When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.
Acting
Rutger Hauer's debut—pure charismatic menace as Wulfgar.
Direction
Opening sequence genuinely shocking for 1981.
Costume
Stallone's disguises are unhinged commitment to craft.
Director
Bruce Malmuth
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hauer was cast 48 hours before shooting; his first English-language role. He rewrote much of his own dialogue because the original terrorist motivation was 'basically nothing.'
The film began production before the Iran hostage crisis, then became accidentally topical. Studio panicked and chopped 40 minutes, including Stallone's backstory as a Vietnam vet—which explains why his trauma feels weirdly present but unexplained.
US
