John Glen holds the distinction of helming more James Bond movies than any other director. He got his start on the Bonds as an editor and graduated with "For Your Eyes Only" as the director. Each of his 007 epics are classic, polished, and exciting. Glen displayed a knack for action filmmaking. Alas, when audiences turned away in droves for the second Timothy Dalton Bond adventure "License to Kill," the Bond producers cleaned house. Glen's career went into decline because nothing he made thereafter benefited from the force of a dynamic character like James Bond. The former Bond helmer hasn't lost his punch. Indeed, "The Point Men" has all the trappings of a Bond movie since it concerns one of the Mossad's ultra-hush, hush, assassination squads. Essentially, this briskly-paced 90-minute melodrama is a revenge thriller about a killer whittling down the squad one operative at a time. The PLO villain is as ruthless as he is methodical. At one point, he goes under a plastic surgeon's knife to disguise himself. After he has been given a new visage, the villain shoots not only the plastic surgeon but also his nurse. The action was lensed on actual locations in Luxembourg, France, Israel, and New York City, and this enhances the film's authenticity. Lenser Alec Mills' cinematography is solid stuff; he served as Glen's director of photography on "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery," "Iron Eagle: Aces: Iron Eagle 3, "The Living Daylights," and "License to Kill." Actress Maryam d'Abo has a small role as one of the squad. She played the romantic lead in Glen's "The Living Daylights."
The opening scene bristles with action, explosions, and death. There is no shortage of melodrama in Ripley Highsmith's adaption of Steven Hartov's novel. Hartov wrote the two "Mercenary" straight-to-video movies. Mind you, Glen still knows how to orchestrate action scenes. "Highlander" star Christopher Lambert plays a sympathetic Mossad assassin who is convinced that his team iced the wrong terrorist. Miraculously, Tony Eckhardt (Lambert) survives an opening shoot-out in broad daylight but his partner (Hendrick Haese of "Contaminated Man") dies. No sooner has Rainer shot Amar Kamil than two unknown guys with small arms show up and blaze away at them. Maddy Hope (Kerry Fox of "Shallow Grave") pulls up in her car as the wounded Tony staggers away from the shooting. Maddy and he wind up participating in a careening car chase that ends disastrously with a fireball explosion wherein two men are barbecued. Tony winds up in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. He asserts that the man they killed was not the notorious Palestinian terrorist.
Naturally, nobody believes Tony. Eventually, our hero leaves the hospital with his left arm in a sling and an automatic pistol tucked behind his back. Tony explains that the man they shot had a look of surprise in his eyes. Consequently, Tony and his 'foreign legion' of comrades are disbanded and reassigned. Nevertheless, the Middle-East villains aren't content to let old ills lay quietly. Tony is forced to take a desk job while one of his buddies goes back to college in New York City. Harry Webber (William Armstrong of "The Dark Knight") is the first member of the team to bite the dust. The killer stages the killing as if it were collateral damage during a convenience store robbery. The next man in their team, Peter Hauser (Nicolas de Pruyssenaere of "Black Book") dies next, in an explosion after his automobile is smashed and pushed off a mountain. Tony accuses Israel Intelligence of killing their former comrades because they still don't believe. Unfortunately, our hero cannot convince his superiors and some of his friends until it is too late. Eventually, Tony learns that the villain is motivated because his hit squad killed his two brothers and his wife. The villain plans to kill a PLO leader seeking peace, even though he is his half-brother.
Glen directs with a sure hand. "The Point Men" is better than average with a villain who struggled against the irony in his predicament. Not bad, but not great.
