The Operative Reviews

This standard martial arts vehicle serves up Brian Bosworth in a dual role; muscular action sequences bolster the novelty value of this stunt casting. While helping a chemical engineer defect from the Soviet Union in 1989, CIA spy Alec (Bosworth) is captured by KBG chief Basil Bellanin (Bob Dawson). Drugged and brainwashed, Alec spends 11 years in Yezhov Institution, until Bellanin releases him for his own purposes. Bellanin offers a quid pro quo deal: he'll reunite Alec with his incarcerated lover, Sonya (Rachel England), if Alec will pose as Texas billionaire Grady (Bosworth) — the two men could be twins — and pick up a valuable painting rolled up in Grady's safe-deposit unit. With a pair of Bellanin's thugs in tow, Alec carries out the masquerade, unaware that the canvas actually conceals a revolutionary, world-economy changing formula for cold fusion created by the same scientist Alec failed to smuggle out of Kiev. Unfortunately, Grady shows up at the bank while Alec is still there and the bizarre and uncomfortable situation devolves into a shoot-out and hostage crisis. Although Alec attempts to enlist Grady's aid, Grady already has a silent partner named Urquhart (Jerry Wasserman), a crooked CIA agent who betrays Grady and precipitates a perilous standoff. Trapped between Uquhart and Bellanin's forces, Alec must somehow ensure that the formula doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Playing a dual role actually animates the usually sluggish Bosworth, and if he fails to reach the heights Bette Davis scaled in A STOLEN LIFE, he doesn't sink to the level of Jean-Claude Van Damme's work in DOUBLE IMPACT. Otherwise, this film offers the usual action picture smorgasbord of busted heads and stuff blowing up.