That illustrious township Beverly Hills teems with secret service agents in preparation for a visiting VIP--the President's daughter Margaret (screamy newcomer Lysa Hayland), flown in for the express purpose of buying fancy clothes on Rodeo Drive. Heavily-armed terrorists have also
anticipated the shopping spree, however. They raid the boutique where the First Chick is browsing and carry her off to their bean-factory hideout. Lead heavy Abdul (Behrouz Vossughi) declares they will not release the hostage until Israel frees imprisoned Palestinians. But what Abdul really wants
is revenge on commando Hack Stone (Frank Stallone), a former Middle East covert agent, once Abdul's best buddy until some marauders he missed went on to massacre Abdul's family.
Now a local martial arts instructor, Stone is "invited" by the authorities to infiltrate that bean factory and bring the President's daughter out alive. The mission proves easier for him to accomplish than for the viewer to watch, and in the end the bullet-riddled Abdul even forgives his old pal
before expiring, while mournful bells toll. Honest.
Lowbrow highlights include dubious ethnic sensibilities: the Arabs are, of course, sweaty, swarthy, psychos who growl "Infidel!" at foreigners (who growl racial epithets right back). During the Rodeo Drive attack an undercover cop skips the action because he's busy bullying a black
pedestrian--that's apparently supposed to be funny. The titular terror, by the way, consists of gunfire that rakes shelves of fashion accessories. Far more horrifying are the spending habits of the Chief Executive's jet-set offspring.
Rawboned William Smith, long typecast as a beastly villain, portrays the pained prez. Supporting actor Brian Leonard, playing a lispy TV newsman, bears a suspicious resemblance to "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Jon Lovitz. And what of Sylvester's younger brother, Frank Stallone? Well, Olivier
could have done this script and the results would have been just as bad. Actually, Stallone's not in the film all that much, and most of his screen time involves arguing with foulmouthed police chief Cameron Mitchell about Western Civilization, Mitchell being in favor of it. (Violence, profanity,
sexual situations, nudity.) leave a comment
