Power Play

Think of a no-budget version of China Syndrome being directed by a film student who idolizes John Woo and you'll get 'Power Play.' The idea was good, but the execution, acting, and dialog absolutely killed it, not to mention ridiculous amounts of violence and disaster sequences that was used to compensate for lack of substance and development of the more interesting parts of the movie.

This is the story of a reporter investigating the disappearance of three members of a guerrilla activist group who mysteriously went missing after they broke into the offices of a power plant that is suspected to be causing a frenzy of earthquake. The rather cavalier reporter, going up against what should've been a more ruthless bunch of company execs, is chased around town (along with anyone he speaks to) in order to "clean" whatever conclusive evidence might remain of the plant's faults.

Unfortunately, there is no real sense of emergency because the characters interact with much hesitancy, coupled with idiotic dialog and a lot of horrible acting. Not to mention, the viewer, who may only be attracted to the movie for it's action genre appeal, is forced to endure a mounting body count and ridiculous amounts of violent shoot em-ups plus earthquake disaster scenes. All of the focus was put in the wrong place to apologetically compensate for the lack of direction and more interesting sequence of events that should've propelled the story. It might've been much better had the filmmakers focused more on a thriller, and paid greater attention to developing the corruption aspects of this story. Creepy villains, a naive reporter, and those who attempt to alert the reporter of the wrong-doing afoot. It is formulaic, but at least it would've been entertaining.

The blurb on the DVD box made this sound very promising.

From the first scene, one had to wonder just what sort of production this was going to be. Thank goodness the bad guys shot that hysterical shrieking greenie - her acting was just too much to bear. I think we were all wanting to do that ourselves.

The earthquake scenes were so drawn out and repetitive, and the props so fake.

As for the first car chase, since when has every car involved in every car smash burst into flames?? (I think the German APCs did in Eagles Dare). The second car chase, when every car in LA was immobilized by the quake our second shrieker was able to talk on her mobile, avoid all the wrecks, and the pursuer was equally immune from the chaos. Like the first scene, it was a mercy when the poor girl perished.

Now, the ultimate destruction of the power plant was about as awful as the earthquake scenes.

Overall, perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen.

i saw this film and couldn't not tell you what it was about. It is very poor.

Dylan Walsh (who played Nash) appeared to me wooden and showed no sign of emotion whatsoever. He looked like he found himself on the film set but did not know why he was there nor what he had to do. He was supposed to play a journalist who was also a heart-throb (I DON'T THINK SO!!! - NO WAY) and having woman fall at his feet. What a joke!

Alison Eastwood looked bemused and no wonder (Dean Cain (who is a heart-throb) was set to play 'Nash' but for some reason he did not take the part - a very wise guy indeed) finding herself faced with a completely different co-star to Dean, who wouldn't look bemused.

My main concern with this film was that Nash (Walsh) spent most of his time spying on various people and getting caught. He was then in a fight and every time he seemed to be beaten pretty badly BUT SHOWED NO SIGNS WHATSOEVER OF ANY INJURIES (THIS INCLUDED FALLING ABOUT 20 FEET AND STILL GETTING UP WITH NO SIGNS OF INJURY) doesn't this send the wrong message to people, in that you won't be hurt whether you fall 20 feet or are beaten pretty badly.

My advice watch something else.

I have to finish watching a movie once I start, regardless of how bad it is. This movie was agonizing to sit through. The "sparkling" bullets, the reporter with "ninja" like moves, the way the bad guys shoot hundreds and hundreds of bullets and only seem to hit innocent bystanders, the predictable outcome and all the bad acting was just horrible. Like the girl who finds the reporter in her friends apartment and goes from "what the heck are you doing in here (holding a bat)" to "hey, you're cute, wanna @#$%!???" in like 1.2 seconds.... Just bad.... Save yourself an hour and forty minutes and go play with your kids (or dog)!

Two days after seeing this thing, I'm still in agony over HAVING seen it. It's so bad, you have to wonder how anyone could write this tripe, much less allow it to be loose on the general public. Stilted acting, a leading man who looks like he's sleepwalking, and Alison Eastwood embarrassing herself. The action is indicative of low budget movie making, which means it is painfully bad. The plot? Well, if you were 6 years old, then you could have written this movie. Simplistic, idealistic, and just plain lame.