- I Come in Peace
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I Come in Peace 
Promotional film posterDirected by Craig R. Baxley Produced by Jeff Young Written by Jonathan Tydor
Leonard Maas Jr.
David Koepp
John KampsStarring Dolph Lundgren
Brian Benben
Betsy Brantley
Matthias Hues
Jay Bilas
Jim Haynie
David Ackroyd
Sam AndersonMusic by Jan Hammer Cinematography Mark Irwin Editing by Mark Helfrich Distributed by Triumph Releasing Corporation (US) Release date(s) 28 September 1990 Running time 91 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $ 8,000,000 I Come in Peace (produced and released outside North America as Dark Angel) is a 1990 science fiction action thriller feature film about a rule-breaking vice cop who becomes involved in the investigation of a number of mysterious drug-related murders on the streets of Houston, Texas. The film was directed by Craig R. Baxley, and stars Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley and David Ackroyd.
The shooting and international title is Dark Angel; it was planned to be released as such in America (which had a late release) but was changed to I Come in Peace because of two other movies entitled The Dark Angel (from 1925 and 1935), according to executive producer Mark Damon (in a 1993 interview with UK magazine Impact) who preferred the original title.
Contents
Plot
Houston cop Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) does not let the rules of police procedure prevent him pursuing his mission to wipe out the White Boys, a gang of white collar drug dealers who killed his partner while Caine was waylayed stopping a convenience store robbery.
The White boys disguise their aberrant narcotics trafficking behind rows of expensive luxury sports cars, executive level jobs, and flashy designer suits. Led by the vicious but urbane Victor Manning, the White Boys operate above direct accusation but not suspicion. Law enforcement knows they are dirty, but they cannot prove it. Caine is determined to bring them down.
Caine’s superior is tired of his unusual and less-than-proper tactics. Caine's girlfriend, coroner Diane Pallone (Betsy Brantley), wants him to make a commitment to their relationship.
When the White Boys steal a shipment of heroin from a federal evidence repository, they kill and injure numerous people by blowing up the facility with a powerful bomb to conceal their involvement. This brings the attention of the FBI which becomes involved in Caine's vendetta against the White Boys. Caine is paired with a by-the-book partner, FBI agent Arwood "Larry" Smith (Brian Benben). They investigate the drug theft and subsequent murder of several key White Boys soldiers. Smith wants Caine to follow official investigative procedure, but Caine does not change his ways. He disregards Smith's interference and begins to suspect that the Feds are investigating more than the White Boys' activities.
Caine’s instincts soon prove right; there is more to this matter than meets the eye. The first clue is the murder weapon used in the White Boys’ massacre: a hyper-fast, super-sharp, deadly vibrating disk like nothing Caine or Smith has ever seen. The second is a series of drug-related killings that have Diane—and everyone else—very puzzled. The corpses are full of heroin, but the cause of death is not drug overdose. Caine and Smith do not follow the department manual in their pursuit of answers. They end up on the trail of Talec (Matthias Hues), a vicious extraterrestrial drug dealer.
Talec shoots his victims full of drugs and then uses otherworldly technology to extract endorphins from their brains, synthesizing them into a substance to be peddled to addicts on his home planet. He is being pursued by an alien cop named Azeck (Jay Bilas), who warns Caine and Smith that if Talec is not stopped, Talec will pave the way for thousands of intergalactic drug thugs to come to Earth and slaughter its population. Putting their differences aside, Smith and Caine team up to pursue Talec.
Home video release
After the film's theatrical run, it was released on videocassette and laserdisc in 1991 by Media Home Entertainment. Region 2 Widescreen DVD edition is available in Europe, Japan and Australia.
To this day, it had never been released on Region 1 DVD (United States) but an MOD (Manufatured On Demand) widescreen edition from MGM Classics Collection is announced (on Screen Archives Entertainment's website) to be available mid-September 2011 under its original title, "Dark Angel".
References
External links
- I Come in Peace at the Internet Movie Database
- Dark Angel/I Come In Peace at DOLPH - the ultimate guide
- I Come in Peace at Rotten Tomatoes
- Washington Post review
- Deseret News review
- Spinning Image review
- Moria review
- Time Out review
Works directed by Craig R. Baxley 1980s Action Jackson (1988)1990s I Come in Peace (1990) · Stone Cold (1991) · Raven - Return of the Black Dragons (1992) · Trucker 2 (1992) · Sudden Fury (1993) · Deep Red (1994) · Undercover Sarah (1994) · The Avenging Angel (1995) · Shadow-Ops (1995) · Twisted Desire (1996) · Twilight Man (1996) · Dark Instinct (1997) · Silencing Mary (1998) · Chameleon II: Death Match (1999) · Storm of the Century (1999) · A Touch of Hope (1999)2000s Rose Red (2002) · The Glow (2002) · Sniper 2 (2002) · The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2003) · Kingdom Hospital (2004) · Left Behind: World at War (2005) · The Triangle (2005) · The Lost Room (2006) · Aces 'N' Eights (2008)Categories:- American films
- English-language films
- 1990 films
- 1990s action films
- 1990s thriller films
- 1990s science fiction films
- Alien visitation films
- American action thriller films
- American science fiction action films
- Triumph Films films
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