The Last Hour

Years ago I watched a heavily- edited version of this grade-Z-copy of "Die Hard". Has Michael Pare on the lead, and I've never thought much of his films- but I must say that I liked this one! Reasons for this: The setting: yes, I'm a sucker for "claustrophobic action". The directing: considering the budget the guy does wonders with lights, slo-mo- action and a few cool angles to squeeze every bit of juice out of a poor plot. Okay, so maybe he borrows his share and then some from guys like J. McTiernan, but so what? So do plot and the sta... ahem, ACTORS.

Well alright; also the "actors" do an okay job- SLIGHTLY above the average (that is, in B-movie terms). Besides, it's kind of funny to see Danny Trejo in one of his earliest roles!

On a tie with Van Damme's "Sudden death". Would have beated it had the plot been better (they could have also added in a couple more bad guys).

If the names "Shannon Tweed" and "Michael Pare" appear at the top of a movie's video box, it's generally a good sign that you will be throwing away an hour and a half of your life by watching it. Luckily for me, I was able to accidently start watching this movie on cable. I didn't know what it was at first, and by the time I realized that Tweed and Pare were both in it, I had already been intrigued enough by the plot that I decided to keep watching.

The plot is basically like this: bad-guy is mad at some weasel-guy, so bad-guy kidnaps weasel-guy's wife until weasel-guy coughs up some serious $$$. Meanwhile, weasel-guy's wife's ex-husband(who, naturally, is a cop), stops by weasel-guy's house to pay his ex a visit. He discovers what is going on, so he and weasel-guy get a bunch of weapons(because all cops seem to carry a full arsenal of weapons in their trunk), and fight their way through a giant high-rise building until they reach the top, where the wife is being held. Shoot-shoot-shoot, blood-blood-blood, movie is over.

A b-movie? Certainly. But is it an entertaining b-movie? Definitely. The movie, despite it's many cliches, obvious one-liners, and obligatory action scenes, carries on at an electrifying pace and has a cinematic energy that make it hard to turn away from the TV. It's one of those movies that you will enjoy, but feel guilty about enjoying later.

And I should say that, once again, in the constant battle between Shannon Tweed's clothes and gravity, gravity wins. Once again, her dress falls to the ground for a quick 2-3 minute "love" scene. But luckily(or unluckily, depending on what you like), her "talents" are confined to the first 15 minutes of the film, and it's all business from that point on(though nakedness is replaced by torn and skimpy outfits).

Overall, a guilty pleasure.