The motto over at Fifty/Fifty’s production house ought to be: “Cannon Pictures: All the grace of a howitzer.” Part action-adventure about a couple of mercenaries reluctantly helping the CIA to overthrow a Southeast Asian despot and part action-adventure satire of the very genre it portrays, Fifty/Fifty is about as uncomfortable a fence straddler you’re ever likely to see. The comedy spoofs would work a bit better if the adventure half of the story were not so grisly in its detail of bloody ambushes, an attempted rape and a body blown to smithereens in slow motion (“all the grace of a howitzer”). There’s a genuine people’s revolution going on in the jungle and our heroes’ destinies lead them right into it. They enjoy (and it’s presumed the audience does, as well) the kind of male camaraderie that involves calling each other insulting names and competing for the same woman. But their goofiness is in direct conflict with the dire situations they find themselves in. Fifty/Fifty is hardly an even deal.
This article appears in March 5 • 1993 (Cover).
