Robert Kurtzman directs , an action film starring Sean Patrick Flanery as a cop named Tom Armstrong working in New Mexico. When we meet him, he and his partner are hanging out decorating a Christmas tree and talking about having kids with their respective wives. They get the call and rush into action and we cut to a scene in the basement of a house where Tom's own wife is tied and bound to a post in the basement. Tom's cell phone rings and it's 'The Lion' (Joe Pantoliano), a master criminal and serial murderer that Tom has been chasing for some time now. It seems that, like Jigsaw from the Saw films, he wants to play a game with Tom. He tells him that the whole house is rigged with enough plastic explosive to level the entire block and that the only way he can stop this explosion is by shooting his wife dead. With time running out, Tom makes the hard decision and pops a cap in poor Mrs. Armstrong, the woman he loved and had hoped to one day make babies with.
The next time we see Tom he's south of the border pounding booze to hide his misery and wanting nothing to do with the world. He's approached by an incredibly well built Spanish lady but pegs her for an F.B.I. agent before she even sits down with him. This woman, Isabel Ordonez (Carmen Serano) tells him that 'The Lion' is back in action and the Feds need Tom's help. Of course, he's not interested but when we cut to the next scene and see the Feds setting up a sting at a nightclub, Tom shows up to help just in time to see a bullet fly through the window from outside and send the entire scene spiraling into chaos.
Before you know it, Tom is back on the force, no questions asked, and his expertise makes him the main man on this case. He and his former partner reunite and are buddies again and things are looking up in the love life department when he finds himself going mouth to mouth with a very topless Isabel. But while all of this is going on, 'The Lion' is making his next move and planning his next attack. The government doesn't negotiate with terrorists and refuses to pay him the money he wants, leaving Tom with no choice but to find him and stop him before it's too late.
is about as original as its title. This is a pretty generic film, there's not much here at all to really separate it from countless other 'cop versus lunatic' movies and as such, it's pretty disposable and forgettable. The film starts off reasonably well, if a bit on the corny side (Really? They're hanging out decorating a Christmas tree and talking about babies?), and the scene in which Tom has to shoot his wife is fairly suspenseful but as the movie continues, the pacing becomes erratic and the random explosions and semi-regular scenes of action and violence can't save it.
In terms of the acting in the film, again, there's nothing that really stands out as memorable here. Flanery coasts through the movie and offers very little charisma. He's not so much smug or uppity as he is bored and uninspired. There's not much in the way of emoting here at all and considering what his character goes through, there was certainly ample opportunity for that. Had the script given him a bit more levity it might have helped things but as it stands he moves from wanting to make babies with his wife to having a dead wife to being drunk to burying his face between Ordonez's admittedly impressive rack so quickly that believability and in turn sympathy go right out the window. Pantoliano isn't any better, hissing his way through the movie and overdoing it in a few scenes. His character isn't given enough of a background to be interesting and while his performance at least has some energy behind it, by the time it's all over and done with you probably won't care.
The DVD:Video:
The test disc sent for review does not represent final product as it has a FOX watermark in the lower right hand corner of the picture. It's hard to evaluate the quality of what you'll be buying in stores when you can't see it though the film is presented here in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen which appears to be its original aspect ratio. That said, the test disc looks okay though there are some noticeable compression artifacts present throughout. Hopefully the properly pressed DVDs look better than what has been sent out for review...
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