I Come In Peace (1990) exists somewhere between the maximalist genre spectacles of Predator 2 (1990) and the sleazy sci-fi take on the buddy cop movie of the underrated The Hidden (1987). I Come In Peace deals in a mix of macho posturing and high octane violence that doesn’t correlate around a social or political theme, but rather explores the extremes of the genres that the film dabbles in. As a pure, unadulterated spectacle of operatic violence I Come In Peace more than succeeds.
The film follows a roguish narcotics officer in Houston named Caine (Dolph Lundgren) whose current case sees him entangled in the exploits of a drug dealing alien (Matthias Hues). Caine is forced to team-up with a by-the-book G-Man (Brian Benben) to uncover the mystery of the alien’s harvesting of human endorphins and stop the alien’s killing spree. I Come In Peace combines the humor of an odd couple pairing with the heightened action of films like The Terminator (1984) well enough to develop the characters in the film beyond their obvious archetypes.
Although it was not intended to be, I Come In Peace can be read as a darkly comic satire of the War On Drugs in the eighties. The homicidal alien represents the intangible, unknown forces that the War On Drugs was aimed at in South America. Lundgren’s Dirty Harry-type cop likewise represents an aspect of that political agenda, epitomizing the hyper-masculine ideals of American law enforcement. When taken as such, I Come In Peace sees the familiar gestures of the War On Drugs rhetoric and narratives executed in broad, bold, and campy strokes that subtly deconstruct that politically conservative set of ideologies.
But there’s little to suggest that filmmaker Craig R. Baxley intended to make I Come In Peace a political provocation. Baxley, who has specialized in low-budget genre entertainments for the bulk of his career, is more of craftsman than an auteur. The pleasure principal of I Come In Peace is very clearly rooted in the white-knuckle set pieces that Baxley directs with great verve and ingenuity; inviting comparisons to the films of Michael Winner.
Whether or not one finds value in I Come In Peace is entirely dependent upon one’s taste in action movies. I Come In Peace is an explosive adventure full of totally inspired and freaky little details that help make it a one of a kind entry in the action movie genre. It’s a great alternative to better known holiday action movies like Die Hard (1988) that have been so played out over the years during the holiday season. If “extreme” and “nutso” are things one looks for in a Christmas movie, then I Come In Peace gets my highest recommendation.
