Blast

It's like a pretty well written action movie, but ruined by miscasting and baaad music. I watched it to the end and I wasn't bored a bit; the writing and production value are the best you could have if you're not Renny Harlin & Shane Black. It has helicopters being smashed with rams, pretty good plot twists etc. The bad guys are stereotypes based on Die Hard etc., but Vinnie Jones is always believable as a tough guy. But come on, Eddie Griffin in a role written for Bruce Willis or Jason Statham?! I like Griffin, he is funny as hell, but as a macho fighter... no, I don't buy it. Breckin Meyer, same thing. Good, good actor, but he laughed too much here. I understand he was supposed to be the comic relief - but wait, wasn't Eddie Griffin the comic relief?! See what I mean? Confusing miscasting. But all in all, beyond the casting and the absurd music, it was surprisingly enjoyable. A decent effort the kind that Steven Seagal never managed to pull.

There are some good points and bad points to the movie.

Good Points:

1. Good special effects 2. Great action scenes 3. Funny at times

Bad Points:

1. Acting at some points isn't great 2. Tries to be like die hard 3. Eddie Grifin ain't an action man

It is a very different film for Eddie griffin. Most of his film are comedy but to be honest action man is not his stile. He does do OK but not good enough. So if you are looking for the spectacular you are looking at the wrong film but if you want to just watch a action film watch it.

It could have been worse if it was longer.

I rented this movie based on the synopsis on the back. Here is the first line: "Former Navy Seal Lamont Dixon (Eddie Griffin) thought he left his fighting days behind when he became a tugboat captain... "

Okay I really rented the movie based on my vision of the pitch someone had to give to get this movie made.

My vision of the pitch:

"Okay.... Eddie Griffin.... okay... stay with me.... Eddie griffin is a retired Navy Seal.... okay.... stay with me.... now he's a tug boat captain!.... okay stay with me.... he fights terrorists from his tug boat! HAHAHAHA... but it's not funny... okay, okay, stay with me.... "

I had to see THAT movie.

Turns out Griffin is a firefighter!???!?! WHAAAA?? I thought he was a navy seal! I wanted Navy Seal action. He's a firefighter with PTSD?!?!? Not funny, bad acting, lame action. Don't get me wrong, I am usually okay with bad movies. But I need to see some kind of over the top, outrageous, action scenes. The Transporter 2 that was a bad movie worth seeing. I would even see that again. I wanna see a jet ski chase down a bus on the freeway in every bad action movie!

The only funny part of this movie is the explanation from Breckin Meyer about why his parents named him Jamal. I'm naming my kid Jamal.

All in all unless your a HUGE Eddie Griffin fan. NEVER SEE THIS MOVIE! EVER!

If you have watched a lot of B movies as I have, you have probably watched your share of "Die Hard" rip-offs. So you might be wondering how the "Die Hard" rip-off "Blast" differentiates itself from others. Well, for one thing, it's the rare rip-off to cast a minority in the hero role. And the screenplay was written by Steven E. de Souza, the screenwriter of "Die Hard"! Maybe de Souza thought that since everyone was ripping him off, he might as well rip himself off.

However, this rip-off falls far short of de Souza's previous glory. For one thing, parts of the script are really inadequately written. Both the heroic lead and the prime villain are pretty thin. The actors don't get enough to aid them, so their characters end up being very uninteresting.

Actually, most of the faults found in "Blast" are not due to de Souza. The movie has one of the most grossly miscast leads I have seen in a movie for a long time. While Eddie Griffin can be funny in comedic roles, seeing him trying to act like an ex Navy SEAL is ludicrous. Another problem is with the look of the movie. While this movie had a budget much higher than many rip-offs of "Die Hard", only a few brief moments look slick and expensive; most of the movie looks like it was done with a television budget. As for action, the action goes wrong in every way you can think of, from its editing to its direction. There's absolutely no excitement to be experienced. The entire movie has a ho- hum feeling to it.

If you want to see a *good* rip-off of "Die Hard", I suggest you watch the Dolph Lundgren movie "Command Performance".

Compared to direct to video-DVD movies made nowadays "Blast" is pretty good. It doesn't pretend to be original. But it does deliver on action and humor. Eddie Griffin maybe not entirely convincing as a serious action hero,he is still better than Steven Seagal on a good day. As a matter of fact this movie is far superior to the stuff that Steven Seagal has made in the last years. So why are people so harsh when reviewing this movie. To be fair there are scenes that remind you that this is a C movie and that the acting is barely passable. Still there are quite few funny interactions between Eddie Griffin and Breckin Meyer that make it worth viewing. You should not see this movie as a serious action movie. It's more of a parody with some serious elements in it. It entertains!