Customer Reviews

The Inside Man

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Was hoping other reviews were off, but unfortunately they were right. Not even close to a recommended movie. Or as would be said by submariners, a true "Five finger gagger".

I agree with most of the other reviewers on this one. This is a dreadful, dreary awful movie. With Dennis Hopper in it, I was hoping for more than a B movie. The story line is a good one, a true story about a Russian submarine able to sneak into Norwegian waters. The acting is poor, the characters are predictable. The action star even drives a Trans Am (in Norway non the less). If you like submarine movies, there is about 30 seconds of submarine time in the whole movie. Even the Michael Dudikoff sub movies are better than this one. :)

The movie was satisfactory as far as the plot. The DVD was terrible in the transfer. I've had this movie about six months and have attempted to watch it many times, but never got past the first 15 minutes due to the poor quality of sound and picture. I finally watched it completely and only give it 2 stars for the basic plot which was only satisfactory.

An uknown nuclear submarine conceals iteself in protected waters, Sweden's government along with the United Status must find the enemy. Just when the solution is at hand, a top secret laser designed by Sweden's military is stolen and the lab is destroyed. Now everyone is under suspicion including the Swedish government, the laser inventors, as well as the terrorists. Dennis Hopper is Miller, a United States official assigned to find the laser and get it back - before it's technology falls into the wrong hands.

Dennis Hopper's THE INSIDE MAN (aka "Slagskämpen") is not to be confused with Spike Lee's INSIDE MAN (2006).

This Cold War spy flick is a joint Swedish-British production done in English. It's based on a Swedish best seller about an actual incident: a Soviet sub that's found lurking in Swedish waters by a modified laser.

Here, the laboratory that develops a usable submarine tracking laser is torched and the device stolen. An agent (Ekman) of the Swedish equivalent of the FBI suspects scientist Paul Mandell (Krüger) of the arson/theft, so he plants an operative (Molder) as Mandell's driver. Hopper is a U.S. government official trying to reacquire the laser before the Russians get ahold of it.

Even diehard Dennis fans may find it difficult to sit through this one, and for those who fondly recall Krüger's turn as the model airplane designer who rescues Jimmy Stewart and several other stranded crash victims in THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), you may wonder where his fine acting skills disappeared to.

A real disappointment.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb user poll rating.

(4.4) The Inside Man (Sweden/UK-1984) - Dennis Hopper/Hardy Krüger/Gösta Ekman/Kåre Mölder/David Wilson

Dennis Hopper's THE INSIDE MAN (aka "Slagskämpen") is not to be confused with Spike Lee's INSIDE MAN (2006).

This Cold War spy flick is a joint Swedish-British production done in English. It's based on a Swedish best seller about an actual incident: a Soviet sub that's found lurking in Swedish waters by a modified laser.

Here, the laboratory that develops a usable submarine tracking laser is torched and the device stolen. An agent (Ekman) of the Swedish equivalent of the FBI suspects scientist Paul Mandell (Krüger) of the arson/theft, so he plants an operative (Molder) as Mandell's driver. Hopper is a U.S. government official trying to reacquire the laser before the Russians get ahold of it.

Even diehard Dennis fans may find it difficult to sit through this one, and for those who fondly recall Krüger's turn as the model airplane designer who rescues Jimmy Stewart and several other stranded crash victims in THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), you may wonder where his fine acting skills disappeared to.

A real disappointment.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb user poll rating.

(4.4) The Inside Man (Sweden/UK-1984) - Dennis Hopper/Hardy Krüger/Gösta Ekman/Kåre Mölder/David Wilson

Dennis Hopper's THE INSIDE MAN (aka "Slagskämpen") is not to be confused with Spike Lee's INSIDE MAN (2006).

This Cold War spy flick is a joint Swedish-British production done in English. It's based on a Swedish best seller about an actual incident: a Soviet sub found lurking in Swedish waters by a modified laser.

Here, the laboratory that develops a usable submarine tracking laser is torched and the device stolen. An agent (Ekman) of the Swedish equivalent of the FBI suspects scientist Paul Mandell (Krüger) of the arson/theft, so he plants an operative (Molder) as Mandell's driver. Hopper is a U.S. government official trying to reacquire the laser before the Russians get ahold of it.

Even diehard Dennis fans may find it difficult to sit through this one, and for those who fondly recall Krüger's turn as the model airplane designer who rescues Jimmy Stewart and several other stranded crash victims in THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), you may wonder where his fine acting skills disappeared to.

A real disappointment.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb user poll rating.

(4.4) The Inside Man (Sweden/UK-1984) - Dennis Hopper/Hardy Krüger/Gösta Ekman/Kåre Mölder/David Wilson

As we used to say in the submarine service . . . you get a double punch on your Hurter Card for sitting through this. How did they get Dennis Hopper to sign on for this one? It looks like it was filmed with a camcorder. During the semi-nude scenes I found myself looking for holes in their underwear. I'll give it 2 stars since it was in color and had sound.

This film, set and filmed in Sweden, had the potentials to be a good cold war thriller. After all, they have some good actors, like Dennis Hopper. Unfortunately, the story is not that great and the pace is slow. It's not an awful movie but it's also not as entertaining as it could have been. Nice to see Gösta Ekman and Dennis Hopper together, and Lena Endre, who has since become one of Sweden's most famous actresses, made her film debut in this one.

The movie is something of a curiousity piece and even though I didn't think it was very good, I'm glad I have seen it, and there are cheap DVD editions, so if you're curious about it, go ahead and spend five or six dollars on it, but don't expect too much.