"I Come in Peace" was like a glass of sweet fruit punch for me. It numbed my brain and gave me a pleasurable freeze high for an hour and half. Sure, it tasted like "The Hidden", "The Terminator", "The Peacemaker" and "Predator 2" at times, but I have to hand it to this silly rabbit for giving the alien invader one hell of an original motive; he’s a drug dealer here to harvest his narcotics through us! I haven’t heard that one before! Props to whoever came up with that idea during what was most likely a drunken binge.

The flick also didn’t take itself too seriously, which allowed me to enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. Taking into account the alien’s reasons for visiting earth; his ironic and often repeated line “I come in peace” said it all when it came to this film’s intended tone. Now sure the buddy cop quips between rule-breaker Jack (Lundgren) and tightly-wound FBI Agent Smith (Benben) were a bit tired. And yes, the poor dialogue, the predictable plot twists and the obligatory “love subplot” that wasted screen time were nothing to drop my drawers over. But those elements were not why this cheap trick should be viewed in the first place. It was all about the sugar coating here!

If a fly by your pants pace, polished visuals, endless glorious explosions, average car chases, groovy kills, lots of shoot 'em up scenes and a couple of mano-a-mano fight sequences crank your dial, you’re in for fun times at the Donut shop. If that’s NOT enough to tweak your noggin, try nifty gadgets that go from a way kool flying CD weapon, to a long metal tube that buries itself in its victims’ chests, to a big-ass spike that rams into folks’ skulls. Sounds like a quick snack worth the gas money yet? NO????? Well, did I mention the alien’s incredibly powerful hand gun? Well, it goes beyond phallic symbol status to blow up all kinds of shite in one burst. WOW! You’ve got to respect that on so many levels. I know…I know…it can’t hit the fleeing Lundgren for some reason, but hey, what can you do...if he dies, the movie is over…so roll with it!

On the downside, the low IQ way in which the film tackled its subject matter did lessen the impact of its darker and more ambitious ideas. At times, the flick also went overboard in the cartoonish vibe with “barf” yuppie drug lords named “The White Boys” stinking up the scenery, kooky characters pushing the limits of my tolerance level (one played by Michael J Pollard…again) and “drama” handled in the most childish of manners. I felt that with a more grounded and mature execution like, let’s say, "The Terminator", the flick could’ve been more than just a simple Saturday night stroke job. Maybe it could’ve been a Sci-Fi/Horror classic! WHO KNOWS?

This flick was hot in Houston, Texas.

Initially, Lundgren was approached for the role of the bad alien, but he wanted to play the cop instead. Matthias Hues took over the role and did all of his own stunts since he was too big to be doubled.

Craig R. Baxley also directed the fun Brian Bozworth biker flick “Stone Cold”.