| Mercenary (1996) Cast:Oliver Gruner,John Ritter,Martin Kove,Ed Lauter The question with Oliver Grunier isn't "Is it gonna be bad?" it's rather "How bad?" as far as Gruner goes "Mercenary" isn't too bad at all and what gives it that something extra is the actionscenes that are surprisingly well done and very vigorously directed however "Mercenary" does indeed have flaws the most abundant of these flaws are all in the script and not to mention how many times the plot has been done. Gruner is hired by Ritter to take out an arab terrorist who killed Ritter's wife basicly "Mercenary" doesn't cover much ground but the thing that was really surprising was how well done the actionscenes are......If you screw up the actionscenes there is no possible way a movie like this can recover....and it does it well. Ritter is (naturally) better then what the material warrants but he tries hard and does have some chemistry between Gruner....Indeed this movie deserves a higher rating but alas Kove ruins it with his hammy acting, he shows no restraint and his accent is atrocious and the makeup to make him look like an russian is beyond laughable...Still if action fans want a popcorn flick "Mercenary" more then fills the bill. D.Avi Nesher *** |