Beyond Hypothermia (1996)

Beyond Hypothermia (1996) -* * *

Directed By: Patrick Leung

Starring: Wu Chen-Lien and Shirley Wong












Beyond Hypothermia is a good movie. The plot: An assassin (Wu Chen-Lien) just keeps on killing until she meets a lonely noodle shop owner, Long (Lau Ching Wan). She wants to change her ways, but her employer won't let her. On top of that, another hitman is after her.



What's great about this movie is that the romance and action fit perfectly. All the gunfights are well-staged and bloody, but it also has a heart. Lien and Wan put in outstanding performances.

The climax is very powerful and the only problem I had with the movie is the dubbing, but who cares. You'll be pulled in instantly.

I highly recommend this action-packed gem.



Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Icon (2005)

Icon (2005) -* * *

Directed By: Charles Martin Smith

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Jeff Fahey, Patrick Bergin, Joss Ackland, and Michael York










Icon was a fun, if long, miniseries. Patrick Swayze plays Jason Monk, who is an ex-CIA agent. As usual, he's roped into one last case. Here, it's by Nigel (Michael York). His assignment is to take down presidential hopeful Igor Komarov (Bergin). Igor wants to rule the world. I'm not kidding.

Thankfully, the movie is full of action. Patrick Swayze does a good job, but in some scenes he looks very old. Patrick Bergin goes over the top. I think he perfected his Russian accent by watching Boris on "Rocky and Bullwinkle". Michael York is his usual professional self. The standout performance is by Jeff Fahey as a presidential aide.

In the end: If you don't mind the 3-hour running time, it's worth watching. It's a good movie to watch when you're home sick. Take a look at the foreign trailer:






Comeuppance Review by: Ty

The Deal (2005)

The Deal (2005) -* * *

Directed By: Harvey Kahn

Starring: Christian Slater, Selma Blair, Robert Loggia, Colm Feore, Francoise Yip, Angie Harmon, and John Heard











The Deal is an entertaining, but flawed political thriller.

Christian Slater plays Tom, a man about to close a huge oil deal. But everything doesn't go as scheduled, because blackmail and murder go hand in hand on Wall Street. Christian Slater is very convincing in his role. Selma Blair looks bored. John Heard does nothing to advance the plot. Angie Harmon plays a Russian spy. Her accent is off the mark.

The movie tries to be different because the climax involves not gunfire, (well there's some) but talking. It doesn't really work. But overall, it's worth seeing for Slater's performance.




Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Striking Range (2005)

Striking Range (2005) -* * *

AKA: Bloodlines

Directed By: Daniel Millican

Starring: Lou Diamond Phillips, Glenn Morshower, Yancy Butler, and Jeff Speakman







Striking Range is entertaining and action-filled.  "Vash" (Phillips) is a mercenary who is asked to guard Ted Billings (Morshower) because he has a hi-tech WMD. "Vash" doesn't like the guy, but then he gets his money's worth because criminals from all sides are after him.



What's interesting about this movie is that it takes the time to flesh out some character development. Phillips is very good in the role. Yancy Butler plays his ex-girlfriend. She gets her time to shine. Jeff Speakman plays one of the villains and gets to utilize his martial arts ability. Speakman is a big guy and he moves fast. The whole movie is one big action sequence. The beginning is little lame, but once that gets out of the way, It's B-movie fun till the end.

In the end: If you like LDP, you'll enjoy this. I wasn't disappointed by Striking Range and it delivered the goods.



Comeuppance Review by: Ty

UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine (2006)

UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine (2006) -*

Directed By: David Mitchell

Starring: Michael Madsen









UKM: Ultimate Killing Machine is a boring and highly unthrilling movie.

5 reject teenagers are recruited by the government to test a new drug that makes supersoldiers, run by Major Blevins (Madsen). Unfortunately, one other test subject went insane and now is on the loose...

The whole movie was shot in a building to cut down costs. Apparently, Madsen is expensive. The cast, besides him, is awful. No line of dialogue is timed right, and everybody just yells. There's no motivation or personality for any of the characters. The best part of the movie is the beginning. But after that, it all goes downhill quickly. Madsen's there for a paycheck, but how much could it be?

UKM (or, OOKUM, as we pronounce it) is a mess that should be avoided. Unless you like cheap Canadian horror movies...?

Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Attack Force (2006)

 Attack Force (2006) -*1\2

Directed By: Michael Keusch

Starring: Steven Seagal










Here we go: another Seagal flick, another donut. Starting with the most generic title you can think of, tons of post-production retooling, and the big man himself, this is not going to be pretty.

This is what I scrounged up for a plot: A drug called CTX is being distributed by some unknown force with weird eyes. It's up to Marshall Lawson (Seagal) and his "Attack Force" to stop it.

Where should I start? The first thing you'll notice immediately is that Seagal has not done his ADR voice-over work. Almost 100% of the movie does not feature his voice. They got some guy who sounds suspiciously like Bill Pullman to record over the missing Seagal bits. I can't believe Steve is that lazy - to not find the time to go into a studio and record the dialogue HE WROTE! In the first 10 minutes, every time they show Marshall speak, they cut very quickly to another person in the room. If that's not enough, Seagal has the gall to say in the script: "I'm glad you recognized my voice" (?!?).

From what I heard, They re-edited this movie three times with two different plotlines: 1. Russian Mafia, 2. Aliens. They already shot footage for both, but Sony and Nu-Image haphazardly put this together to make a quick buck and a deadline.

On the plus side, the action scenes, when coherent, are passable and there's a lot of blood during most killings. Don't get me started on the ending! A lot of it goes unexplained...

I'll keep watching more Seagal DTV disasters, but I'm running out of patience. But I have an idea for Steve: Make a movie with your craft service table and then shoot it in the harshest light imaginable, film it on the cheap in Romania and make the action scenes complete rubbish.... Wait a second, He already did that. The movies were Out Of Reach (2004), The Foreigner (2003), Out For A Kill (2003) , and Submerged (2005). Hey, he's reading my mind! Scary...






Comeuppance Review by: Ty