The Zone (1995)

Former Gulf War hero Rowdy Welles (Davi) is framed for murder by unscrupulous CIA boss Dick Althorp (Gazzara). As his price of freedom, Welles is ordered to undertake a deadly mission to ... See full summary »

Director:

Barry Zetlin

Writers:

Barry Zetlin (story), Richard Boehm (story),

Stars:

Robert Davi, Alexander Godunov, Ben Gazzara

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Davi	...	Rowdy Welles
Alexander Godunov	...	Lothar Krasna
Ben Gazzara	...	Dick Althorp
Lara Harris	...	Mikaela / Mike
Patricia Rive	...	Louise
Géza Kaszás	...	Dmitri
Kathleen Gati	...	CIA Technician
József Székhelyi	...	Nektar Rakubian (as Joszef Szekhelyi)
Robin Daglish	...	Duncan
Károly Korognai	...	Customs Inspector (as Karoly Korognai)
Balázs Galkó	...	Stefan
Ákos Sinkó	...	Rubelov (as Akos [Istvan] Sinko)
Tibor Felszeghy	...	Elder
Márta Bakó	...	Old Woman
Rudolf Varszegi	...	Alexei

Storyline

Former Gulf War hero Rowdy Welles (Davi) is framed for murder by unscrupulous CIA boss Dick Althorp (Gazzara). As his price of freedom, Welles is ordered to undertake a deadly mission to destroy a nuclear processing plant in a foreign nation, owned by dangerous tyrant Lothar Krasna (Godunov).

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Plot Keywords:

black stockings | sex | flight | nylon | erotica | 

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Taglines:

Murder, The Mafia, and Mikaela.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Dogfighters

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hess/Kallberg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last film of Alexander Godunov, the "bad guy" of Die Hard, before he died in 1995.

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Connections

Edited from Iron Eagle (1986)

User Reviews

Enjoyable

To give you an idea of how impatient I was to watch this movie : between the moment I discovered it existed and the moment I completed my order, no more than 15 seconds elapsed. I couldn't believe nobody had told me there was a film with Robert Davi and Alexander Godunov, two actors I worship, in the leading parts. It was Godunov's last film.

The story is rather simple : Robert Davi is a soldier who is framed for murder by the CIA boss. He is forced to go to Moravash (what a silly name for an imaginary Eastern European country!) to destroy Lothar Krasna's nuclear processing plant.

I found the pace of this movie awful, with scenes that dragged on and on. The music was unbearable at times (think nails on blackboard). The technology was laughable (the nuclear plant is destroyed by a toy car - they didn't even bother to make it look like something technologically more advanced!). However I had a really nice time watching it.

Parts of it fell into the "so bad it's good" category. For instance, from the moment when Davi enters the plant, you can see the same shade of blue paint everywhere, and I mean everywhere : the truck, the walls, the railings, the door... which makes me think the owner of the plant allowed them to film there in exchange for a little refurbishment. There was a lot of gratuitous nudity. Davi has a look at the women's changing room for no reason whatsoever. Lara Harris, the leading lady, looks great naked (and I'm a straight woman).

The ending was ridiculous, with the tiniest nuclear explosion ever (it manages to destroy the plant and the bad guy's plane, but not the good guy's one). But Davi's and Godunov's performances somehow hold the film together and make it really enjoyable. I will watch it again.