Black Ice (1992)

Black Ice (1992)-*1\2

Directed by: Neill Fearnley

Starring: Michael Nouri, Joanna Pacula, and Michael Ironside












Ben Shorr (Nouri) is a destitute cab driver with plenty of debts. He’s an aspiring author eking out a living. One night, Vanessa (Pacula) gets in his cab. Due to some political intrigue, she’s on the run from the murderous Quinn (Ironside). She tells Ben to drive her from Detroit to Seattle using “only the back roads” and she’ll give him thousands of dollars for his effort. Naturally, the worldly Belgian woman and the low-class shmoe forge an uneasy relationship, while dodging Quinn and getting into a few scrapes. Will they make it?

Equal parts 90’s Skinemax “erotic thriller” and supposed “neo-noir”, seemingly very influenced by the show Taxicab Confessions, Black Ice is serviceable, but nothing more. Its look screams “CANADA!” even though the plot takes great pains to prove otherwise. (It was, indeed, shot in Canada).

Michael Nouri, sporting some utterly ridiculous long hair, is not particularly likable as the motormouthed Ben. That’s an impediment to the movie. However, he does put in an energetic performance, much more so than he did in Overkill (1996). We also felt Michael Ontkean could have played this role. Interestingly, there’s a shot early on in the film of Nouri at a typewriter, with a rotary dial phone and a cigarette. Those three things alone would not be seen in a film today, much less all together. Strictly for preservation reasons alone, we felt that was the best shot of the movie.

Michael Ironside does what he does best - be sinister. He plays almost the exact same role here as he does in Watchers. Joanna Pacula provides the eye candy, and we can certainly sympathize with her having to put up with Ben, who frankly can get kind of annoying.

Aside from the prerequisite barfight, there isn’t a lot of action. Not that there’s necessarily supposed to be in a movie like this - but it certainly would have picked things up more. Where some scenes are needlessly talky, they could have put in an action scene of some kind. Sadly, they did not choose that route.

While it’s nice to see the three leads doing their thing, Black Ice is just a bit too bland to warrant a screaming recommendation.

NOTE: The VHS was released in both a rated and unrated version.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Lockdown (1990)

Lockdown (1990)-* *

Directed by: Frank Harris

Starring: Chris DeRose, Chuck Jeffreys, Joe Estevez, Mike Farrell, Gary Kolpakoff, and Richard Lynch













Ron Taylor (DeRose) and his partner Maguire (Jeffreys) are detectives in southern California. Using a San Jose chop shop, Valley Auto Dealers, as cover, a new criminal mastermind is causing all sorts of havoc: Garrett (Lynch) is a ruthless killer and car enthusiast who uses his intimidating presence to get what he wants. When he frames Taylor for murder, Taylor is sent to prison, separating him from his wife Monica (Kaitan) and his young daughter. Maguire is pulling out all the stops to try to clear his partner, but now Taylor must survive on the inside. Shanks (Kalpakoff) is the jailhouse baddie, but Taylor makes friends with his cellmate Dieter (Estevez). Will Taylor get revenge and clear his good name?

This is the fourth Frank Harris movie we’ve reviewed, and while it may be one of the more decent ones, it still has plenty of cliches, is kind of on the slow side, and suffers from many of the common trappings of low budget movies, such as some stodgy acting and editing. But that being said, this is a fairly solid, if dumb, prison movie/cop actioner.

We think Harris may have even used some of the same cop extras he did in Killpoint (1984). DeRose makes an okay mulleted, fairly meathead-y hero, and Chuck Jeffreys out-Eddie Murphy’s Eddie Murphy. We always like seeing him. Of course, Taylor’s cellmate is none other than Joe Estevez (how would you like to walk into your cell and see that?) - actually, this is the best Joe Estevez performance we’ve seen to date. But the real star of the show is Richard Lynch, who makes an excellent bad guy. He does a great job as the charmingly evil mastermind (as he usually does). As great as Lynch is here, it’s not enough to overcome some of the slower aspects of this movie.

Actually, the fact that the main hero is trapped behind bars hampers the movie. It needed more action, and if the main hero is in prison, it can’t really be a full-throttle revenge movie. While the filmmakers were probably trying for something a little different, they painted themselves into a corner with that scenario.

So despite the fact that the warden is like a corrupt Santa Claus, the prison sequences are a bit dull (the warden should have been played by Cameron Mitchell). Lockdown is similar in structure to Cartel (1990), but Cartel is the better movie.

Lockdown isn’t really that bad, especially for its drive-in style, and it does have some standout moments, especially the song by Seymour Duncan and Friends (with vocals by Gregory Hansen).  So it’s kind of a mixed bag.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty