Woodyanders Rugged bounty hunter Nick Randall (Rutger Hauer in top two-fisted form) gets used as bait by the CIA so they can apprehend nefarious terrorist Malik Al Rahim (well played with deliciously wicked relish by Gene Simmons). After Rahim kills two people close to Randall, Randall decides to get Rahim on his own terms. Director Gary Sherman, who also co-wrote the hard-edged script with Brian Taggert and Michael Patrick Goodman, keeps the involving story moving at a brisk pace, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, and stages the thrilling action set pieces with rip-roaring aplomb. The fine acting by the super cast gives this movie an extra sparky buzz: Hauer makes for a strong and engaging rough'n'tumble hero, Simmons portrays the chillingly ruthless villain with commendable restraint, Mel Harris radiates real warmth as Randall's sweet girlfriend Terry, plus there are sturdy contributions from Robert Guillaume as the suave Philmore Walker, William Russ as Randall's jolly cop buddy Det. Danny Quintz, Jerry Hardin as the shifty John Lipton, Hugh Gillin as the no-nonsense Patrick Donoby, Robert Harper as slimy fed Dave Henderson, and Dennis Burkley as scuzzy redneck arms dealer Farnsworth. The grenade in mouth climax is a doozy. Alex Nepomniaischy's slick cinematography provides a neat glossy look. Joe Renzetti's bluesy score hits the right-on groovy spot. A really cool flick.

Wizard-8 You might understandably think that a movie concerning a bounty hunter (played by Rutger Hauer) clashing with an Arab terrorist (played by Gene Simmons) would be lively and entertaining. But the filmmakers somehow screwed up enough that the end results are anything but. Although the movie promises to be action-packed, the movie has hardly anything that you would consider an action sequence. In fact, if you don't count a solitary explosion that happens in the movie's first twenty minutes, you have to wait until almost AN HOUR has passed before the movie's first action sequence! And none of the few action sequences are worth the wait - I'm sure even the few people who saw this movie in a theater in 1986 thought the action was as boring as I thought. Possibly the lack of quality action was because of a low budget - the low budget is evident elsewhere all throughout, making the entire enterprise look like a police television show from the 1980s. But even if the budget had been higher, the movie would still have suffered from an inadequate script. For example, take the Gene Simmons character - he has almost no dialogue and we learn next to nothing about him, even though he's the chief bad guy! It's sub par efforts like this which explain why New Word Pictures went out of business a few years later.

BA_Harrison A rather convoluted and tedious 'action' movie from the 80s, Wanted: Dead or Alive stars Rutger Hauer as Nick Randall, a tough-as-nails bounty hunter on the trail of nasty Arab terrorists (led by Malak Al Rahim played by Gene Simmons), who are out and about in L.A. blowing up innocent people.Hauer is his usual reliable self, and turns in a good performance as the hardboiled ex-CIA operative who makes his living bringing in the bad guys any way he can. Likewise, Simmons (the demon bassist from my favourite rock band, Kiss) makes the most of his part as the head terrorist, sneering and glowering to the max and generally looking very evil. But with its rather dull script and pedestrian direction from Gary Sherman, even they can't save this movie from being a less than average production.Apart from a few bits of nasty violence, and a nifty ending which sees Randall wreaking revenge on Malak Al Rahim in explosive fashion, Wanted: Dead or Alive is a pretty forgettable movie.

MartinHafer Despite the title, this movie really has no similarity to the TV show WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE. In fact, it's an incredibly violent and mind-rotting piece of garbage without a single interesting moment. I remember when a co-worker rented this piece of &*@@!*$ when we were both doing an overnight shift at the hospital. He thought it was pretty cool, but everyone else there just was horrified by how violent and stupid the movie was. There didn't seem to be much plot--just Gene Simmons killing a lot of people and the good guy(?) Rutger Hauer doing the same in the name of law and order! And, in the end, we were treated with one of the most gratuitous and violent endings, when he shoved a hang grenade in Simmons' mouth and pulled the pin. I just wish the pin had been pulled a lot sooner and ended this mess! This movie should be of interest only to psychotics and sociopaths--all others, steer clear at all costs. This is exactly the sort of film that demeans our society and desensitizes us to evil. Don't watch this film!PS--Instead of Gene Simmons from KISS, using the actress Jean Simmons might have made this movie a lot more interesting! She could do more than just make evil leers, so she couldn't help but improve the part.