My Cultural Diet

Plenty of classic lines emerged from ’80s action movies. “Go ahead, make my day.” “I’ll be back.” “You’re a disease, and I’m the cure.” I’m not sure that “And you go in pieces, asshole” belongs on that list, but it’s not for lack of trying. Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) is a Houston detective trying to shut down a gang of yuppie drug dealers called the White Boys. After his partner is killed in a drug bust gone bad, Caine is subsequently paired with a stick-in-the-mud FBI agent who mocks Caine’s unorthodox — and unconstitutional — approach to law enforcement. But when an alien arrives in the city and begins a killing spree, Caine’s unorthodox approach may be all that can save them. Dark Angel, also known as I Come In Peace, came out two months before Predator 2, but there are some definite similarities, along with some buddy cop dynamics that really want to be like Lethal Weapon. Dark Angel is fun in places like any slice of ’90s action cheese; at times, it feels more like an excuse for the pyrotechnics team to go wild than anything else. (Which isn’t too surprising given that director Baxley got his start as a stuntman.) However, the alien stuff feels like it belongs in a totally different movie. I found myself wishing that Dark Angel had just amped up the ridiculous White Boys storyline, if only so I could watch Lundgren roundhouse kick an army of smug yuppie bastards in the face.

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