MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Leofwine_draca Woeful title aside, CODE 7, VICTIM 5 is a would-be, South African-set detective story from prolific B-movie producer Harry Alan Towers, who also wrote the thing under his 'Peter Welbeck' pseudonym. It stars man-of-the-moment Lex Barker as a private eye who's commissioned to investigate a mysterious murder among the upper crust in South Africa.The best - and only good thing - about the movie is the location photography, captured in stunning detail by famed cinematographer Nicholas Roeg. This is a sunny, great-looking movie which allows you to see plenty of areas of the country usually missing in films; those drives around Table Mountain are particularly fine. A shame then, that the rest of the film is so sloppy.The worst thing is undoubtedly Towers' script, which is mundane to say the least. Despite a few shoehorned-in fight scenes, this is dull, by-the-numbers stuff in which little happens to lift the story out of its lethargic gloom. Barker tours the country for a while, indulges in some light romance with a string of Euro-crumpet in scenes reminiscent of a Connery Bond flick, and finally tackles the villain whose identity is revealed at the climax.The cast put in strictly ordinary performances and Barker fails to show even an ounce of charisma, so you end up wondering why was such a star of his day. He looks a little like a young Stephen Baldwin to me. Some of the action sequences are okay, like an impressive car chase early on, but for the most part this is a chore and rightly forgotten.

ian-malcolm rijsdijk The influence of Bond is writ large in this very cheap and Mystery Science Theater-worthy thriller (cf Agent for H.A.R.M.). Lex Barker saunters through most of the action as Steve Martin, hand in pocket, careful not to take things too seriously and mostly incredulous at the unmotivated action that unravels around him.From the moment he disembarks at Cape Town harbour he is beset with snooping policemen, eager women and danger. As a Capetonian, it is really funny watching Helga (Ann Smyrner) drive Steve along the Atlantic seaboard while driving over picturesque Chapman's Peak (twice) which is on the opposite side of the mountains. Of course, the reason for this is to throw in an action-packed car-chase.Seductive and dangerous woman (check), villain with a foreign accent (check), innovative but failed assassination attempts (check, including underwater scuba manoeuvre), dramatic exterior set-pieces (check, including unnecessary trip to the Cango Caves and game park), dangerous animals (check), racist exploitation of local scenes and people (check).The opening scene (which uncannily foreshadows Live and Let Die)is great and gives viewers a chance to see District Six on screen. This was just before the apartheid government began its program of forced removals. The Table Mountain climax - the film's alternate title is Table Bay - is both laughable and spectacular, and so badly edited you wonder if everyone was enjoying Cape Town's beach action a little too much. Still, it's a curiosity for those keen to see Cape Town in a previous era, or to see the influence of the espionage genre in the wake of James Bond.

naseby Just plain ordinary as I've said. A shame, because even though some of the great 'superstars' are that, i.e., the Eastwoods and Schwarzeneggers of this world, who have presence but not necessarily acting on a great points scale, neither had Lex Barker anything but the same - the gruff actor could've excelled at some point but was resigned to the world of B-movies. This story just has that recipe, girls, glamour, interesting scenery (South Africa)and just an obligatory plot of detective work. Barker is on the hunt for people being picked off (mostly around him) with mention of neo-Nazis to boot. As someone else has mentioned, there are some set-pieces of interest (but only to give it lacklustre merit) like the ostrich stampede. Obviously a foreign production designed with Barker in mind to sell it to the states even if a support featurette, it also beggars belief that Ronald Fraser was cajoled into it. Purposefully noticeable was the absence of any of Apartheid-era South Africa, but as someone else has mentioned, 'District Six' is stated by Fraser's character, which was a former area 'cleared' and forgotten about by the South African government a few years later in its 'Group Areas Act' of ethnic cleansing, well, that's not what they called it, but it was of sorts! This was obviously a nice, cheap holiday to South Africa and much cheaper once they were there already. Of note though, is Gert Van Den Bergh, who, being South African/South African set, hadn't appeared in a lot, other than any film set in that beautiful country - he was mostly remembered for his one and only large-scale, epic film 'Zulu' as Ardendorff, the Boer.

bensonmum2 To begin with, what kind of name is Code 7, Victim 5? From what I saw, this ridiculous title has nothing to do with anything that takes place in the movie.Lex Barker plays some sort of security consultant / detective who is hired by a wealthy man in South Africa. The wealthy man fears for his life and needs protection. A paying job is a paying job so Barker sets off for South Africa. There he finds one of the most uneventful adventures ever put on film. There's not much for Barker to do other than hook-up with every average looking female in the country and carry out his lame investigations. There's no suspense. There's no intrigue. There's not even a good cheesy spy movie type moment to save this mess. This is one of those rare films set in an exotic local with a mysterious killer on the loose that actually manages to be deathly dull. The only things that save Code 7, Victim 5 from the bottom of the barrel are a few random set-pieces that I found mildly interesting. This is one to avoid.