"You've got a nasty little mouth for a fat man." That's the epitome of the type of sophisticated dialog that you'll get in this completely hideous action film that deals with the assassination of a police officer and the kidnapping of a kindly old nuclear scientist (Bill Erwin, the epitome of the grandfather we'd all love to have), and the determination of the murdered officer's partner (Sam Jones) to get revenge and rescue Erwin and the adorable little six year old Asian girl abducted simply because Erwin picked her up in the elevator to hug her with the permission of her mother. This is supposed to give Erwin instant sympathy, and I admit that for me, it did. But Jones and onscreen wife Linda Blair are saddled with a badly written soap opera subplot, and fans of Blair will be disappointed that she is saddled with a cliched character and hideous dialog, whiny and irritating.
The villains, including a sexpot assassin, are totally one dimensional, definitely of the Boris and Natasha variety. The convoluted plot is unpleasant, and with the exception of the little girl and Erwin, even the decent characters are uninteresting and sadly underwritten. There have been much better thrillers dealing with germ warfare, and considering what has transpired all over the world in the days since this came out (and quickly died a box office flop death), it is not fun viewing. Deliberate comedy just makes Jones seem really stupid, and even Stallone and Schwartznegger at their worst were tons better than he is. The film seems to take pleasure in its almost sadomasochistic style which after 15 minutes of viewing had me hoping for my phone to ring or door to knock because I couldn't imagine making it through half way. Unfortunately, I decided to give it my full attention and felt completely dumbed down by the time it was over. I'd rather go back and listen to Rose's Rusty story again on Golden Girls, the episode that Erwin appeared in.
The villains, including a sexpot assassin, are totally one dimensional, definitely of the Boris and Natasha variety. The convoluted plot is unpleasant, and with the exception of the little girl and Erwin, even the decent characters are uninteresting and sadly underwritten. There have been much better thrillers dealing with germ warfare, and considering what has transpired all over the world in the days since this came out (and quickly died a box office flop death), it is not fun viewing. Deliberate comedy just makes Jones seem really stupid, and even Stallone and Schwartznegger at their worst were tons better than he is. The film seems to take pleasure in its almost sadomasochistic style which after 15 minutes of viewing had me hoping for my phone to ring or door to knock because I couldn't imagine making it through half way. Unfortunately, I decided to give it my full attention and felt completely dumbed down by the time it was over. I'd rather go back and listen to Rose's Rusty story again on Golden Girls, the episode that Erwin appeared in.