[5]

The Russians invade America and spark World War III in this Cold-War emblem from writer/director John Milius (Conan the Barbarian, Big Wednesday). Political correctness aside, the opening of this movie — the Russian invasion — is very effective. But the rest of the movie fails to live up to the promise of its first 10 minutes. It’s fun to see the cast, all of whom went on to famous careers, but it’s also extremely hard to buy Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey as guerilla fighters. Patrick Swayze carries the movie well. I have to admit that the brotherly love stuff at the end almost got me, but ultimately, this movie suffers from a lack off believability and a very long, drawn-out middle 90 minutes, where the story doesn’t advance much at all. With C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton, Powers Boothe, and Ben Johnson.