Red Heat [Blu-ray]

Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi. A highly disciplined Russian detective and a fearless but undisciplined Chicago cop team up. 1988/color/106 min/R.

After scoring a hit with the Eddie Murphy-Nick Nolte cop thriller i48 Hours/i, director Walter Hill returned to the buddy formula with this half-ridiculous, half-invigorating action flick about humorless Russian cop Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger). He follows a drug dealer from Moscow to Chicago, where he's matched up with city cop Art Ridzik (James Belushi), whose work ethic is considerably more relaxed. Most of the humor revolves around Danko's grumpy reaction to good ol' American capitalism, while Ridzik urges him to chill out. iRed Heat/i is not bad as action comedies go, but only if you get into the absurd spirit of this predictable fare, in which the unlikely buddies get to wisecrack and act casually while mayhem erupts everywhere they go. Incidentally, iRed Heat/i was the first American film allowed to shoot in Moscow's Red Square. i--Jeff Shannon/i