Reviews

Beautiful southwestern scenery is the only redeeming virtue of this by-the-numbers revenge film. The ecological, pro-Native American theme seems more exploitive veneer than imaginative twist, and the direction lacks suspense or even much of a climax. Acting is dull and unconvincing, though William Atherton is on board to lend his trademarked sneer to the chief villain. There is little more to the plot than "heroine framed for parents murder; heroine kills the real murderers." None of the characters are developed at all, even to the limited extent of an action film. That's too bad, because I was prepared to like this movie, and yes, the scenery was nice.

If it weren't for the editing out of curse words and a superimposed blur when one character give another the finger, it would be easy to mistake this low-budget snoozer for a Sci-Fi channel pilot. The plot about the government's attempts to destroy a group of telekinetics it originally trained as military weapons ends ambiguously enough with the hero, himself gifted, in pursuit of a telekinetic survivor bent on revenge. Alas, the movie is talky, boring, predictable and even devoid of interesting special effects. Top-billed Louis Gossett, Jr. has a minor role as the evil government bureaucrat who originated the program and now wants to eliminate all traces. He walks through the part and it is hard to understand why he bothered. Other members of the cast do a decent job with a script that demands little.

Forget about the plot-it's something about injecting wrestlers with animal DNA with the intent of selling their super villain talents to the highest bidder-this sequel to the original Jet Li vehicle is strictly about action and style. Acrobatic flying fights, quick cuts, zooming cameras, and non-stop special effects ranging from the visually imaginative to the unfortunately tacky are what this film has to offer. Andy On has assumed the title role, and the addition of a tough little kid suggests that this may have been aimed at Power Rangers crowd, now in their teens. If you're willing to kick back and simply take in the visual pyrotechnics, Black Mask 2 is fun and certainly better mounted than most direct to video action sequels. If, however, you remember that director Hark Tsui once gave us `Once Upon a Time in China,' you may feel a little sad.

As a card-carrying member of a half-dozen or more environmental groups, I was attracted to `Greenmail's' advertised plot about the mismatched union of an activist and an ATF agent to stop an environmentalist gone over the edge into a spree of fatal bombings.

Alas, the environmental angle is nothing more than an excuse for a very standard genre thriller where the villain blows up a lot of people. Even the potentially interesting Seattle setting (actually, the ever-popular Vancouver, save for a few establishing shots) is not utilized to any particular advantage.

The competent cast does what it can with a basically uninteresting script and surprisingly languid direction. What suspense there is consists of far too many scenes of people hesitantly snipping wires on bombs which either blow up or do not with fair predictability.

Too bad. There was the opportunity for some genuine ideological conflict between the two main protagonists and a more thoughtful motivation for the cardboard villain. The one very minor plot twist is reduced to a simple throwaway line because we really don't know much about why the characters do what they do to their friends or to others.

In the '50s the standard low budget movie monster was some innocent insect enlarged by radiation; today, it's a computer or similar technological device run amuck, often infected with a virus or some such. Neither premise was ever much grounded in science, but at least followed a series of familiar conventions, both with respect to the human and non-human protagonists. "Terminal Error" fits the genre, though, of course, made for the drive-in has succumbed to direct to video or (in this case)made for cable .

That said, this is an ominous enough little film that its ambitious, but ultimately cheesy special effects (thankfully limited to a small screen) and entirely predictable plot don't keep it from being entertaining in the same way those old drive-in films kept you watching.

In brief, a disgruntled employee uses the teenaged son of his ex-boss to infect the company's computers with a virus designed for revenge. Since these computers are widely used as control devices, the area's power grids, elevators, traffic signals, Army missiles are all put in the hands of our evil doer until the virus begins to mutate and turn on humankind in general.

The acting is competent enough, and there is even a bit of witty dialog between the boss and his Stephen Hawking-like associate.

If you don't expect much from this movie and need a monster fix, that's what you'll get, and you probably won't be too disappointed.

Back in 1976, Roger Corman gave two of his trailer editors a few bucks and a chance to make a film. Joe Dante and Allan Arkush turned out "Hollywood Boulevard" by utilizing reels of scenes cribbed from other Corman films. Because the two directors were talented (as their later films would confirm), they managed to create a crazed, outrageous little parody of low-budget movie-making.

Roger tried it again with "Galactic Odyssey" (a/k/a "Starquest II", not that it matters, as there is no relationship to "Starquest"). Alas, writer-director Fred Gallo shows no sign of talent in either trade here.

The resulting splice job is cheap, incomprehensible, and should be an embarrassment to all who participated. Sets are strictly high school drama club. Acting is stilted. And the Swiss-cheese plot seems to be designed solely to use as much footage from other films and stock agencies(there's that mushroom cloud again)as possible while incorporating a handful of soft core sex scenes and a few gore effects.

Even bad film buffs should ignore this one. Even for free.

Mark Dacascos delivers the moves and his usual workman-like acting job in this utterly predictable martial arts revenge flick. James Ryan is appropriately evil and vicious--until he just caves before our hero. But little, not even the location filming in South Africa, can save this by-the-numbers film, especially with a climax that is...well, just not climactic.

A by the numbers, low-budget war film capitalizing on the (then) impending threat of Iraqi bioterrorism. Because neither Congress or the UN will act, a squabbling military brings a reluctant, guilt-ridden Air Force officer out of self-enforced retirement to recruit and train the usual gang of bickering misfits. This takes most of the film's running time, leaving the last 10 minutes for the obligatory fiery air strikes, probably cobbled together from some other movie and repeated where necessary for the decidedly non-climactic climax. You've seen this all before, done much better.

OK, so there's nothing objectively good to say about this basement budget kiddie oater from Republic, the first in a series of four featuring young'ins as the titular heroes. But when I was a city kid in the 50s, this was the sort of thing I'd eagerly plunk down my ten cents to see on Saturday afternoon. It had a boy my age who roped, rode, and packed a six-shooter (not that he ever shot anything with it). The story features your standard land-grabbing evil doer riding roughshod over a community, most of whose men are off fighting the Civil War. Featuring early roles by Hugh O'Brien (good guy)and Tristram Coffin (bad guy). Minimal production values and a scant sixty minutes run time, but, hey, we didn't notice. All that's missing are the ten color cartoons and a serial chapter for nostalgia's sake.

This is frat house humor moved to the cop house. A bunch of occasionally funny set pieces strung together by a plot not worth mentioning does not make a movie. The opening scene, in which our comic troupe of troopers stop a car of stoned-out kids, may be a hint on how one needs to view this film to enjoy it.

This familiar crime caper plot of multiple double-crosses and changing allegiances scores mostly for appealing mix of amusing, well-sketched stereotypes, though by the end of the film enough people have been killed to keep from calling this a comedy. The only real suspense is who will drive off with the money--but who really cares. Casper Van Dien does especially well with a dry-humored Clint Eastwood delivery while David Paymer is central casting's pick for an accounting nerd (actually a computer programmer). Jenifer Lewis as the tough detective in pursuit provides terrific counterpoint. What the film lacks to distinguish it in this low-budget genre is pacing. The banter is not always quick enough and some scenes just lack snap.

Come on now...a biker flick is supposed to be violent and sleazy. This one is so antiseptic it would have made it by TV censors in the 70's--even if the original American-International ads tried hard to suggest otherwise. It does contain one great line: As the biker gang leader prepares to rough up one of our heroes, he is distracted by a fellow gang member playing a noisy pinball machine, leading to remark, "Gabriel, can't you see that we're menacing someone?" Ludicrous music, seemingly from another film, accompanies one of the climactic fight scenes. Sadly, this film could give the Hell's Angels a good name.

The "High Noon" story has been told so many ways on the screen that its hard to think that another retelling could be anything but tedious.

Surprisingly, however, "Lone Hero" is an entertaining, low-budget variant on the tale, thanks to a terrific performance by Lou Diamond Phillips as the vicious, but sardonically perceptive biker villain with most of the good lines. Sean Patrick Flanery, as the title hero, and Robert Forster, his ally with a unspoken past, provide more than able support.

The plot is by the book (or is it by the screenplay?), but there is enough nicely mounted action to keep fans of the genre happy, and enough good dialog to keep most others from getting bored.

This film has what so many direct-to-video action films lack--good acting with a script whose iconic characters rise well enough above the trite to make the scenes between the fights worth watching.

This unpleasant film has little to recommend it. Dolph Lundgren gives a performance that is better than either this script or his other action films have allowed. And there are occasional snippets of dialog that suggest the film might have been able to provide some insight into a bizarre subculture.

But no. Motivations are either murky or trite. Most of the acting is sub-par. The script creates needless confusion. And the director's needless fascination with focusing on gore is distracting.

It's hard to imagine who the audience is for this film.

This very low budget comedy caper movie succeeds only in being low budget. Dialog is dumbfoundingly stupid, chase scenes are uniformly boring, and most of the on-screen money seems to have been saved for a series of crashes and explosions in a parking lot during the film's last five minutes (a briefly glimpsed port-a-potty early in that scene is certain to wrecked and spew crap on the film's chief villain--no prop is here without a purpose). The whole film is depressingly reminiscent of those that occasionally came out of Rodger Corman's studio when he'd give a first time director a few bucks and a camera--but without the discipline Corman would impose.

Higher than expected production values, an exuberant young cast, some occasionally witty banter, and non-stop action make this extended buddy film a lot more fun than one expects in the low-budget action genre. Yes, the plot is formula, but the characters are likeable and good-looking and the pace never lags.