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Having criticized the Swede action star Dolph Lundgren over his stiff, lackluster performances in his three previous starring roles, it’s my pleasure to report that he’s looser and somewhat personable in the science-fiction action movie I Come in Peace, which, despite its zenith-level derivativeness, isn’t a bad entry of its genre. Playing Los Angeles cop Jack Caine, Lundgren sports a passable American accent and whose line delivery doesn’t sound as if his mouth were full marbles for once; wearing everyday clothes and demonstrating something of a sense of humor, he’s a more than acceptable screen presence here. A fresh-faced actor by the name of Brian Benben, playing a by-the-book martinet of an FBI agent, Arwood Smith, who’s been assigned to Caine to investigate the theft of millions of dollars worth of pure heroin from a federal warehouse, matches up well with Lundgren, and their bickering Punch-and-Judy exchanges are rather nifty in that the dialogue is par for the course and these two actors have some passable chemistry. (The main sight gag is the sloppily dressed six-foot-five Lundgren paired up with the business-suited five-foot-six Benben.) Unbeknownst to them, there are a couple of human-like aliens that are carrying out a private war on Earth -- one has stolen the heroin and blown up the gangsters responsible for its initial theft, and it proceeds to find victims who it can inject the heroin into and extract their stimulated endorphins that yield an even greater potency; then there’s the “good” alien who’s in hot pursuit, not killing innocent bystanders in its quest to rid the universe of this villain who will launch a full-scale attack on Earth should it return to its home planet with proof of availability of this potent drug. (Smith remarks to Caine about reporting what he’s learned to his captain, “What are you going to do? Tell him we’re fighting drug dealers from outer space?”) I Come in Peace doesn’t have the panache of Kevin S. Tenney’s similarly plotted Peacemaker, but it’s not bad, either. Director Craig R. Baxley made a notable debut with the spectacularly entertaining Carl Weathers star vehicle Action Jackson, and though I Come in Peace fails at working up much in the way of excitement, it’s good-natured, well-paced stuff that at least doesn’t leave you hungering for a movie afterward. The extraterrestrial of a villain brandishes a neat weapon that sends a razor sharp CD-size projectile at his victims’ necks, and his nemesis has a machinegun-like one with explosive charges, all the while Caine and Smith are stuck with mere handguns that might as well be BB rifles. As mentioned, Lundgren is better than expected (it’s as if he’s finally realized one needn’t be stone-faced granitic to function as a heroic tough guy; he actually looks his co-stars in the eye for a change, and if he can get some timing and stylization into his work, he might have some staying power); and Benben, a new face to me, takes what could have been a groan-inducing straight-man role and injects some sly, understated comedy into the proceedings (you’re anxious what this inventive actor will do next; and when his character puts on Caine’s perfect-fitting athletic jacket that fit Caine when he was twelve and gets his hands on one of the aliens’ weapons, Benben does a lovely, humorous send-up of machismo). I Come in Peace is highly unlikely to make a lasting impression on moviegoers, yet it gets a decent amount of mileage out of its outlandish story premise and generally succeeds.

Fans of sci-fi could do a lot worse.

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originally posted: 06/12/15 22:22:01
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