Ok, hands up if you thought Michael Biehn should have a much bigger career? It's not that he's been out of work, (he's appeared in 86 productions, after all) but I just thought of him as a bigger actor than he has become. Like most genre fans, I first saw him in an unforgettable performance in The Terminator. He was totally believable as the love struck time warrior, Kyle Reese. His delivery of the lines below, alone were energetic and spot on. He could have overracted this part but he kept it on track.
"Listen and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be
bargained with, it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or
remorse, or fear, and it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are
dead."
I next saw Biehn in the James Cameron action blockbuster Aliens. Here he played the sympathetic Colonial Marine, Dwayne Hicks. Once again, Biehn's gritty charisma showed on screen and he was a likeable character.
Biehn was hired by James Cameron once again, in the underwater drama The Abyss, with Biehn playing against recent type and playing Lt Hiram Coffey. Whilst Coffey wasn't a bad guy in the traditional sense, he wasn't the hero that we'd see Bien play in Terminator and Aliens. Both Navy Seals and K2 should have been bigger films than they were. Navy Seals had promise but the overall delivery left a lot to be desired, whereas K2 was a good film that not enough people saw. Biehn would be mercilessly cut out of the Theatrical Cut of Terminator 2 which was a shame as there was a tender link to the original from the scene.
It was from 1992 onwards when Biehn seemed to disappear from the kind of blockbuster movies that I thought he belonged in. He played a memorable parts in Tombstone and Michael Bay's The Rock but then tended to appear in more low budget movies and kept very bust doing TV shows like the entertaining The Magnificent Seven.
I next saw Biehn in the fun Rodriguez segment of the Grindhouse movie Planet Terror.
After showing he has prowess behind the camera as well as in front, by directing The Victim, the Biehn is back in what looks like an intriguing post-apocalyptic movie:
The Divide
Director: Xavier (Frontiers, Hitman) Gans
Starring: Michael Biehn, Lauren German, Rosanna Arquette, Milo Ventimiglia, Courtney B Vance, Aston Holmes
Synopsis:
As an onslaught of nuclear missiles from an unknown
assailant falls on New York City, a small group of tenants and the
caretaker of an apartment building manage to find refuge in the
building’s bunker-like basement. But as the days and nights slowly tick
by, their sanctuary starts to resemble something more akin to a living
hell. Adding further terror to the situation, the shelter is
unexpectedly attacked by mysterious armed assailants wearing hazmat
suits, their motives unknown but their merciless method of assault all
too clear. This new threat forces the trapped victims to unite against a
common enemy but it is a unity that proves to be short-lived.
With little chance of rescue and only unspeakable horrors and almost
certain death awaiting them on the outside, the survivors slowly begin
to descend into madness as food and water supplies dwindle, tensions
flare and self-preservation becomes the only option. The ensuing power
struggle leads to physical, psychological and sexual torment among the
group as each member loses touch with his and her humanity. Despite
this, one individual holds on to the hope of some form of salvation
beyond the thick concrete walls of what may soon become nothing more
than a tomb.
You wouldn't want to get caught underground with this lot!
The Divide is in cinemas from 20th April 2012 before hitting home entertainment on 14th May 2012. A review is coming soon.
Creepy experiments on people, or a revolutionary way of giving up smoking?
Something's got her spooked. Maybe it was getting kicked off Hawaii Five-O
Too little sleep or is something viral going around. Maybe it's Micheal's cigarette smoke. See below:
Boy, does that man like a big fat stogie!
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