No Man's Land is like Point Break with cars, where D.B. Sweeney (where you can just picture Paul Walker in this role, check out the matching hairstyle) plays an undercover cop, out to pinpoint the killer hand, responsible for gunning down a detective, who was obviously undercover himself. Operating out of an auto repair shop, a front, Sweeney's character is also an ace mechanic. Fancy that? No, that's why he was chosen, but also being a rookie, he, as his hardarse cop boss (Quaid) says "doesn't act like a cop, but act is something Sweeney does well. It's a pity we didn't see more of him, in stuff, as only a score of films he did, spring to mind. He's befriended by cool dressing, rich kid/thief, Ted Varrick (Sheen) who's hot Porsche breaks down on Mulholland, and from here, it's like another Point Break scenario (this came out three and a half years earlier, but who's counting). Sheen really impresses here, with just the right measure of cool and suave cockiness. This actor, despite his bad habits, can really surprise you. He did with me, after coming to view it again. He owns thw role, and works it wonderfully. Of course, there's rival competitor thieves that push the story forward, where we seem to have a few bad apple cops around. Lara Harris as Sheen's sister who doesn't know of his illegal doings, and who apparently can whip out killer crepes, is just a utterly gorgeous picture of beauty. This is one of those real cool movie treats I like, but it's not without it's faults, and I feel that, every time I see it. For instance, revenge driven Sheen, can apparently take out a rival competitor on a dance floor with strobing lights, and no one notices, not even the competitor's much younger date. They just keep dancing. Fault. But this is a movie, you can forgive these kind of things. There's some good chases, and a humbly tragic climax, a shootout, that is inevitable, where at the end, we aren't quite sure if Quaid's character was dirty. Ironically both him and Sheen did another car movie, The Wraith, exactly nine months earlier, on release date here, this of course a better movie. Too, we learn a lot about our three characters, Sheen, I almost feel sorry for. Him and Sweeney, it's a mutual friendship, you don't want to end. For some reason, a thinner George Dzundza, appears unbilled as Sweeney's Uncle. Seriously though, Sweeney needs to change professions, regarding car stealing, and stop hesitating for one here. Cool hip movie, with well utilized locations, one of course, used so many times in night shots. One surprising attribute: Sheen's top geared performance, and a wonderful line including following dialogue, "lifestyles of the rich and aimless".

As I watched No Man's Land, I couldn't help but get envious of D. B. Sweeney's character. Charlie Sheen gave Sweeney a job, took him shopping, let him crash at his mansion, offered up his hot sister for sex, and gave him a freaking Porche!All this considered, I think I could overlook the fact that Sheen is a multiple murderer! I would so quit the police force and join the ranks of the criminal underworld!Seriously though, this was a really entertaining action movie. It pushed the right buttons by putting the audience squarely in shoes of Sweeney's character, allowing you to discover right alongside him the dangers and temptations of a criminal lifestyle.The same formula was later repeated (successfully) in Point Break and Sheen's later film Beyond The Law.

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

"No Man's Land" tells of a rookie cop (Sweeney) who goes under cover by getting a job in a chop shop run by a slick yuppie-type small time crook (Sheen) with a beautiful sister (Harris). The film becomes somewhat interesting as friendship blossoms between Sweeney and Sheen and love between Sweeney and Harris testing Sweeney's allegiance to law and order. "NML" is a lukewarm production which soft-peddles its ordinary car chases, car crashes, and shootouts in deference to trying to build a more human story about the three principles with questionable success. Not a "sleeper", this is a very ordinary wide-awake flick which is barely worth the time.