I Come in Peace (aka Dark Angel): The Best Christmas Action Movie You Never Saw?

I'm come in peace Soo is one of the coolest onliners I ever heard and it's part of one of the most unheralded Christmas action movies of all time now Christmas action has always been a thing there's something about the ju deposition of holidays and ultraviolent action that's always been irresistible to Hollywood in movies like first blood and to Live and Die in LA the holiday setting makes the desperately violent scenario that we're in the middle of all the more Grim while other Classics like Lethal Weapon and die hard ultimately have Christmas messages about friendship and family that come through just as strongly as in a straight up holic classic Like It's a Wonderful Life come out to the coast we get together have a few lefts yet not every Christmas action movie becomes a classic which brings me to this special Christmas edition of the best movie you never saw where we tackle the Dolph lungren action flick I come in peace which is also known by the title it's currently streaming as Dark Angel Merry [ __ ] [Music] Christmas I think we're dealing with aliens and not from Mexico the two of them one's the Killer and I think the other one's our side Dolph lr's career was at a strange place in 1990 mainstream Action Hero starden eluded him somewhat with Masters of the Universe being a [Music] flop but he ended up signing on for a slew of movies that weren't quite the DTV level work he'd become known for in the late part of the 90s but weren't quite big Studio movies either here is Justice here is punishment here they were be movies that were shot independently with the idea that they would get picked up buy a studio and get a mainstream release that way they had decent budgets and were intended to play in theaters those movies include Red Scorpion The Punisher take that message to your people Showdown A Little Tokyo I'm your new partner oh really well it looks like they all got away good job officer and dark angel you sure you want to go with that particular look I think you should give it some thought because external things are very very important this is one of the first produced screenplays for writer David ke who did a rewrite on the film and would later become an aess screenwriter after Jurassic Park and a slew of hits including Mission Impossible War of the Worlds Spider-Man and many more it was directed by action specialist cigar Baxley who helmed two other best movies in never saw Classics Action Jackson and Stone Cold Dark Angel was produced independently but on a high enough level that the idea was that it would sell to a major Studio something which unfortunately didn't happen so pissed off I could throw you through a goddamn window and the film only received a middling theatrical release as I come in peace in the US yet it was a worldwide hit on home video particularly in the UK where it kept its original title Dark Angel Dolph lungren plays a Down andout cop named Jack Kane who works in Houston and is on the trail of a drug lord named Victor Manning who runs a crew of yepy drug dealers called the white boys what with all the extra musle evening Mr Manning just think of them as coures in the film's opening moments the white boys not only steal a massive load of cocaine from a police station but they blow it up for good measure while also making the mistake of killing Kane's partner Ray smile Ray than mainly to the fact that Jack who's presented as kind of an incompetent cop got distracted by a liquor store holdup that gave him the chance to unleash a couple roundhouse kicks you're not buzz and you're not very smart but left his partner to be discovered by the bad guys and executed yet the white boys aren't Jack's only problem there's also a hulking Alien named T my coming peace played by Fred of Joe Blows Maas Hughes who is using heroin to trigger the release of endorphins in his human victim so that he can suck out and sell all their endorphins as a drug on his home world now how is that for high concept an alien cough out to stop T is quickly neutralized he must be stopped but he passes on his alien Tech to Jack who now has to deal with both the white boys and this alien but in true buddy cop fashion he's got a new partner let me ask you something why don't you like me I honestly don't give a [ __ ] but I'm curious is it because I'm more successful is that it a geeky FBI agent named Smith who's played by Brian Benben a face well known to 90s officios for two reasons one he was the lead on the sexy HBO series dreamon just a twist male thing that's right which a lot of us watched thanks to all the skin it featured and the other is that the lucky guy ended up marrying dream girl meline Stone and put it right here and you know what they're still married to this day what a lucky guy lran also has a love interest in the movie a coroner played by Betty Brantley and lungren believe it or not is kind of charming in the Romantic scenes thanks largely to Brantley being a rather high class love interest I like abuse as much as an ex-girl but this time when you had me wondering whether you were dead or alive I was kind of rooting for death in fact her and the pretty skilled Ben Ben helped Elevate lung word's acting game [Music] considerably making him seem much more comfortable on camera than he did in his other movies of the era there's a limit to Revenge well I guess I haven't reach M and this actually carried over to his next film show down Little Tokyo One imagines Ben Ben coaching him a bit on how to be more laid-back and naturalistic and it worked well because Len's acting was noticeably better in this movie and all the films that followed it never trust nobody Kane Manuel page one chapter one around the time this was made stories first had started to come out about Dolph's interesting background a native of Sweden before he ever became a model and then action star ler was an academic with a degree in chemical engineering and a full bright scholarship to MIT in the movie Ben Ben's FBI agent initially treats him like a meathead until Dolph brings him back to his loft apartment which is full of Modern Art a wine rack and a pool table showing the multitudes of his character interesting painting you like it yeah well you know it's really uh big right usually Rebel cops lived in [ __ ] hole Apartments like or like Rigs and Lethal Weapon a dumpy trailer long Run's place is Sleek and sophisticated just like the actor himself yeah sh rocks a Henley and pumps iron but he also likes to relax and unwind with a nice Mero yet he's also enough of a lung head that when he realizes he's dealing with an alien bad guy he's actually kind of pissed off to discover that his new partner and Captain don't believe his claims of a drug dealing alien what are you going to do tell them we're we're fighting drug dealers from outer space huh this is Hallmark of director baxley's work his tough guy heroes are often unconventionally sophisticated or unconventional period in Action Jackson the title character has a law degree and rocks of Tuck plus of course his Headley while in stone cold Brian Bosworth's copper lives on the beach with a Pet iguana you're going to have to eat your graub if you want to be a stud the use of an army of white yepy drug dealers is a nice touch too with them the kind of bad guys you don't really mind getting mowed down especially when their bosses Mr gorpley from perfect strangers nothing person okay just business Maas Hughes is also a very cool looking villain with his platinum blonde mullet I come in peace and being 65 in a pretty interesting physical match for lungren who in a move that a lot of tough modern action stars like Vin Diesel the rock and Jason Stam should take to heart doesn't mind taking his licks on screen and being a bit of an underdog he's a tall tall guy but next to Maas Hughes he looks really small All Things Considered this is a fun little action movie with good Houston Texas locations and a very evocative of its era score by Yan Hammer of Miami Vice Fame granted it's more than a little Dum Welcome to our village they say and then they kill you and there probably could have been a little more action worked in with the white boys initially set up as a much bigger threat than they end up being I always wanted huge body count movies like these and it's like turning your radio dial to k i l l well I think the budget maybe was a little too low to give me that even still dark angel AKA I come in peace is a really fun little be movie to put on at Christmas time if you seen all the action Classics of the holidays so give it a watch I don't think you'll regret it and you go in pieces [Music] [ __ ] [Music]

Channel: JoBlo Originals

Views: 25,245

Keywords: joblo videos, joblo, wtf happened to, wtf happened to this celebrity, wtf happened to this movie, wtf, the best movie you never saw, awfully good movies, joblo originals, movie review, review, dark angel, dolph lundgren, dark angel movie, dolph lundgren movies, dark angel trailer, matthias hues, brian benben, brian benben dream on, i come in peace, i come in peace review, i come in peace 1990, christmas action movies, craig r baxley

Id: NjviBo3EuuU

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 24 2023