Sgt Rock

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2002)

Spoilers herein.
Whatever happened to McTiernan? This is the guy who invented the blockbuster action film with `Die Hard.' The formula was clear: an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary situation; characters are simply but domestically motivated, and the whole thing is done with a wink at the audience. The second two of these are hard, fast rules by now. So why oh why does he ignore them?
What we have here is Arnie, someone who takes himself seriously and doesn;t have the capacity for self-mocking. Even when it is the explicit point of the film (`Last Action Hero') he can't pull it off. Here, he takes on the persona of the comicbook Sgt Rock: gruff, cigar-chomping, straightahead kickbutt dude who takes no guff. He is surrounded by comic cartoon characters, but when it gets down to it, its man to man hand to hand gladitorial combat. And the Sarge will win because he is an American.
There's not a shred of fun in this. Nor a sense of adventure. No character is remotely likeable.
The only redeeming value is a nice use of fireworks toward the end when the alien shoots off flares to find the Sarge, though why they would help with his vision constraints isn't explained.
I got some fun from this because a layer of winking was added by others. I saw it on cable in the Czech Republic and dubbed in Czech. The Czechs are a truly civilized people who have had constant unhappy relations with Germans, particularly the stereotype that Arnie represents. There's the wink. He never knew.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 4: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.