Espejismo

Take a simple-minded story and leave out parts so as to mystify the audience and then plug them in later so we can relish in the revelation. Rent a handful of 2nd tier talent. Drag the shots out because you can't afford to be busy...busy costs money. Pump up the atmospherics because they're cheap. Avoid expensive action like blazing fire fights and blow up a cardboard cabin instead. And, voila! You have "Backflash", a cheap B-movie set in the BFAZ desert which tells of a video store owner, a babe, and a bunch of mob heavies all trying to get their mits on some ill-gotten dinero. This no brainer explains everything with flashbacks so it would make an ideal soporific for the weary couch potato. (D+)

To make a great movie sometimes all you need is a good director;not big stars, or huge special effects.The problem of this movie is this;the lack of a good direction.The idea and the story is good and Robert Patrick is enough for this one.But there is no one behind the camera to put it all into an order,to shoot memorable scenes or to create strong characters.In the screenplay there are a lot of logical mistakes but they could be put into a right way with someone who knows what to do.

Director wants to make a movie about crime,lie,people who can not be trusted or can not trust each other.And also he wants to add some kind of romance.We all see how this type of film-noir can be done perfectly by Tarantino,Coen Brothers and absolutely 'Red Rock West' by John Dahl.Besides all the mistakes in the script,lack of character analyzes this movie needs memorable dialogs,quotes,and a song.Sometimes a dialog or a song makes you remember a movie.But this one misses all of them;script,dialogs,music,characters.Speaking of characters am I the only one who is looking for a strong femme-fatale character?

I think this movie is more like to be watched to learn the things not to do in a film-noir.A good idea is not always enough and this one shows everything to turn this good idea upside down.

This really is a nice little movie,definitely worth watching!

The entire movie plays in a desert environment,really an alien looking place to one who lives in Belgium,like me... It's filled with strange people ,the cameraman did an outstanding job of shooting atmospheric images and the music too adds a lot to the atmosphere... See the other reviews to learn more about the content of this movie.

It last only for about 87 minutes but is definitely a time well spend!

For a low-budget movie, BACKFLASH looks pretty good. The cinematography is crisp and bright, and while some scenes look a little sparse at times, it never looks really cheap. The problem instead is with the screenplay. It plays like a first draft - scenes go by v-e-r-y slowly, when the story should play out quicker and tighter. There's no spark, and that includes the various twists and turns - you'll most likely have seen most of them before, so they aren't a surprise. The movie tries to jerk us around more near the end, but the twists in this part aren't believable and/or just lead to plot holes. And while Robert Patrick isn't a bad actor, he's wrong for a role that more belongs to someone who can convincingly play a little dim and not totally sure of things. And sadly, Michael J. Pollard is wasted in a role that just gives him two minutes of screen time at most.

I'm barely ten minutes into this movie when I start thinking, "This is one of those movies where some naive bulb (Patrick) shacks up with the wrong person (Esposito) and gets burned in the process". Well after twenty minutes that's definitely the road this movie was heading down with Patrick playing the everyday joe who's fearful of being a failure and the sexy ex-con Esposito who tries to twist him around her little finger to fulfill her plans.

Patrick and Esposito's chemistry works fine enough and the film features a couple of funny bits, but the story gets pretty convoluted as it reaches into the third act and by the end it has only gotten worse. So when it's all said and done, Backflash has played out like any number of typical straight to video quickies. There's adequate atmosphere and it features some recognizable faces in the supporting cast, but there's little freshness in the story department. As a movie on it's own merits, it's average, but Robert Patrick fans will probably want to check it out.