Red Heat 1988, Rated R

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Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, et al.

Set in Chicago, Red Heat falls under the 'sucky, '80's, buddy cop, action-comedy' genre. With its focus on the inner workings of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), Red Heat was vaguely reminiscent of Peter Hyams' '86 release, Running Scared. However, where Running Scared was fresh and funny, and its two leads, Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines had a wonderful chemistry between each other, Red Heat was a rather flat action film with actors that just didn't gel together. Part of this stems from the script, which calls for leads Jim Belushi and Arnold Schwarzenegger to come from two differing cultures, Belushi from the north side, Arnold from Russia, and part of this stems from the camaraderie between the actors, which seemed downright frosty at times.

The plot is recycled drivel, possibly taken from one of Hill's earlier films, or possibly lifted from an old Barnaby Jones episode. Arnold stars as Captain Danko, a Russian police officer. Viktor Rostavili plays the part of a Russian gangster and generally not-so-nice-guy. After Rostavili has killed Arnold's partner, he takes off for the friendly confines of the Windy City to complete a major drug deal. Arnold flies to Chicago after Rostavili and works in cooperation with the CPD and Jim Belushi to capture Rostavili. Belushi and Arnold argue about capitalism vs. communism, quotes statistics about the murder percentages in each of their respective countries, and generally annoy the hell out of each other before another death forces them to put their passed differences aside and work to find Rostavili.

There are few, if any surprises in Red Heat other than Arnold's attempt at a Russian accentÖ and you thought it was hard to understand him previously. The use of Chicago backdrops is average, and the on-screen action is rather tame with there being no particularly stunning sequences like Running Scared's finale shot in the State of Illinois Building, or The Untouchables use of South LaSalle Street to speak of.

The acting is poor, with Arnold leading the way in this department, Belushi following closely on his heels. I like Belushi as an actor and a person, his laid back, blue-collar Chicago attitude creates a likeable on-screen persona, but the decision to cast him as a tough, rebellious police detective with a disdain for authority in Red Heat was a poor one as Belushi didn't seem comfortable in his fight scenes or while delivering his 'tough guy' dialogue. While Belushi is from Chicago and probably did a better job of capturing the Chicago drive of his character than would have several actors who didn't spend their formative years in our fair city, the title of 'action star' isn't one I'd suggest he put on his resume any time soon.

Red Heat was marketed heavily as the first American film to have been shot in Red Square, but locations have no bearings on the quality of the script of the acting, both of which were poor in this film. You'll have to search pretty hard to find a worse movie shot in Chicago than Red Heat.