Mercenary (1997) (TV)

Director:

Avi Nesher

Writers:

Steven Hartov (writer)
Patrick Highsmith (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Jonas Ambler is a rich businessman who's wife is killed by kidnapers. So he decides to get even. He hires a mercenary to find and kill the kidnapers...

Plot Keywords:

Mercenary | TV Star | Paramilitary | Murder | Revenge

Cast

Olivier Gruner	...	Captain Carl Hawk May
John Ritter	...	Jonas Ambler
Robert Culp	...	McClean
Ed Lauter	...	Cochran
Michael Zelniker	...	Bailey
Martin Kove	...	Phoenix
Lara Harris	...	Joanna Ambler
Lindsey Ginter	...	Klinge
Nils Allen Stewart	...	Bad Dave
Michael Reid Davis	...	Hendrix
Duke Valenti	...	Bandit Boss
Kevin Knotts	...	Barman
Mark Poitras	...	Commando Man #1
Robert Werhan	...	Frank
Bryan Lee	...	Yakuza

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | UK:18 (video premiere) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Conquistador Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Followed by Mercenary II: Thick & Thin (1997) (TV)

Starts promisingly, but then.....

Written by the same guy who wrote those other Olivier Gruner films, Savage and Automatic, this follows the same formula of starting of very promisingly, and rapidly descending into - at times mind-numbing - boredom.

The story is good - Jonas Ambler, a rich and arrogant businessman (the late John Ritter, pretty good here, but too likable for the role he's playing) sees his wife murdered before his eyes and so teams up with tough guy mercenary Hawk (Olivier Gruner - not many lines, but he does the hard-man act pretty darn well.), and together they go after Phoenix - the Russian mercenary leader behind it (b-movie regular Martin Kove). It starts off well, introducing us to the lead characters, showing Amblers wife gunned down in an action-packed scene, then showing Hawk rescuing a kidnapped schoolgirl ( a very young Jaime Pressley ) from a bar full of redneck thugs. This scene has nothing to do with the films main story, but its probably the best bit of the film!

But from promising beginnings, the story just becomes tiresome. There was potential here to make a good buddy movie, as the spoilt millionnaire and the emotionless mercenary forge a reluctant friendship through battle, but it just doesn't really happen. At no point do the two characters seem to particularly like each other.

On top of the wasted premise, another problem is the films boredom-factor. Even the so-called 'action' sequences were tiresome and dull - when you rent a film starring Olivier Gruner, you should at least expect a few decent martial arts moments, but instead you get boring fights and endless gunfire. A real disappointment was Oliviers fight with Phoenix - it was over before it had even started!

And another mystery to me - why do these cheap low-budget films like this (and Savage) try to have scenes involving special effects that go waaaaay beyond the budget restraints? Check out the helicopter scene, and prepare to laugh at the toy chopper, the stock-footage and the superimposed explosion!

Overall, a film that starts off well, and looks to be enjoyable, but soon looks as if the writer has lost his way. Apart from the beginning, there was little here i enjoyed. Just like Savage and Automatic, this is one for the die-hard Olivier Gruner fans only.