Plot: An ex-Marine who was hired to train Iraqi soldiers returns to Iraq as a CIA agent to free his brother, who has been imprisoned there by a renegade general.
I never hear anybody talk about The Human Shield, but I’ve always thought it was one of Michael Dudikoff’s better films. It’s a Cannon picture and is more serious than you’d maybe expect but it still holds up. The tone is serious as Dudikoff plays Doug Matthews, an ex-marine who has to come back to Iraq to rescue his brother who has been kidnapped by a sadistic general who wants revenge on Doug.
Steve Inwood almost steals the movie as the evil General Ali Dallal who is a completely hateful monster. He massacres villages, rapes women and is just bad news all round. Dudikoff plays the heroic Doug with ease so we are rooting for him all the way.
On the action from we get several shoot-outs and explosions; the final showdown between Doug and Ali is satisfying stuff and it’s all under 90 minutes too. The Human Shield is well paced and light on humour keeping the tone serious and avoiding anything overly corny.
It’s funny watching movies like this though and the hero has just killed a bunch of bad guys and then quickly runs out of ammo. You just killed some goons; haven’t you ever played a video game before? Surely, they will drop some ammo and weapons so you can replenish them.
Overall, The Human Shield has a hilariously low rating on IMDb, and I seem to be the only person that likes this film so Sue Me! I like The Human Shield and if you don’t then I guess I’ll see your ass in court.