By Geno McGahee
It is about time that “I COME IN PEACE” came to DVD. It’s also known as “DARK ANGEL,” but I prefer the other title. In 1990, they were trying to launch Dolph Lundgren as an action star, and placed him as the lead in this action/horror hybrid as the bad ass, play by his own rules detective Jack Caine. They pit him against a scary alien (Matthias Hues) that kills humans and he likes to say: “I come in peace.” Don’t worry, Dolph has an answer for that statement.
In any film with a badass detective, you know what happens…his partner gets taken out. A group by the name of “The White Boys” blow away Turner (Alex Morris), but many of them get killed by a projectile razor that looks like a CD.
Caine’s boss isn’t incredibly happy with him and puts him on suspension but the FBI steps in and reinstates him. They want him to track down the evil spaceman, but he won’t go it alone. They team him up with FBI agent Smith (Brian Benben), a stickler for the rules that tries to control the wild detective that is Jack Caine.
The evil alien makes scary faces as he kills people and even notes that he “comes in peace” as he does so. He has another alien on his ass though. The good alien (Jay Bilas) is trying to do what he can to stop the bad alien because if he succeeds, it could be the end of the world.
This film certainly has a TERMINATOR vibe to it, but it was also trying to capitalize on other markets. It brings elements of horror, action and sci-fi to the screen and that mix may not have gone over well with the general audiences, but I found it very enjoyable.
The FBI geek and the cop tough guy find common ground and they buddy up to take down the evil alien that totally lied about coming in peace. On top of being a killer, he is completely full of shit. Don’t you hate people like that? It all leads to a big showdown where Caine must go one on one with the alien and it had to happen. How else is he going to say: “You go in pieces asshole”?
What this movie lacks in creative writing, it makes up for in the fun factor. The villain is over the top and the pace is pretty good. Although Dolph has never taken off as an action star, he seemed pretty comfortable in this role. The bad alien was the coolest thing about this film. I think that they were trying to make him really scary, but he came off as more-so cool. He is cool looking and has cool weapons. I was sad to see him go.
DARK ANGEL is a good film for anyone that likes action or horror flicks. This is a monster movie forced into an action flick with the end result being some awesomeness. I highly recommend this.
Rating: 7.5/10 – I Review in Peace
