Raw Deal (1986)

 

Looking for some straightforward revenge tale? 'Raw Deal' has got you covered. It's not Arnold Grand Cru but as is always the case with the man, even his lesser films are still a hoot to watch. This was the last film Arnold did with Dino de Laurentiis, as he wanted out of the contract and sometimes it does show a bit, as you can feel he is going through the motions, but it has one heck of a shootout near the end that redeems the slower pace.

Arnold is Mark Kaminsky, a former FBI-agent who got 'demoted' due to excessive violence and who is now sheriff in some backwater town. He is bored to death and his wife doesn't help, as she is constantly lamenting the fact that they don't live in New York anymore. When the son of a former friend and colleague at the bureau gets killed by mobsters, this man turns to Mark to help bring down the mob boss Luigi Patrovita and thus avenge the son. Of course Mark agrees, because he wants some more excitement. 

Just a little snag: Mark doesn't know this operation is actually illegal, as his colleague is financing this himself. 

Because Kaminsky is a charismatic sod, he easily bluffs his way into the organisation, even if one of the main henchmen (a once again gleefully evil Robert Davi) doesn't trust him one bit. Things get more complicated when he comes into contact with a gorgeous woman with debts to Patrovita and he instantly takes a liking to her and also when he is forced to shoot his colleague when it transpires that Kaminsky isn't what he claims to be. 

Oh, and of course there's a mole in the justice department somewhere, because how could there not be one?

This all makes Mark mad, and so he goes ahead to singlehandedly destroy Patrovita's organisation with maximum destructive intent. 

For the most part, 'Raw Deal' is fairly slow and doesn't have the usual degree of entertaining violence a lot of the other Schwarzenegger vehicles have. It is more low key, yet it tries to build up more of a 'Godfather'-vibe. This isn't the strong suit of this project. The story is painfully predictable and the sort-of love interest angle doesn't amount to much, except some strange sort of resolution near the end. Also funny how Kaminsky never faces any consequences for going outside of his jurisdiction, but who cares, right? We came here to see Arnold kick ass. 

Not a lot of that, either. 

Is it all a dud? Not really. Arnold is enjoyable as always and Robert Davi is a fun villain because he knows how to be slimy and creepy and enjoy it. The final shootout is pretty spot on and one of the better ones of this era. It's relatively small in scale, but feels personal. I mean, sure: Arnold is pretty much invincible at this point and can even aim in a totally different direction than the targets he wants to hit and still hit them, but it was the 80s for a reason. 

Must-see? Nope, not by a mile. But if you like Arnold, 80s action and have some time left you could do worse than watching it.