Craig R. Baxley
I Come In Peace

It's 1990. Dolph Lundgren has already starred in 'Rocky IV' (1985) in the role (the only one) that would deliver him to the history of cinema. In 1987, he played the part of He-Man in a film adaptation of 'Masters of the Universe.' A forgettable episode. Almost shameful. After this unhappy experience, he would essentially devote the rest of his career to mostly taking on leading roles in action films from second-tier productions. An endeavor that nonetheless made him somewhat popular and known worldwide.

It's 1990 when one of the cult sci-fi films from that period is released. The movie is titled 'I Come In Peace' (the Italian version is titled 'Arma non convenzionale') and it's directed by Craig R. Baxley.

Dolph Lundgren is the protagonist of the film, a police officer named Jack Craine, who is part of the anti-narcotics division and, along with his partner, has organized a plan to catch the main leaders of a dangerous gang, the so-called 'White Boys,' who control drug trafficking in the city. However, their plan is foiled by an unexpected and unpredictable event: an alien named Talec (Matthias Huec), who bursts onto the scene, kills everyone present, and steals the drug shipment.

The circumstances of the events, however, appear obscure to both Jack Craine and the entire police force and the FBI, who decide on a joint operation in which Jack is paired with the pedantic and formal federal agent Arwood Smith (Brian Benben). As is typical in the genre, the two have diametrically opposed personalities and working methods, and initially, they don't get along, until they finally realize that collaboration is the only way to try and solve the case.

In the meantime, the investigation proceeds without leading anywhere, while Talec, who has been followed to Earth by an agent from his planet, the police officer Azeck, who is willing to do anything to stop him, carries out his plan. He is, in fact, a feared drug dealer on his planet but uninterested in heroin; he administers it in lethal doses to his victims from whom he subsequently extracts endorphins directly from their brains using a special technology. The endorphins, which are neurotransmitters with analgesic and physiological properties, are therefore Talec's true objective, as he intends to gather a large load to then sell the 'drug' on his planet.

When Jack and Agent Smith discover the truth, they find themselves alone against everyone (the police, the FBI, the White Boys) in an unequal showdown against Talec, who, besides having superhuman strength, also possesses some very particular weapons that make him the worst possible adversary.

Characterized by noir tones recurring in many films of the genre during those years, 'I Come In Peace' is undoubtedly a true cult film and a unique work within the science fiction genre, positioned halfway between a certain kind of sci-fi typical of those years ('Terminator') mixed with police genre films (these are the years of 'Lethal Weapon'...), while the action scenes and the overall irony (Talec indeed recalls the 'Three Storms') could very well remind someone of 'Big Trouble in Little China' by the great John Carpenter. Even the soundtrack seems to aim to replicate the same sound.

What can I say? This film has been unjustly forgotten. Blame it on the low-budget production. Blame it on the fact that some things perhaps only made sense during those years. Yet, if you go watch it, you should consider that the typical schemes I mentioned a little earlier are all applied to the letter, and the film holds up; it has a plot nonetheless sustained by robust foundations and actually still works excellently today.