There is no denying that the 80s and 90s were the prime decades for the action film with one of the biggest action stars of the time being Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now he is back in theaters in his iconic Terminator role so what better time to revisit another of his classic action films. In 1988 he teamed up with director Walter Hill for Red Heat co-starring James Belushi nd now Lionsgate is bringing it home to 4K.

 

Red Heat follows a mutually uneasy alliance that is formed between the stern Captain Ivan Danko of the Moscow Police and his American equivalent, the Chicago Detective Art Ridzik when the latter captures Viktor Rostavili, a dangerous Georgian drug kingpin. With his partner murdered by Viktor's hands, Ivan lands in Chicago to extradite the crime lord back to Russia, however, when he manages to escape, a frenzied chase in the bustling downtown will begin. While there are a lot of the same tropes from other Schwarzenegger films this one seemed to try and make him more serious to fit in with the Russian persona and ditch a lot of the one-liners. Thankfully we Belushi here to pick up the comedy slack and keep it all balanced.

 

The story here is pretty straight forward for all the action movies of the time and kicks things off with a naked Arnold in the snow fighting Russian bad guys like only he can. From there is just keeps bringing the action packed fun with all the greatness of the classic action films and Walter Hill magic. This is far from Schwarzenegger’s best film but still a good one and offers up all the big gun toting action and muscle flexing you expect from him during this time period. I know there was originally a plan for a sequel which I would have loved to see, but sadly it was not to be.

 

In addition to a great 4K transfer, this release offers up a ton of bonus content including trailer and featurettes to take you behind the scenes of bringing this film to life. Grab your copy of Red Heat on 4K Ultra for the first time ever available now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.