Reviews:

Name: Abby
E-mail: abismith@btinternet.com
Review:

Who was that masked man????? Jesse Mach (Rex Smith) is a hot shot motor cycle cop with a taste for taking outrageous risks His partner, Marty Walsh (Robert Beltran) can always be relied on to support and encourage him - not to mention quote the odds.... After one particularly spectacular stunt Mach and Walsh are suspended. During their suspension they go off to a deserted spot for a little off road biking. Happening across a drugs deal Walsh is killed and Mach is left with his leg smashed up. No longer able to ride, Mach is assigned to Public Relations. Meanwhile he is approached by a covert government department who offer to rebuild his knee, and give him a shiny new bike (Streethawk) to ride, if he will only join them in the fight against crime. Naturally enough, Mach signs on the dotted line, and begins his double life as mild mannered PR person by day, and tough street crime fighter by night. Oh, and of course, he wants to avenge his partner's death. Streethawk is your basic all-singing, all-dancing sleek black hi-tech affair - all particle beams and turbo thrust - much like Knight Rider on two wheels. With the emphasis fairly squarely on car/bike chases and impressive stunts the characters rather take second place. There are also no surprises in the slightly slow storyline, and the technical set pieces are a little long. Robert Beltran shows his rogueish charm as the partner who shamlessly takes bets on Mach's riding skills. Unfortunately, he dies fairly early on. Other plus points are an engaging performance by Joe Regalbuto as the fussy creator of Streethawk - a man with a death defying taste in woolly sweaters - Christopher Lloyd's cameo drugs baron, and a rather good score by Tangerine Dream. The movie has a very mid-eighties look - but in the end you gotta love any police drama that opens with shots of cars driving through piles of cardboard boxes.......