The Action Hero's Guide to Saving Lives

I LOVED THIS. I'm of the opinion, if it's got Patrick Warburton in it, I'll see it. I was teaching English when this came out. Somehow I got the link to it from the producers who I think were still shopping it around. Laugh out Loud Funny.

I would play it to my students once per semester in my composition classes. At some point they'd be dragging, and I'd bring this out. I would introduce it by saying, This short will teach you everything you need to know about editing and revising your work.

It would get the point across, and we'd all have a good time.

In the action movies it seems the hero always is able to pull it out of the bag when required, whether it is being in the right place at the right time, having the right plan or even just having the right kiss-off line ready to go when needed. In this short film we see how this is done because everything takes practice to get it right first time. The plot sees traditional action hero Ace Mulligan responding to a hostage situation and for every step of his rescue, from initial breach to final pose is shown a couple of times, each time with a not so good result till he gets the things right. I have not described it particularly well but this is how it works.

The short takes this approach and uses it to play with the conventions of the action movie to show clichéd things going wrong if the hero doesn't do it right first time and it is pretty funny in the way it does it. It runs a little longer than it needed to but it does have some good laughs in here along the way and certainly fans of the action genre will get more from it as its targets are generally on the money. The whole production never quite gets the feel of a full Hollywood movie but it does not far short by very much and generally it fits the material even if the constraints do show. Otherwise it is smartly written and well delivered to the screen. Warburton (best known for Seinfeld I guess) is well cast in the role as he has the macho slowness of the old-school films and again this fits with the spoofing of the genre.

It isn't quite as good as the idea makes it sound but it is still a very enjoyable and funny short film that takes a clever structure/approach and uses it to affectionately spoof a popular and well known genre.

Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement, Seinfeld, The Venture Brothers) plays Ace Mulligan, the kind of action hero that unfortunately went out of style in the early 90's. Played perfectly deadpan, he tries to rescue a hostage from a criminal mastermind with more bravado than planning.

It's a very funny movie. There are some great gags and Warburton is hilarious. It probably runs 3 or 4 minutes too long, but that's not too bad as it is consistently amusing even if it gets just a tad repetitive.

It's a great looking film as well - directed as well as a major action film by Justin Lutsky and shot with style and flare by Jeff Dolen. It was apparently shot on red one digital cameras, which is hard to believe cause it has a very filmic look.

If you're a fan of the Naked Gun movies or 80's and early 90's action films - you'll enjoy this. Definitely one of the best shorts I've ever seen.