Financed in the US and shot in Greece by Nico Mastorakis, director of the infamous video nasty ISLAND OF DEATH, HIRED TO KILL ought to be a lot more fun than it actually is. Hell, it's a film that stars muscle-bound Brian Thompson playing a secret agent playing a gay fashion designer, who must take his crew of femme fatales (read: '80s bimbos) to a fictional country and overthrow an evil dictator there, played by an absolutely paralytic Oliver Reed! How can that not be fun? The answer is that, although this is an action film in the COMMANDO mould, there's a dearth of action for the entire first hour and whatnot, and the shoot-out climax doesn't really cut the mustard either.So how does this work? As an uneasy comedy for the most part. Thompson, usually cast as a heavy in the likes of COBRA, is actually one of the highlights, having fun spoofing his usual character and going along with the gay stuff. He's supported by a female cast who may not have much acting talent between them, but sure are pretty, in a sun-bleached BAYWATCH way, at least. Best of all are the appearance of three old-time actors hamming it up in various roles: there's an ancient-looking Jose Ferrer playing a rebel leader, George Kennedy as the slimy American who finances the operation, and best of all Oliver Reed as the bad guy. By this time, Reed's face was a permanent blotchy red thanks to his years of alcohol abuse, and it's kind of sad to see him in this way. Nevertheless, his scenes are fun, especially the homosexual interlude between Reed and Thompson, which has to be seen to be believed! Sadly, there's a lot of boredom here amid the cheese, and efforts to throw in some topless nudity don't really work. The action scenes are ineptly staged and poorly edited, and there's an almost total lack of bloodshed as well. The Greek locations look nice, though, and kudos for the explosions and helicopter stunts at the climax: the latter saw one stuntman killed in a helicopter crash. HIRED TO KILL is a piece of fluff, badly staged, and often unintentionally funny; B-movie fans only need apply.

There's plenty of eye-candy here (though Mastorakis had the brilliant idea to kill off the gorgeous babe Barbara Lee Alexander halfway through), and Brian Thomson gives a funny performance, playing the usual "macho" stereotype and spoofing it at the same time. As an action movie, however, "Hired to Kill" is unpretentious but absurd: there is no real action until the last 30 minutes...then there is one of those "Commando"-type endings where the inept bad guys are essentially just stunt men waiting for their cue to "die". The plot is totally anachronistic - brave commandos (preferably American) rescuing a revolutionary leader and overthrowing the local dictator of some banana republic - but the funny part is that, because the film was shot in Corfu, Greece, it was impossible to set it in the usual unnamed Latin American banana republic, so Mastorakis created a fictional Mediterranean country named Cypra (!!!). Hmmm, I wonder which real country's name he was trying oh-so-subtly to avoid...By the way, is this the official low point of Oliver Reed's career? (probably not) (*1/2)

I love these old action movies with bad actors and all the cliches, they're simply just so funny. If you liked showdown in little tokyo or any of Arnolds action movies, then you'll like this :) Too bad this one wasn't shown in cinemas and I had to rent the DVD. So if you have a good sounds system and a thing for old action movies, then GET THIS ONE!!!

This is a movie with cult potential.Brian Thompson(in a rare leading role.)is the misogynistic soldier of fortune called on to lead an army of seven beautiful fashion models/ mercenaries to rescue an imprisoned leader from a despotic regime.Good supporting cast in the shape of the late Oliver Reed and Jose Ferrar.It also features a gay kiss scene(of sorts) between Reed and Thompson!The dialogue is cliched, but the action is good.The girls look as if they escaped from a Robert Palmer video.Good voyeuristic fun!