Timebomb

**SPOILERS** Living a quiet life in L.A as a mild mannered watch repair man Eddie Kaye, Michael Biehn, one evening becomes Superman when he rushes into a burning apartment building saving a mother and her infant from curtain death.

Eddie doesn't know it but he's really not Eddie Kaye he's Oliver Dykstra and at the same time he was supposed to be dead for years but a person watching the TV news that evening Col. Taylor, Richard Jordan, does. He's was the one who had Oliver brainwashed and given a new name and memory, as Eddie Kaye, and now realizing that he's still alive is responsible for Eddie's being terminated like he should have been years ago.

High powered action/thriller "Timebomb" lacks a cohesive storyline with Eddie on the run with pretty Dr. Anna Nolmar, Pasty Kensit, his psychoanalyst who he got to know while he was repairing her late fathers expensive watch. Always on the run throughout the film the couple are chased by Col.Taylor's mind-controlled goons from L.A to Mexico to Arizona an finally back to L.A at the Duke Hotel for the final showdown between Eddie and the entire Taylor goon squad.It turns out that Eddie, or Oliver Dykstra in an other life, couldn't be corrupted by Col. Taylor & Co. to murder innocent people who the Colonel and his bosses high in government feel are a threat to "National Security".

Discarted and thrown away in a garbage dump Eddie miraculously survived and lived a quite and uneventful life until he came to the rescue of the woman and child in that burning building and since then he life was never the same again. Escaping from Taylor's men to Mexico Eddie realizes why he's a marked man when he sees a newspaper headline about Dean Jordan, Harvey Fuller, who's running for Attoreny General of the United States. Eddie then realizes that that's the main reason that he's to be killed as soon as possible ;to stop him from preventing Jordan's assassination at the Duke Hotel that coming Sunday.

Better then average action sequences with a wild shoot-out in a darkened and almost deserted porno theater with the porn flick still being projected on the screen as the bullets are flying and bodies dropping, what was the projectionist doing? was he asleep or on his lunch break? The final scene at the Duke Hotel was really something to see with all the light shut off as the assassin team with infra-red eyeglasses zero in on the guest speaker, Dean Jordan, for the kill.

Eddie saves the day, and Dean Jordan's life, by taking on the entire hit-team and slugging it out with them in the lobby and on the roof of the hotel with L.A police detective Sanchez, Raymond St. Jacques, coming to Eddie's aid just in the nick of time. The movie did touch on things back in 1990 that are very real today about a out of control government feeling that it's above the law and can do no wrong. As long as it has the power to control and intimidate those who dare to criticize or expose it.

The one thing that really disappointed me more then anything else in the movie "Timebomb" was the fact that Robert Culp, who played L.A's communications chief Phllips, was given top billing yet Culp was in less then two minutes of "Timebomb's" hour and a half screen time.

With elements from the many attempts of brainwashing by the US military we have here some action filled thriller from the point of view of one of the victims.

It was probably a story from the beginning with some time travel elements, as the amount of lives and resources to kill a medium level politician is absurd, unless he becomes very important in the future - but they had to cut out that part of the story for budget reason, but they kept the name of the movie.

With some popcorn and some friends - this is a great early 1990´s action/thriller movie to enjoy.

When I saw this film, I thought "Wow, this guy might be the next James Cameron." Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but director Avi Nesher has a sharp, distinctive action style, and a flair for technology and attention to detail. This is a rough, tough action film, with touches of science fiction thrown in. Performances are decent, although Michael Biehn still seems stuck in Kyle Reese/Dwayne Hicks mode. Unfortunately, Nesher went on to do a bunch of straight-to-video films, the interesting "Doppleganger" and produced a batch, the only decent one being "Automatic" which he didn't direct, but certainly has his style imprinted on it. I'm hoping he hasn't given up on his dream sci-fi project, "Hammerheads" which I've heard about years ago.

The always reliable Michael Biehn plays Eddy Kay, a watchmaker / repairman who, in a show of courage, rescues a woman & her baby from an apartment fire one night. Unfortunately, when news of this act reaches the airwaves, the wrong person finds out: government operative Colonel Taylor (Richard Jordan), who promptly sends his henchmen - a tough lot, but not a bright bunch - after the frightened Eddy, who finds that he actually does have the skills to combat them. He takes it on the lam, abducting psychoanalyst / customer Anna Nolmar (Patsy Kensit) to give him some much needed help in finding out why people would want him dead - and his true identity.

Writer / director Avi Nesher does a decent job with his premise, utilizing what is a pretty familiar plot and injecting a sci-fi angle as well as a "Manchurian Candidate" type story thread. The good thing is that the movie is tautly directed and edited; it has a good forward momentum. Its action scenes are intense enough that they do keep you watching. Things do get a little creepy and bizarre in terms of the brainwashing process. The movie does also have strong echoes of "The Terminator" with Biehn. The main reason why it really works at all is because Biehn is so believable. You can buy him as a normal, average guy - or, at least, a guy who *thinks* he's normal and average - who is overwhelmed at first but turns into a real kick ass hero. The pretty Kensit is good in her part. Jordan excels in one of his loathsome villain roles - he definitely overplays some scenes - and the under utilized Robert Culp and Raymond St. Jacques also do well. Among those playing Taylors' goons are super sexy Tracy Scoggins and none other than Billy Blanks.

B movie devotees will likely find this to be agreeable enough.

Six out of 10.

The funny thing about "Timebomb" is that it has a similar plot to those Matt Damon "Jason Bourne" flicks: the protagonist, played by Michael Biehn, seems like an average Joe until an experience sees him remembering repressed memories of his time as a government assassin.

Biehn was a strange casting choice. He was beautiful in all those movies he did with James Cameron, and utterly believable as a military man, even one from the future. But here? He's not even looking good. I don't know if it's the hair, or perhaps his looks were fading already, but for much of the movie he looks like Rik Mayall.

He's also just not that good in the role. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that the role sucks, but I found it hard to believe him as the bookish watchmaker he starts the movie as, or even the government assassin we find out he was. And this is the guy who was so believable, and unforgettable, as Corporal Hicks in "Aliens".

Far better in the movie is the beautiful Patsy Kensit. She seems to be quite roundly hated in her home country of the UK, and I'm not sure why. She's a believable actress, and it is easy to root for her.

Since this is a b-movie, aside from not having the best production values, the movie also has a lot more sex and violence than you would expect - and certainly far more than any of the "Bourne" movies. Particularly there is nudity. Biehn keeps having flashbacks to what looks like a Playboy video, featuring a buxom lady rolling around in the nude. Since Kensit plays the woman Biehn takes unwillingly on the run with him, you know eventually they are going to end up in the sack. Here, it happens much later than you'd expect, and the sex scene is kind of awkward. Kensit makes noises like she is in pain, and facial expressions that seem to indicate anger rather than lust. It's over pretty quickly, and isn't that great.

There isn't too much to recommend "Timebomb" for, really. There's one memorable scene with a chase through a porno theatre, shots of the screen showing a woman nude from the waste up, but sound effects indicating hardcore porn. When they finally reach the top-secret assassin training camp, there are some nifty effects of projections on the ceiling, and Biehn lies down in a machine that looks like a huge vagina. But these moments are few and far between - how many times have we seen the guy marked for death by shadowy characters, taking a sexy young woman on the run with him, fighting off the attackers and eventually falling in love? "Timebomb" is painted by numbers.