Tango & Cash (1989)

Back in the 80's, kitsch cinema had two main sections - gory horror movies and daft action films, of which this film obviously fits into the latter. While the gory horror movies of the eighties often lacked credibility, that section of kitsch movies beats the daft action films because of the much higher content of inventiveness; but more often than not, the daft action movies make for good entertainment, even if they're somewhat less than brilliant. Tango and Cash is a notable action movie because it stars two of the eighties most popular action stars - Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell, whose antagonistic partnership makes up the core of this movie. The plot device to get the maverick cops to work together is hardly important, but nevertheless it follows the two as a corrupt state buys into a plot by a criminal kingpin to land them both in jail, which promptly sees our hero's in with the masses of criminals they themselves have sent to the clink. As you can imagine, they're not the most well liked of inmates. Especially not by 'Maniac Cop' himself, Robert Z'Dar...

The action in the movie comes thick and fast and this, when combined with the one-liner packed script make the movie feel more like a parody than a serious take on the genre. This is all good, however, as this movie is pure entertainment, and seeing two of the 80's hottest action stars fire off silly dialogue at one another is a treat to say the least. The action is over the top, and we get to watch our hero's do such things as slide down electrical cables and drive a souped up SUV around an explosion packed warehouse, and it makes for great entertainment. Of course, what the movie packs in action and snappy dialogue, it lacks in other areas such as credibility and depth; but nobody tunes into a kitschy 80's action movie for plot depth and sophistication, so blaming the movie for not offering these things is ridiculous. On the whole, if you're after a good two hours of solid action fare, you could certainly do a lot worse than Tango and Cash. This movie packs a lot of punch, delivered by two strong leading men. Thumbs up!