MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Executscan Expected more

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

TheLittleSongbird 'Raw Deal' is for me somewhat of a tough film to rate and review. It is not a great, or even a good, film and is as close to ridiculous as Arnold Schwarznegger films get. At the same time, it's difficult to be too hard on 'Raw Deal' because there is some entertainment value.Let's start with the good things. Schwarznegger is not the greatest of actors and never has been, but he has always had a hugely charismatic screen presence, a larger-than-life likability and a knack for action sequences. One gets all of this from his performance in 'Raw Deal', even with some expressionless and moments where he does struggle with lines he is immensely watchable and it is very vintage Schwarznegger. Generally it is the cast that come off best. Robert Davi is a rightly hiss-able bad guy and Kathryn Harrold has charm and sass. Sam Wanamaker and Paul Shenar make much of relatively little, they bring colourful menace to their stereotypical roles despite (particularly Shenar) being underused.There are a few fun one-liners here and there and some excitement in the action. Can't say that on the whole as individual components the script and action were great, but the entertainment was there. The soundtrack is cool too and the scenery has atmosphere.On the other hand, the story is not just ridiculous (even by Schwarznegger film standards) and generic but has too many scenes that feel like filler and either drag the story out or confuse it. A few nice one-liners here and there, but the script is quite weak and there is a lot of unintentional humour and next to no care developing the characters in a film littered with stereotypes (only Kaminski has any kind of development).Action-wise, 'Raw Deal' is hardly amateurish and has some exciting moments but too much of it is too routine and a huge amount of suspension of disbelief is needed. Although the ending is certainly memorable, more so than most of the stuff before it, it's for all the wrong reasons. Visually, it has a low-budget made-for-TV-production-like look to it. Ed Lauter is pretty wasted and while the direction is competent it's never more than that.In conclusion, watchable but doesn't feel cooked all the way through. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Caleb Zero This movie started out great. An awesome stunt scene, and some great Arnie acting. I liked the husband and wife dynamic in the beginning too. I think thats something you don't regularly get in an Arnie movie.The problem is, once Arnold starts making his way into his mission, the story gets really boring. Sure there are some good moments in the story, and there is some great stunt work, and explosions, but I didn't relate to Arnie's character, once he started to turn heel.The bit that really perplexed me was to fix the gangster problem they're having, Arnie just kills them all, instead of gathering evidence and arresting the big guys. I love a good nonsensical action movie, where killing a bunch of guys trumps reason, but these guys didn't do anything to Arnie. He just snapped. They didn't hurt his wife, they didn't threaten him in any way, he just snapped. Only then did they realise he was a "good guy".I think it could have been a good movie, and for the stunt work alone, its worth a watch, but over all, it was kind've a sh*tty movie.

slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Arnie movie in order, I come to Raw Deal.Plot In A Paragraph: Mark Kaminski (Arnie) a former FBI agent turned small town sheriff, agrees to help the FBI chief infiltrate the Chicago mafia.Following 4 movies in two years Arnie only had Raw Deal released in 1986. I don't know if this movie has any fans here. But I am not one.Arnies acting seems to have gone backwards. There is none of the charisma shown in Commando, maybe if there was, it wouldn't be as bad. But Arnie plays it very straight, no hint of tongue in cheek. And it's to the movies detriment. The Oaks biggest asset is his charisma. Here he can't even answer a telephone convincingly, and the less said about how he awkwardly places a coffee cup on the table the better!! He just comes off as any other poor actor with an impressive physique. In fact this role could have been played by any such actor. In fact it probably should have, Arnie struggles with the dialogue, and it makes him look bad, throw in some unconvincing fight scenes and it's not a good watch. At least in amongst the camp cheesy fun of Commando, the shootout at the gravel pit would have fit in, here it is awful. Ed Lauter is wasted, Sam Wannamkaer is never convincing as a ruthless mobster. Even Robert Davi (normally a perfectly fine bad guy) is poor here, The love interest is ridiculous, The rest of cast is rounded out by people who just seem to have been the cheapest alternative. Arnies long time friend Sven-Ole Thorsen turns up as Bearded Bodyguard after roles in both Conan movies and Red Sonja. Raw Deal only gets two mentions in Arnie's autobiography Total Recall. The first is "In the months before the wedding, I was busy promoting Commando and shooting Raw Deal - the action movie I'd promised to make for Dino De Laurentis- and getting ready to start Predator" And the second is when he is talking about the movie Total Recall, how De Laurentis had the rights to it, but wouldn't cast him. The first time he tried to make it, he cast Richard Dreyfuss, and when it went into development hell, he left. Then he he tries again, and this time he gave Patrick Swayze the role. He says "I was peed Dino didn't give me the part, he knew I wanted it. Instead he gave me Raw Deal." Amazingly Raw Deal was the 54th highest grossing movie of 1986 with $26 million at the domestic box office. Excluding Red Sonja (because he refused to do any promotional work) this would be the lowest grossing movie with Arnie in a lead role for a long time. In a quirky twist of fate, this movies failure, sent De Laurentis into bankruptcy and he had to sell the rights to Total Recall, which Arnie convinced Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna at Carolco to buy as a project for him. Just remember one thing kids "You shouldn't drink and bake"

willcundallreview Rating-4/10Raw Deal is an action movie fuelled by death, thrill pumping fighting and some pretty Arnie like lines+moves. The movie itself is kind of enjoyable if you take it for what it is and don't poke too many holes, but lets get serious for a moment, this movie isn't no masterpiece, this is pretty poor and one movie that has some big problems once looked into properly. It is fun though no doubt, the kind of film an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan looks forward to all week long.The story kind of works, and I mean that, it is pretty thrilling and you generally don't know what's going to happen. Now that doesn't mean the story is perfect far from it, it has a lot of parts where guys sit around talking about mob stuff, the kind of thing that in film, gets just a little boring. It has it's action quota as you would imagine, the blood is really fake but no matter, the body count is high and the way some of them die, well that kind of stuff would work in a comedy.Now Arnie isn't so bad here, he doesn't hit his heights as an action man hero but certainly gives off a good vibe when fighting all those bad guys. I think if you want real dramatic action, don't look here, leaving the supporting cast alone a minute, Schwarzenegger's cigar chomping under cover persona is insane, I mean he just looks suspicious, and then the way he delivers his lines, just not so good in that department. The cast isn't so bad, they support well they really do but the kind of basic plot coupled with bad directing and writing make this a hard one to turn into gold, I did feel Paul Shenar gives a good go at it, but that really isn't enough.John Irvin the man behind this movie shouldn't be ashamed of what he made, after all this movie is not detestable, just way under average. The major flaws are laid out before you in one, a script that really does nothing, and two directing that makes the people fall down in the most ridiculous ways. So what if your looking for the positives, I felt the technical side was pretty good, some nice stunts performed and there's one particular explosion that is very well made.Would I say don't watch this?, no I would fully recommend this, and to anyone even if you think action isn't for you, give it a go and take in the wonderful sight of an Austrian mafia member, just good fun. I think in all honesty this gives what you think it will, can please some but not others and this will not give you good drama so stay clear if you like a lot of that. The reviews are not pretty when it comes to this movie either, I don't really know what most people who have seen this think but I couldn't help feel that many will like this, but especially action movie junkies.Overall a movie that is not so kind in the career of Arnold Schwarznegger, but also one that I don't think deserves to go on his "Worst of Career" slideshow. This is good old action, thrills, maybe not so many car chases but there are some, and shoot outs, oh boy this has many of them. This even tries it's hand at emotion, I mean you'll have to see what I mean but it does, it's kind of funny really, because the next minute, Arnie's blowing someone 10 feet in the air with a pump shotgun.