Red Heat (1988)

After scoring a hit with the Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte cop thriller 48 Hours, director Walter Hill returned to the buddy formula with this half-ridiculous, half-invigorating action flick about humorless Russian cop Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He follows a drug dealer from Moscow to Chicago, where he's matched up with city cop Art Ridzik (James Belushi), whose work ethic is considerably more relaxed. Most of the humor revolves around Danko's grumpy reaction to good ol' American capitalism, while Ridzik urges him to chill out. Red Heat is not bad as action comedies go, but only if you get into the absurd spirit of this predictable fare, in which the unlikely buddies get to wisecrack and act casually while mayhem erupts everywhere they go. Incidentally, Red Heat was the first American film allowed to shoot in Moscow's Red Square. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

James and Arnold, a daring duo

A fun shoot-im-up with lots of good chase scenes and a few good plot twists. One of the things that make the movie is Arnold going around strait faced and like the terminator without the metal endoskeleton.

Thoroughly rotten bad guy and drug dealer Viktor Rostavile `Rosta' (Ed O'Toss) flees the USSR after encountering Capt. Ivan Danko `USSR State Police'. We find that he has big plans in Chicago where he plans to do a deal with Abdul Elijah `incarcerated Revolutionary political leader' (Brent Jennings). Abdul has an agenda of his own. Everyone's plans must be adjusted as Danko turns up in Chicago and teams up with Det. Sgt. Art Ridzik `Chicago Police Dept.' (James Belushi) to track down and retrieve Rosta.

In the process of tracking we meet all kinds of dangerous criminals and beautiful women. Ridzik almost gets killed because of his instant affinity with a blond wayward nurse; he is in for a surprise. We also have the obligatory vehicle chase scene with a different twist.

Aside from the main players there are quite a few recognizable character actors which add significantly the movie.
January 16, 2007

Red heat

Gotta see this movie now.Rated R for graphic violence,nudity,language,and drug use.
. June 1, 2006

Can I give it 8 stars? Please? Come on! I'm begging you!

This is among the best Arnold movies I've ever seen. It goes like this-a tough and disciplined Russian Detective named Ivan Danko(Schwarzengger)and a fearless but undisciplined cop named Art(James Belushi)are on the trail of an evil and vicious serial killer named Viktor, who has killed Ivan's brother and terrozied all of Moscow and Chicago as well. There are not only wonderful fight scenes in this movie, but also a lot of humerous moments & some memorable lines. I give this movie a solid 10 out of 10. Oh yeah, there's also some really sexy bitches. Will Art and Ivan defeat Viktor? Watch this highly recommended movie and find out. And just so you know, Arnold steals the movie as usual. March 22, 2006

Fun movie...typical Arnold

Arnold Schwartzenegger plays Soviet police-captain Vanya Danko, opposite Chicago PD's Art Ritsek (Jim Belushi), tracking down a Soviet drug dealer.

The contrast between the old Soviet Union and Chicago are striking. The USSR is clean, organized and oppressive while Chicago is dirty, chaotic and freewheeling. A great visual description of Communism vs. Capitalism.

A big letdown to me was when I figured out the handcannon carried by Arnold was a Desert Eagle .50AE pistol. Those things are way overused in Hollywood. It would have been better if they had kept the Soviets with eastern bloc firearms. The laminated SKS rifles being carried by the Red Square honor guard looked cool, and it seemed like all the other Soviet bad guys and cops were carrying Makarovs. The US based bad guys carried a wide variety of firearms.

This is a good movie that is typical Arnold. If you like Arnold, you will like this movie. Belushi is an added treat. July 17, 2005

Not as good as 1st release

Don't bother wasting your money if you think you are upgrading like I did. The earlier ARTISAN release is still much better than this special edition. The image is better and ALSO the sound. I don't know what Lions gate thought they were doing, but remastered? no. I compared both several times before writing this even though I only had to compare once. Might as well wait for a HD DVD to come out, this is a waste unless you want the additional features. January 7, 2005

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