Black Cat Run (1998)

 

Black Cat Run (1998)- * * *

Directed by: D.J. Caruso 

Starring: Patrick Muldoon, Amelia Heinle, Russell Means, Rex Linn, Peter Greene, and Jake Busey

Johnny Del Grissom (Muldoon) is a humble gas station attendant and tow truck driver in a small Texas town. He loves racing his car in his spare time - which will come in handy later - and he loves his girlfriend Sara Jane (Heinle). Johnny's rival on the racing circuit, and for Sara Jane, is Deputy Norm Babbitt (Busey). When an evil gang of criminals breaks out of a chain gang and goes on the run, trouble ensues. When the leader of the baddies, D.J. Wheeler (Greene) kidnaps Sara Jane, Johnny takes off after them. But Norm thinks Johnny went crazy and killed some people in the process, so now the police are after Johnny for the wrong reasons. 

As Johnny chases the bad guys, and the cops chase Johnny, a trail of death and destruction follows in their wake. Eventually it leads to a final confrontation in New Mexico. What will be the final outcome of the BLACK CAT RUN?

Because Frank Darabont was involved with the writing and production of Black Cat Run, the quality overall is a couple of notches higher than your typical made-for-cable low-budget chase/action film. It put us in mind of Men of War (1994), the Dolph film that was written by John Sayles. But really, speaking of Dolph, plotwise it's more akin to Army of One (1993). But instead of Dolph on the move, it's Patrick Muldoon. Seems like a natural replacement.

It's certainly arguable, but we think this is the best Muldoon we've seen to date. He plays the "lovable lower-class guy" well and he really gets in on the action. Going back to the Darabont influence, the structure of the film, while quite simple, makes a lot of sense and is executed well. 

For example, after the opening scene where the convicts escape and you know they're armed and dangerous, the movie completely shifts to the rather innocent world of Johnny Del Grissom, Sara Jane, and Norm, and we actually spend time getting to know them and like them. That way, when the threat eventually comes around, we care about their plight. You'd think more movies would do this and it would be obvious, but so many miss what's right in front of them: that you have to have likable characters that you come to know, or the audience is going to mentally "check out" of the proceedings.

Here, at least, we want Johnny to rescue the girl. It's almost archetypal in its simplicity, but many - if not most - times in life simplicity is called for. Black Cat Run is like a throwback and an homage to 50's B-Movies but updated slightly with more bad language and violence. There's even one standout scene of outright gore. But the core of tribute to retro drive-in movies of yore remains.

As we all remember, Muldoon played Jeff on Saved by the Bell, the guy who stole Kelly away from Zack. Black Cat Run could be an imagining of Jeff's future after he graduates from college. Maybe he isn't the brightest bulb, but he's extremely well-meaning, a hard worker (as we saw with his job at The Maxx), and a good guy at heart. It could be Jeff. We as the audience were continually rooting for Jeff.

Also, a movie like this wouldn't be complete without many scenes of chases, shooting, and at least one moment of walking away from an explosion in slow motion. The credits state "Special Appearance By Jake Busey" but he's really the co-star of the film. Based on that credit alone, you'd think it would be just a cameo or something small. But you get a lot of Busey. Just so you know. That credit was a bit misleading.

In the end, Black Cat Run manages to rise above its lowly station thanks to some good decisions by the cast and crew. It's entertaining, and it's even humble, much like Johnny Del Grissom himself. If you find it, check it out.

Comeuppance Review by Brett and Ty

Chain Of Command (2000)

Chain Of Command (2000)- * * 

Directed by: John Terlesky

Starring: Patrick Muldoon, Michael Biehn, Maria Conchita Alonso, Tom Wright, and Roy Scheider 

Special Agent Michael Connelly (Muldoon) is not the guy who writes the Bosch series of novels. He's a Secret Service agent tasked with protecting President Jack Cahill (Scheider). But the upright Connelly doesn't approve of Cahill's Clintonesque philandering, so he's transferred to a squad that helps protect the Nuclear Football. 

His boss, Thornton (Biehn) explains that said football is not actually a football. It's a briefcase. This is starting to get a little confusing. Especially for Connelly, who is a dedicated public servant but not the brightest tool in the shed. When evil Taiwanese businessmen start killing everyone and then kidnap "The Prez" so they can take control of the football and aim it towards China, it's up to Connelly, and, by extension, Vice President Gloria Valdez (Alonso) to save the day. Will it be Connelly or the baddies who spike the football in the end zone? And who will run that up the CHAIN OF COMMAND?

It's Die Hard on a Taiwanese boat! At least that's a relatively novel place to have a "DieHardInA" movie, and not the usual building, hockey arena, or missile silo (although silos are repeatedly mentioned. Thankfully not as many times as in Terminal Countdown). It must be said that Chain of Command - not to be confused with the Dudikoff film of the same name - may seem a little familiar to anyone who has seen The Peacekeeper (1997) or Executive Target (1997). 

Chain of Command is a sort of mash-up of the two; it has all the briefcase action of The Peacekeeper (along with Roy Scheider), mixed with the presidential kidnapping of Executive Target (along with Roy Scheider). It seems Scheider never tired of working on all of these variations of the same theme. Hey, the guy liked to work, and we respect that. 

The problem is that the film gets off to a slow start, and it's a long time until we as viewers see any action. It seems director Terlesky was concentrating on the political drama of the situation, although, let's face it, this isn't All the President's Men (1976). A little more self-awareness and consideration for the viewership of DTV action movies would have gone a long way. 

Compounding that is a lack of competent lighting, one of our least favorite low-budget pitfalls. You've got to have lights, people. Underlighting is the scourge of filmmaking. Whether you're Chain of Command or Boardwalk Empire, you have to at least make a cursory attempt to turn on a few lights. It won't kill you.

During all this yak-yak, somehow they couldn't find time for any meaningful character development. Michael Biehn (who is almost unrecognizable here) does describe the nuclear football as "armageddon in a box" - which is convenient and saves time - and President Jack Cahill does use a rowing machine, predating House of Cards' Frank Underwood by a good many years.

We had to wait until almost an hour in until we got to Maria Conchita Alonso, who was interestingly cast as the Vice President. Will we ever see the day when a Latina with a thick-ish accent is the VP? Nevertheless, we like Alonso and it was nice to see her in that sort of role. 

A better movie would have been Muldoon and Alonso as partners who beat up goons and bust heads together and shoot drug dealers or something like that. That would have been awesome. Instead we get what we get, which is just mediocre. But what else do you expect from a DTV movie from 2000? It wasn't the best year for DTV films. 

During one of the many discussions of the nukes and launch codes and such, more than one reference is made to something which sounds like "Merv Warheads". The DVD has no captions, so we don't know for sure. But that doesn't sound very threatening. Unless that's what the upper-management brass on ABC back in the 70's called their programming lineup designed by Merv Griffin. Then it makes more sense.


In the end, Chain of Command is your typical year-2000 DTV fare. It's not great, and it's not offensively awful. It's just a movie on a screen. It offers no surprises or curveballs of any kind. It could have been much better, which is a shame, especially considering its better-than-average cast, but ultimately this is what you might call video store shelf filler.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)

Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)-* * *

Directed by: Guy Norris

Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Patrick Muldoon, Ron Vreeken, Frans Tumbuan, and Tanaka

Rothrock and Norton reprise their roles as Kris Fairchild and Preston Michaels in this sequel that is superior to the original film.

Kris is now a CIA agent who is sent to Jakarta to go undercover in a bank to investigate the money laundering of Gerald Andrews (Soucy).  Meanwhile, Preston works in a run-down bar and does a lot of boxing on the side. For some unknown reason, he takes on a spoiled, unlikable, arrogant student, Tommy Andrews, the son of Gerald. As it turns out, Gerald is working closely with nefarious gangster Buntao (Tumbuan). There’s also a cache of diamonds at stake in the ensuing gangster wars, with Kris and Preston caught in the middle. They’ll have to use their teamwork and fighting skills to get out of this mess...

Rothrock and Norton are always pleasant to watch, both individually and together. There are some nice fights in this film, and, as always, you can actually see the action with no stupid tricks or fast cuts. There was some cool inventiveness as well, as Norton beat up a baddie with a raw fish, leading to perhaps the first “fish-fighting” scene in recent memory.  For as awesome as Rothrock and Norton are, Patrick Muldoon is as lame. Well, his character as a preppy jerk is pretty effective. Maybe it’s not Muldoon, it’s Tommy Andrews who the audience will not like. Buntao is more likable.

Also we have Ron Vreeken as the classic heavy/bodyguard, the man they call “Blondie”. I guess they couldn’t get Matthias Hues. Vreeken was last seen in the Norton vehicles Deathfight (1994) and Under the Gun (1995), so they must be buddies. He was also seen in Hurricane Smith (1992).

Director Guy Norris, presumably no relation to the Norris family that produced Chuck, Aaron and Mike, primarily is known for his stunt work, having been the stunt coordinator on countless films, including Day of the Panther (1988) and the aforementioned Hurricane Smith. It was a wise choice to put him in the director’s chair because he understands action and delivers plenty of it to the audience, leading to the rare improvement for a sequel.

You can rarely go wrong with Rothrock and/or Norton, as this golden-age-of-the-video-store action movie amply proves.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett