I COME IN PEACE (DARK ANGEL) 1990
31%
Directed by Craig R. Baxley
Written by Jonathan Tydor and David Koepp (as Leonard Maas Jr.)
Starring Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues
Synopsis
Detective Jack Caine is a loose cannon. His new partner, Larry, is an FBI agent who plays it by the book. Sound like every buddy-cop movie out there? It is, until you throw in an outer space drug dealer running amok, harvesting endorphins from his human victims. Time to raise some Caine.
Why We Love It
Sometimes you need a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously. And with a seven-foot extraterrestrial thug (with hair that’s half Billy Ray Cyrus, half George Costanza) who comes to Earth to steal our endorphins for re-sale on the cosmic black market? This movie knows it’s ridiculous. Brian Benben’s FBI agent even points out how convenient it is that the alien speaks English. The acting is questionable and so is the dialogue, which is in keeping with the plot that develops in between the action. And speaking of…
Sometimes you need a movie where everything just explodes. Cars. Buildings. Police evidence. Even the people. And not those CG explosions that blockbusters feed us these days. We’re talking gratuitous pyrotechnics on over-cranked cameras so you can see the contours on those slow-motion large-scale fireballs; explosions that make you think about how much easier it was for movies to get insurance back then.
Sometimes you also need to see some old-fashioned stunts. And this movie’s are a cut above. Plenty of fist fights, car chases, defenestration, and dudes outrunning objects that are spontaneously combusting. The director shares the same last name with several people on the stunt team; turns out they’re father, son, and uncle. A lot of families drive each other crazy, so this appears a healthy outlet.
And sometimes you need a steady dosage of stupid one-liners over the course of ninety minutes. “I come in peace,” the jacked alien-man says before he fatally pumps his victims’ veins with heroin. “And you go in pieces, asshole” is Caine’s delicate riposte. Or how about the movie’s centerpiece quip, delivered in Dolph Lundgren’s steely mumble: “Fuck you, spaceman!” Already, you’re thinking of two times previously in your life when that phrase would’ve proven useful.
Sometimes you just need a movie like I Come in Peace.