have much variety to her looks and costume which just confirms that this is a low budget movie where the budget was spent on the squibs and little on the other parts of the production. Film Rating 3/10. Delightful Dobo rating 6/10.
'Tempo'. This is a film which is better than it deserves to be. Most of this is attributable to the presence of actors who know their trade and can be relied upon to give creditable performances. The film is basically a heist move based around a love triangle. Rachael Leigh Cook is the pivotal character in a plot to rob the jewelry store at which she works. She gets involved with a male/female pair of robbers (Melanie Griffiths and Hugh Dancy) and the rest of the story charts what happens to this hapless trio. Set in Paris, the story is fairly slow paced and the action scenes very restrained. Film Rating 6/10 and Gun Moll rating 2/10.
'Aankhen'. To make up the numbers here is a film from India. Not to be confused with the 2002 film of the same name starring the gorgeous Sushmita Sen this film was made in 1993 and stars Indian heartthrob Govinda. Indian film often seems distinctly odd when viewed through western eyes but this one has a narrative and style which doesn't alienate the uninitiated though the humour of the film may seem incomprehensible on first viewing. The premise of the story is that of two buffoonish brothers who become embroiled with a gang of criminals who want to replace a government minister with a duplicate who has had plastic surgery. The first clue that there is gun moll potential in this film is when the girlfriend of the head honcho carries out a robbery in a scene very reminiscent of the film 'Beverly Hills Cop 2'.
It soon becomes apparent that this is one very bad lady as she whips and garrotes a plastic surgeon who is non responsive to the idea of doing plastic surgery for criminal purposes and who later in the film has no hesitation in shooting anyone who stands in the way of the master plan. But underlying this general mayhem is the fact that this film is basically a comedy adventure film. The comedy may seem old fashioned and unsophisticated but it made me laugh (at least the visual humour did) and with a lively cast and ruthless woman criminal there isn't a lot more I want from a film. I'm afraid my knowledge of 1990's Indian actresses isn't extensive and I could be totally wrong but the villainess looks a bit like Shilpa Shirodkar to me. Film rating 7/10 and Bank Bandit rating 7/10.
