User Reviews

In No Man's Land, Charlie Sheen returns for another action flick about high-stakes car theives, having previously co-starred in Clint Eastwood's high action thriller, 'The Rookie.' But, whereas before he was a cop, here he plays one the primary villain, a wealthy Porsche thief who proves to go too far to protect his interests.

A young D.B. Sweeny is Billy Isle, a rookie cop hired by a Lieutenant (Randy Quaid) to work undercover at a suspected chop shop that deals exclusively in Porsches. His assignement is to track Ted Varrick (Sheen), the wealthy hot shot behind the business, who the Lieutenant suspects is guilty of murdering a cop. However, Billy, after befirending Varrick and often forgetting he is a cop as he embraces the fast times of Porsche stealing and wealthy parties and carefree lifestyle Varrick introduces him to, clouding his judgment of Varrick, who he claims could not possibly be responsible for the cop's death, let alone anyone else's.

But Billy begans to realize Varrick places no limits on how far he's willing to go to protect himself when the undercover operation is jeopardized, exposing high-level police corruption. And after Varrick gets wind of it, the body count starts mounting. Billy's trust of Varrick is tested when he becomes Varrick's next target. Billy's just got to wake up and get real when it comes to Ted.

It is a pretty good story, though initially slow moving. That is, until the Ted Varrick character enters the scene. D.B. Sweeny does a good job with the lead as the impressionable young cop, and Sheen plays his usually monotonous toned hot shot. Often, it is the lengthy big-action car chase scenes that propels through the repetition. Good stuff highly recommended for 80s action fans.

'Law and Order' creator Dick Wolf is the writer and co-producer of this reasonably entertaining movie that gets by thanks to good performances and well done action scenes. At its core is the relationship between a cop and his target, as the former goes undercover in the latter's garage to try to obtain any sort of proof that his new buddy is responsible for the murder of a detective. The trouble, Benjy Taylor (D.B. Sweeney), the cop, realizes that he *enjoys* stealing cars and likes his target, Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) just a little too much. What's more, he finds himself falling for the friends' sister (Lara Harris).

The age of the protagonist (22) does add an interesting wrinkle into the plot: not really that mature, Benjy is young enough that he allows his focus to be blurred, and has to be reminded by an angry supervisor, Vincent Bracey (Randy Quaid) what his mission is supposed to be. Also, what worked best for this viewer was the fact that Benjy and Ted become good enough friends, that, even faced with knowledge about the other, they don't want to believe the worst.

Wolf and director Peter Werner take their time telling this story, but viewers should still take delight in the pulse pounding action scenes and the cars on display (Ted and his crew are especially fond of Porsches.) The two stars do fine work. Sweeney has the right amount of likability and naivety in his role, and Sheen does nice understated work as a guy whom the audience themselves may like enough to have doubts as to Ted being a killer. Quaid delivers an intense performance as the hard driving Bracey. An excellent supporting cast helps matters a lot, although the movie makes an awful waste of M. Emmet Walsh, who only turns up towards the end. (Jenny Gago, too, barely appears despite her prominent billing.) But Bill Duke is good, as is Arlen Dean Snyder as a crooked detective and R.D. Call as a thuggish competitor. Other familiar faces that appear include Linda Shayne, Claude Earl Jones, Florence Schauffler, Guy Boyd, Henry G. Sanders, and Gary Riley. Appearing uncredited are George Dzundza as Uncle Mike and a young Brad Pitt, in one of his earliest films, as a waiter.

Overall, a slick, pleasant diversion.

Seven out of 10.

D.B. Sweeney stars as Benjy Taylor in this late eighties film about an under-cover cop trying to infiltrate and break up a ring of thieves who are stealing cars. He befriends young Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) and begins to slide into the world of fast cars and high-speed thrills. Lara Harris plays Ted's sister Ann who begins to cloud Benjy's judgment when his feelings for her get in the way. "No Man's Land" also stars Randy Quaid as Lieutenant Vincent Bracey.

Whether or not director Peter Werner wanted to make a moral dilemma film, he ended up in a dilemma himself by turning a good idea into an average film, with OK performances from all. The film either needed a more serious approach or more work on characterisation.

Friday, March 8, 1991 - Video

Benjy Taylor is a rookie cop who goes undercover to nab a gang of car thieves led by Ted Varrick.

Taylor becomes too involved and starts to enjoy the thrill and lifestyle of the car thieves, and falls in love with Varrick's sister Ann....

It's the same old story isn't it? you get approached in a bar by Randy quaid with a mullet, and the next thing, you're working for Mac from Predator, who asks you to pick up Topper Harley!! Surely....you must be 'winning'....

It's one of those films that were made in the late eighties, that was all style and no substance, and the story is as old as the hills.

Cop goes undercover, becomes best friends with the main guy, falls in love with someone close to the main guy, lets his new life take over him.......hold on....Doesn't that sound like Point Break?? it does sound a lot like the Swayze classic, but believe me, this is far inferior than that movie.

Sheen looks like he cannot be bothered to mess up his hair, and Sweeney looks like he is fighting a losing battle, he knows in every scene he is being overshadowed by Sheen.

It leads to nowhere, there isn't going on in the films narrative, and the final third is as predictable as Saturday going into Sunday.

Mundane at best.

I guess the best way to describe "No Man's Land" is to say it's an '80s "The Fast and the Furious" (only easier to stomach). Charlie Sheen is the big bad purveyor of stolen Porsches. D.B. Sweeney is the rookie cop tasked with infiltrating the organization and nailing Sheen. Sweeney's an off-hours mechanic, so he fits right in at the chop shop, even cozying up to Sheen's sister.

Both actors are fresh0faced, though Sheen has the swagger to pull off the bored rich kid who steals cars act. Sweeney, on the other hand, is so baby-faced that he looks more like the starting high school quarterback than any police officer.

What's peculiar about Sheen's side of the story is that Sweeney is almost welcomed into his family with open arms. In no time, they're great friends, going clothes shopping, and Sheen practically gives his sister away to this grease monkey he didn't know three weeks ago. I dunno, maybe I've seen too many cop-who-cagily-burrows-into-the-enemy's- camp, but this just seemed deceptively easy.

There are a couple decent car chases that keep things moving, although the proceedings are sluggish, overall. Penned by "Law & Order" impresario Dick Wolf, the movie has that look and feel of an episode of "Miami Vice", but doesn't measure up to most of the better ones.

5.5/10

This is a fun film with Charlie Sheen playing a guy who likes to steal cars. He gets involved with a guy he doesn't know is an undercover cop. There are some cool scenes in this film and the music is great.

I had some fun with this film and it reminds you of how great some shoot out scenes can be

I recommend this film for fans of Charlie

Great fun and direction. I watched this on MGM last night and enjoyed it

Charlie was great in these roles at this age for example Platoon and Wall St

He is a better dramatic actor than people give him credit for

The eighties might be considered a fairly relaxed era for movies. So many classic films come out of the eighties and they are ripe with sex, materialistic lust, violence, bad language, and the ultimate in cool. No Man's Land, despite a rather dull title, is exactly what the eighties genre is all about. Sleek cars (the Porsche) fast women, cool guys, guns, suits, and basically chock full of testosterone. This film is exactly what Fast and The Furious or Gone In Sixty Seconds was years later. Although No Man's Land has a fairly stereotypical storyline, the cop goes undercover to bust a car thieving ring and becomes entranced with the sweet lifestyle, something makes this different. It might be the cast who all work really well together without really giving any truly outstanding performances, it's a fast paced action film with an incredible car chase scene right at the climax and it's just a good time. It's not that will rake in the Oscars but at the same time you'll just feel pumped up watching it.

Charlie Sheen...king of The Brat Pack, some might say. He was at the top of his game going into No Man's Land following Platoon and shortly thereafter Wall Street and Young Guns, and Major League. The guy was big in his day. In this film he plays bad guy, smooth talking businessman Ted Varrick. Varrick is so cool that you barely notice his illegal activities. Sheen is slick and easy to watch and commands a screen presence for his young age. And he's actually playing a grown up which is always a good move for a young actor trying to break into adult roles. He is very good as Varrick. D.B. Sweeney plays undercover rookie cop Benjy Taylor. Now Sweeney has done a bit of character acting although he was fairly new out of the gate when he filmed this one but I didn't think he was quite as good as someone stronger could have been in the role but he does alright. He tries to come across as the bad boy and never quite gets there. He's too soft but still he's likable and you can relate to him as the hero who gets too deep in with Varrick. Sheen and Sweeney do share some decent chemistry on screen together, which makes for some truly likable scenes and a killer ending. Lara Harris is Sweeney's love interest and Varrick's younger sister. She does a decent job although a little quiet for her role and her and Sheen seem to have too much sexual chemistry to be brother and sister which comes across as creepy at times but she also has decent chemistry with Sweeney although again he's not much of a bad boy like they try to portray him. Randy Quaid plays a small role as Sweeney's boss who sends him undercover. Quaid plays a tough as nails Lieutenant who seems to only yell and scream most of the time which is unfortunate because Quaid could have added a lot to the cast.

As I mentioned before one of the absolute highlights of the film is the car chase scenes, one in particular at the height of the film. Sweeney behind the wheel, Sheen in the car with him and rival mobsters on their heels but there is plenty of action surrounding that chase. Gun fights, violent beatings and an intriguing underworld look at the parties, the women, the drugs and the stealing of the cars. I can't believe this film doesn't get more credit for being a classic eighties film because it truly is very entertaining and I only happened to come across it in my local video store and I thought it looked a little like a buddy cop film so I went for it and at times it does have that feel despite being on the other side of the law. Sheen and Sweeney hold their own and hold your attention and a decent story to go along with it. Moonlighting director Peter Werner establishes a deep friendship between them making the climax all the more thrilling. This one is a sure fire eighties hit!! 8/10