The Human Shield is a 1991 low-budget American film from B-movie film studio Cannon Films. It was directed by Ted Post and written by Mann Rubin and stars Michael Dudikoff and Tommy Hinkley. It is about a former government agent who must save his diabetic brother from Iraqi abductors.

Plot

In 1985, during the Iran–Iraq War, Colonel Doug Matthews (Michael Dudikoff), is a U.S. Marine hired to help train Iraqi troops to fight off the Iranians. He arrives somewhere in the northern part of Iraq only to discover that stormtroopers are killing people in the nearby village. Doug disagrees with this and attacks Dallai, the leader of the Iraqi troops, but loses. Five years later, in August, at Baghdad Airport, the news reports that Iraq has invaded Kuwait and that all foreign nationals are to be evacuated. Ben Matthews (Tommy Hinkley), Doug's diabetic brother, who is a teacher, is taken away from his wife and child by Iraqi guards for interrogation and is held hostage to lure Doug in to a trap.

Cast

Reception

Emanuel Levy of Variety magazine called it " a lame, small-budget actioner that exploits its political context without delivering the expected thrills of the genre."