I watched it a few nights ago, also for the first time.
It has some excellent action set pieces, complete with nice wide shots, real explosions, and zero CGI. When it comes to action, as the saying goes, they don't make 'em like they used to.
Chuck is good here, with a kind of understated charm and charisma, though I would've liked to have seen more hand-to-fighting. Richard Lynch is very good as the villain.
My major complaint, however, is that the plot needs work. I don't mean that it's a simple story or anything like that. I mean that Chuck just randomly shows up wherever the terrorists are, over and over, with no indication of how he knew where to find them. The scenes just don't have the necessary connective tissue to make a complete story. Also, the terrorists' motives and plan were pretty murky.
I think this is an example of a film that could perhaps benefit from a modern remake. The downside is that Chuck is too old to reprise his role. The upside though is that the writer could flesh out the story a little more and make the plot coherent. If a remake were ever done though, I would just have to INSIST on practical action sequences with little or no discernible CGI.
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