Word About Biehn Reviews of Michael's Work

DEAD MEN CAN'T DANCE (1997)

It is a sad fact that Michael hasn't always gotten the best roles in the best films. Dead Men Can't Dance is among the lesser of Michael's starring vehicles. It's an action film with mediocre writing, a wooden heroine, and too little of Michael, even though he does get top billing.

The story centers around Captain Victoria Elliot (Kathleen York), a no nonsense gal, whom we first meet directing a CIA surveillance operation in South Korea. In the course of events, she discovers nuclear detonators and, against her own judgment, she is ordered to send her team in to retrieve them. She has only three men at her disposal, her lover Hart (Michael) among them, and the effort is violent and a failure. However, her competence has been noticed by villainous, not to mention cartoonish, CIA station chief Fowler, who fears she will thwart his own plans and therefore has her CIA assignment terminated. Never fear, though, our heroine isn't easily gotten rid of. Another savvy female military type, a Brigadier General, no less, summons our captain to special Army Ranger training, where she may prove to the world that women can hold their own in that elite group. To absolutely no one's surprise, Vick is assigned to be trained by a tough-as-nails female sergeant who, to assure that the viewer won't fail to notice her solid inner core, announces that "I don't fear any damned thing." During this forty minute segment, in which Michael appears only briefly, we follow Vick's training as she proves her mettle as a super gutsy heroine, who we all know can match any mere male.

Finally, after "graduation," the film moves to the main plot and, mercifully, Michael reappears. Vick and her squad are assigned to the Korean DMZ. During their first patrol, they are fired on and discover Hart and his men, who have been captured by the North Koreans and are being killed one at a time. Vick and her patrol violate orders to save them, exchanging fire, killing the enemy, and taking casualties themselves. It turns out that Hart's group is there to retrieve those stolen atomic detonators, and as they all flee to save their lives, they also seek a means to achieve that goal. However, it becomes clear that the North Koreans are somehow being informed of their movements, indicating a spy among them. The revelation of the spy, the comeuppance of the CIA troublemaker, the ultimate retrieval of the detonators, and our protagonists' escape amidst more carnage round out the story.

The film might have been a decent one had its characters been less stereotypical and better acted. I am driven to distraction by the CIA guy, obviously a nutcase, who apparently has the wherewithal to start a war almost single-handedly. He's a caricature and played that way, undermining his credibility and the premise of the plot. Even more of a problem is Vick, whose flat personality fails to engage us or engender sympathy.

Michael isn't given much to work with here, but he does what he can. The action elements are right up his alley and he handles them with ease; and Hart shows courage, competence, and determination to accomplish his mission. However, my favorite scenes are the emotional ones, the moments that Michael uses to let us see beneath the surface of his character. The best of these is near the beginning after the failed "hard target" situation. As Hart and Vick brood over what happened, he goes to her for comfort, laying his head on her shoulder. He tells her how he remembers every man he's lost and every one he's killed, and how the memory isn't a good one. And she holds him. It's a moving scene that, because of the inadequacy of his leading lady, Michael is left to convey primarily by himself. But he does so effectively. At a later time, in the aftermath of discovering the traitor, Michael again takes a brief moment to show us Hart's pain. But Hart is really a supporting player in a story that focuses primarily on Vick. Had the plot centered on Hart and softened its feminist message, Dead Men Can't Dance might have worked much better.

Kay