I watched this movie just because it had Brigitte Lahaie in it, but I had no idea it starred the two Chrises. Middling cinephiles will probably ask, “Which two Chrises? Pine? Evans? Hemsworth?” The real ones know who I’m talking about… Lee and Mitchum!
Mitchum stars as a CIA agent who is sent by his boss Richard Harrison to find Christopher Lee in South America. Seems he was a former lieutenant for Castro and has now set himself up as a drug kingpin. Trouble brews when Mitchum starts romancing Lee’s daughter (Cristina Higueras).
I know it’s called “Dark” Mission, but why keep the beautiful Brigitte in the shadows for 2/3 of the movie? She plays Mitchum’s contact who has a knack for remaining cloaked in darkness while delivering her messages. At least she performs her big dramatic scene while wearing a string bikini. She also looks the part while playing Rambo in her jungle action scenes, although it’s ultimately too little too late.
That’s the big issue with the film. Though the cast is great, the film itself is painfully low on action. The side jaunt to a mental hospital where Higueras witnesses the impact of drugs on young people firsthand really slows things down to a crawl. The final battle sequence is also incomprehensibly edited to boot, and the aspect ratio changes in nearly every single shot, which gets annoying. (It leads me to suspect Franco probably poached the helicopter scenes from another movie.)
As for the two Chrises, Mitchum equips himself as well as could be expected and Lee lends the film a touch of dignity and class it probably didn’t deserve. Most of the fun comes from seeing the usually reserved Harrison acting up a storm. He goes hilariously over the top during the scenes where he chews out Mitchum.
It’s mostly an unruly hodgepodge, but Dark Mission: Flowers of Evil might make for lightweight, undemanding entertainment for fans of either Chris.
AKA: Dark Mission: Evil Flowers. AKA: Dark Mission. AKA: Columbian Connection.
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