THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 46 lines
THE VILLAIN shouts exclamatory queries like, ``Hey, Solo. How do you like your ribs - regular or extra crispy?''
That's about the level of the wannabe pithy one-liners in ``Solo,'' the low-budget actioner that borrows liberally from ``Frankenstein,'' ``Terminator II,'' ``Blade Runner'' and ``The Magnificent Seven.'' This is a movie that is so unoriginal that its only real attraction is in seeing how many other movie rip-offs you can spot. Watch closely, then use a little imagination, and you'll spot borrowings from ``Apocalypse Now,'' ``Shane'' (the final scene) and ``Star Trek'' (Solo as Spock?''). You'll be more likely, though, to begin watching your watch.
Mario Van Peebles, buffed to the max, plays a bald android who is the ultimate fighting machine. He can do flips and gymnastic things that defied such stiff beings as Frankenstein and the Terminator but he, like them, has a touch of a heart - down deep. He hates killing.
When he electronically snoops and hears that he may be terminated, he goes AWOL and ends up helping a group of folksy peasants who are being bullied by guys in Che T shirts with tommy guns.
Solo may have the same hair style, and sympathies, as Yul Brynner in ``The Magnificent Seven'' but he talks like Tarzan. As his name suggests, he goes it alone, fighting for good - just like the Lone Ranger and the Phantom and all those other do-gooders of yore.
The villain, played by William Sadler (who had a similar assignment in `Die Hard II''), grimaces a lot but is gleeful about his assignment to retrieve the AWOL fighting machine. He says things like, ``Wake up, and smell the hydraulic fluid.''
Down deep, ``Solo'' is really superficial. ILLUSTRATION: COLUMBIA PICTURES
Mario Van Peebles stars as ``Solo'' in this sci-fi thriller.
MOVIE REVIEW
``Solo''
Cast: Mario Van Peebles, William Sadler, Barry Corbin
Director: Norberto Barba
MPAA rating: PG-13 (bare electronic innards)
Mal's rating: * by CNB