1991 - MCBAIN, underachieving action film

The writer/director James Glickenhaus who made the entertaining urban thriller Shakedown sure didn't try very hard with this film, in fact you could say he didn't seem to try at all.  McBain is a real "by the numbers" action film.  

Christopher Walken is McBain out to avenge an old Vietnam War buddy who has been killed by an evil South American dictator.  After being alerted to the death of his friend by that friend's hot Hispanic sister played by María Conchita Alonso.  Walken rounds up his old Vietnam war platoon buddies and heads to South America where they shoot and blow up a lot of stuff.

The film leaves no cliche untouched and the story is so rote it gives the word rote a bad name.  Even the action scenes are incredibly lackluster.  Lots and lots of stuff blows up but it's presented in such a nonchalant way that even blowing people and machines up seems like an afterthought.

 

Walken is an actor from the less is more school of acting.  He so underplays his part it seems like he is almost in a different movie or hoping he was in a different movie. Maria Conchita Alonso in her prime was a great beauty but her acting to put in charitably leaves a lot to be desired.

 

McBain is an odd action film, Glickenhaus should have been able at the very least  provide some entertainment with the usual shooting and killing stuff but the film gives off the vibe of a director who has a complete lack of interest in the film or even the film making process.

The running time is 107 minutes.