"Wanted: Dead or Alive" is a dues-paying member of this genre and contains few surprises. There are times during the movie when the greatest mystery is whether or not Rutger Hauer is trying to speak with an American accent. At first it seems that he is, but later he relaxes into one of those all-purpose faint European intonations usually employed by the enemies of James Bond.
Hauer plays Nick Randall, the great-grandson of Josh Randall, the character played by Steve McQueen in the TV series of the same name. His retirement comes to an end when Malak Al Rahim starts to blow up innocent civilians. Al Rahim is an example of a recent trend toward Arab villains in the movies. What would Hollywood do without at least one ethnic group that is fair game for categorical racist stereotyping? I was never quite sure what or whom Al Rahim represented, or what his goals were, apart from the ritualistic destruction of innocent civilians, but who cares? He's an Arab, isn't he? And they all want to blow up everybody, don't they? Hauer springs into action, employing the usual combination of detective work, anonymous informants and lucky breaks. In these movies, the villain never traps himself through his own stupidity, which is amazing, since El Rahim is amazingly careless while pulling his jobs.
In one scene, he plants a bomb in a theater, walks across the street, holds a radio-control device in plain view, calls a newspaper, announces what he is about to do and then blows up the theater. Nobody notices him.
The joke in that scene is that the theater is playing "Rambo." Another joke, for newspapermen, is that when he calls the city desk his call is taken by a reporter who instantly knows who he is and in which country he was last sighted. In real life, if Al Rahim had called a newspaper, he would first have been put on hold and then disconnected.
Al Rahim is played in the movie by Gene Simmons, of the rock group Kiss, who seems to be trying to find a career after music. Since he has few lines and no motivation, this is not the movie that's going to do it for him. But he shouldn't complain, because nobody else in the film does much better.
For example, the character of Hauer's girlfriend (Mel Harris) is handled in such a perfunctory way that when she's blown up, not only are we relatively indifferent but so, basically, is Hauer. There's the obligatory scene where they're in bed together, so we know they love each other, and then later the obligatory scene where Hauer vows to avenge her and a best friend, who also was on the boat.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46wmKeslZl6pbHAnWSoql2WuarCxGZocnBn