RCA
Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
It
always makes my day to see actors go from
award-winning flicks to out and out exploitation.
In the case of Brad Davis, though, it's
a bit painful to watch. Davis, star of MIDNIGHT
EXPRESS, has found himself in a string of
C-grade flicks, including the cop adventure
COLD STEEL.
In this "epic" he
plays an LA cop whose father is murdered
on Christmas Eve. Of course Johnny (Davis)
gets out of hand on the case (like the department
would leave him on it) and he's eventually
removed from it.
Does this stop him? Hmmm...let
me watch some more.
Of course it doesn't stop
him! Along the way though he meets Sharon
Stone (quite the little exploitation star
before her big-budget days) who plays Kathy
Connors, a woman with a questionable past
who's also taller than he is. In the course
of their relationship they do exchange some
of the drippiest dialogue to grace celluloid
in some time:
KATHY: I like you.
JOHNNY: I like you too.
KATHY: I've never done this before.
JOHNNY: Maybe that's when it's best.
Then again, ol' Adam Ant does
give the dialogue department a run for its
money with his comparison of guns and women:
"Cool, lean, and they can fuck you
up."
The movie starts REALLY ROLLING
when a certain plot twist comes into play
which really fucked with my alcohol-addled
mind! However, I'm just not going to reveal
the twist, so there.
All I can say is, the movie
rips along at a frantic little pace as plot
lines are revealed and things generally
get out of hand. Finally, we come to a beautiful
conclusion as good (Johnny and Kathy) battles
evil (Adam Ant and this other guy you'll
recognize) in a blood-soaked confrontation.
Might I add that it's fun-filled, or did
you already figure that out?
[NOTE: This is where
my notes on the flick get VERY MESSY and
borderline incoherent, but I'll try and
piece them together to the best of my ability.]
While COLD STEEL may be strictly
a C-grade Fred Olen Ray-esque exploitation
flick (it reminds me of FOR's ARMED RESPONSE),
it delivers entertaining action, interesting
twists, and fairly good acting for as low-
grade as it is. And anybody who rolls his
jeans up is definitely a hero in my book.
