Zero Tolerance

Zero Tolerance stars Robert Patrick as an FBI man with wife played by real life wife Barbara Patrick and two children. He gets an assignment to bring back from Mexico a notorious drug lord in Titus Welliver.

Things start to pop and don't let up for a minute when Welliver escapes custody with Patrick's two other agents and a whole lot of Welliver's men escape.

Welliver then gets the brilliant idea to take Patrick's family hostage and then confront Patrick and force him to take him across the border under the guise of custody, Welliver and a whole lot of illegal heroin. Works too and then he kills Patrick's family and nearly blows Patrick up in a limousine.

After that it's personal as Patrick whom we see a hint of his violent nature during Welliver's escape, goes full blown Rambo. The body count may run into triple digits. Did Sly Stallone ever do that well? Patrick is after the rest of Welliver's associates a five member board of a drug gang known as the White Hand. Do we have to ask if he succeeds?

If you like chase scenes, lots of bloody violence, and plenty of action you'll love Zero Tolerance. Makes one overlook a whole lot of flaws in the writing and the direction.

ZERO TOLERANCE was a recent "bargain bin" DVD purchase and in all honesty I threw it into the player this weekend as an antidote after watching "World Trade Center," figuring that after watching such a heavy-duty drama I needed to see something empty-headed as a chaser. In that regard, ZERO TOLERANCE didn't disappoint. It's a by-the-numbers revenge fantasy whose "plot" (scumbag drug dealers kill an FBI agent's family, so he goes rogue and hunts them down one by one) was probably written on a cocktail napkin, but there's so much wall to wall violence, carnage, and gunfire going off during its short running time that you barely have time to notice how silly the whole thing is. Robert Patrick of "Terminator 2" fame plays our FBI hero, who racks up some pretty impressive frequent flyer miles as he criss crosses the country picking off the heads of the "White Hand" drug cartel in Las Vegas, in New Orleans, and all points in between. My wife and I found it extremely funny after a while that there are dozens and dozens of goons firing thousands of rounds of ammunition at our hero throughout this movie and none of them even come close to hitting him, meanwhile Patrick can pop up from his hiding spots with two nine-millimeters clutched in his hands, fire off two shots at a time, and yet he hits his target every time. I didn't bother to try and keep a body count for this movie but I'm sure the grand total must've been astronomical. Nothing here hasn't already been done before in countless other shoot-em-up action movies like the "Death Wish" or "Punisher" films (to name but a few) but it sure is a fun ride while it's playing! If you find "Zero Tolerance" for less than five bucks (like I did) then by all means, take the ride.

For action freaks, this is great stuff, but overdid it, especially at the end. If they hadn't this might have been a good movie overall. For the first hour, this was tremendous with some wild, jaw-dropping action scenes in the typical revenge story angle.

Then it gets out-of-hand with good guy "Jeff Douglas" (Robert Patrick) killing all the bad guys in sight while numerous villains can't him - not one! It really gets ludicrous, and to make it worse, the acting is not the best in this movie. Some really dumb line deliveries and stupid characters.

In the end, worth a rental but not a purchase.

Robert Patrick stars as an FBI agent out for revenge after his wife and child are murdered by a drug cartel led by main goon Titus Welliver.

Patrick & Welliver are really too good for this trash by 90's B movie producers Richard Pepin & Joseph Mehri and their PM Entertainment Group, The script is dreadful, The acting by everyone (aside from the aforementioned above) is poor.

Plenty of gunfights & explosions, which is where most of the budget goes on this type of Straight-to-video trash, Patrick looks embarrassed to be in this - coming after his career defining role as the T-2000 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and we even get Mick Fleetwood - Yes, THAT Mick Fleetwood as a drug cartel boss.

It's watchable enough with very low expectations, but we've all seen this many, many times before, "Zero Tolerance" doesn't break new ground or even tries to, it is what it is, a mid 90's bottom shelf, action cheapo with a far better leading man than this kind of trash deserves.

Reading the other reviews, I didn't have high expectations. Boy, am I glad I watched anyway. Robert Patrick & Titus Welliver are EXCELLENT! If you have a problem w gratuitous violence, this is is NOT the movie for you. But if you like a good action/revenge movie, without a deep plot, then you'll like this. It's also recommend for anyone looking for '90's action.

There are a few problems... Robert Patrick's suicidal ideation is not realistic. It wanted to be Mel Gibson's scene in "Lethal Weapon," but it fell short. Patrick probably didn't have enough real pain to draw on for this scene.

The second problem... Mobsters don't kill family members & they don't kill cops. It just brings too much heat. I thought they we're going to reprimand Welliver"s character for this, but...not really. Gangsters also don't blow up cars in the middle of the Vegas strip, for the same reasons. I hate to see this, because then it moves it into Steven Segal territory.

The third problem... Why are all women in these types of movies useless simps? I'd like to see just one of these movies with a woman like me in it, instead of a nagging harpy. I thought the female FBI agent in this movie was going to back him up, but noooooo. All she does, is get her ass kicked, get in his way & then goes and narcs on him to his superiors. Useless. Her character could & should have been eliminated.

The fourth problem... The ending is ridiculous. Not the lone man seeking & getting revenge, but how this movie goes about it. There are so many other ways this could have ended, that would make it more believable, & less Segalesq. Because of the ridiculous plot twist, I dropped it 2 stars.

Overall, an enjoyable '90's action thrill ride. If you like that kind of fare, I recommend it.