Blink of an Eye

Michael Pare stars as Sam Browning a psychic soldier who protects the CIA director's daughter from terrorists trying to snatch her and hold her hostage at first the daughter (Janis Lee) is skeptical of the whole affair but when he rescues her and becomes blinded in battle, it is up to Pare to become the psychic one man army the movie promises. One of the things about Blink Of An Eye that I had seen a long time ago back on TV, is that it somehow has aged very well. The whole premise of middle eastern terrorists who have been used as bad guys in the late 80's and early 90's has a timeliness that never seems to change. One of the more curious things about Blink Of An Eye is just how non-flag waving it is during a time where the USA was treated as a righter than right angle against anyone who opposed us. Indeed with our American psychic hero is an Arab good guy fighting against the terrorists as well as an anti-Israel slant which shows the Israeli army willing to force America in a hostage situation to gain political ambitions. Blink Of An Eye is nothing more than an average action flick with a big body-count and a hero who steps up to save the day, however the most interesting factors is the beginning which has Pare and his Arab friend discussing the politics of the Middle East and US. It becomes almost fascinating enough to watch but due to the somewhat sluggish pace and the so-so story the movie rather becomes a flawed action flick with interesting elements.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

I must admit, I didn't expect Paré to outdo Killing Streets in sheer stupidity of concept and characters(the lead literally completely flip-flops in less than ten minutes), in the hammy acting(for all concerned), in how one-dimensional everyone is(and don't get me started on the "good guys" being obnoxious), and in general being below average. He managed it. This opens with a woman running, screaming for her mother, presumably because she realized what film she's in. No, it's said parent having a nightmare. After calming myself from the initial shock of learning that yet another of these would be have someone be psychic(and for it to be the "proof" that sets the plot in motion), I found comfort in the fact that at least it wasn't Michael. That was rather short-lived. Moments later, we get the first of several shots where he remains still, staring creepily breathing Darth Vader-style, channelling his ESPN or whatever(OK, that joke was funnier in Scary Movie 3... and that was a sentence high on the list of "things I never expected to actually write"). Are all his flicks this dumb? At least these two have some good action. Well, so does Deadly Heroes, but it loses serious points for injecting a useless car chase(stock footage, no less!) to cheaply extend the running time. Bad Moon is basically one long tease, unless what you want from it is a Lassie picture. While he didn't manage to screw up Village of the Damned, that one *was* directed by John Carpenter. Well, this one isn't boring, it keeps a decent pace, and it puts a couple of cool guns on the screen(with that said, the VHS I got this on played a trailer for Hard Boiled before this started, and this doesn't stand up at all to that). The dialog has moments where it doesn't suck. There is plenty of bloody violence and infrequent moderate language in this. I recommend this to aficionados of B-cinema. 3/10

Michael Pare stars as Sam Browning, a super soldier that may have psychic powers, which come in handy when he finds himself the only one able to defend a woman from terrorists in this interesting actioner which gets by, sheerly by the talent of Pare and a swift pace.Also the action sequences are very well put together and exciting to watch, even if they are somewhat derivative of Rambo, that's why Pare is such a big help, he can actually act and he makes a very convincing hero in what could've been just another undistinguished actioner. However to be fair some of it isn't all that successful, but in anycase this much better than what you'd expect from a straight to video actioner. Also some of the acting from the cast is rather dull.

3/5 Matt Bronson

A potential politically motivated kidnapping in Turkey, with the intended victim being daughter to the National Director of the C.I.A., calls for extraordinary preventative measures. Therefore, when the intelligence agency chief's wife relates of foreboding nightmares involving the girl, Kathryn, the ace of the C.I.A.s "Psychic Operations Warfare Unit", Sam Browning ( Michael Paré), is called upon to ensure her safekeeping. Browning is, as revealed by the script, from a tradition of "Spirit Warriors" and possesses a proved wild talent of foresight. Nonetheless when, after his alerts to supervisors in a Kurdish refugee camp are scorned and the kidnapping occurs, his purpose is altered from giving warning to attempting a rescue of Kathryn. He frees her, over natural physical objections of her captors, and subsequently the largest portion of the work becomes a cartoonish affair, with Sam actually pausing during gun battles to perform as a seer, this while stunt performers take over the action under the guidance of stunt coordinator Ric Roman Waugh, who plays ably in a small rôle while leading his charges well, as he later does with his entire cast as director of the well-crafted James Caan/Matthew Modine suspense feature IN THE SHADOWS. Shot in Israel with a meagre budget, production values are poor throughout, with frequent flaws in continuity, such as when one severely injured character periodically disdains effects of an apparently self-cauterizing gunshot wound but, after all, one is not expected to dwell upon such shortcomings amid a spate of small unit engagements and exploits of derring-do. Occasionally the storyline shifts to two negotiating parties, one representing the kidnappers (of unidentified nationality), the other C.I.A. personnel, and there is a clever final twist scripted in for these conversationalists, but the object of the movie is to show action, and there is plenty of that, with a break now and then to allow for a patriotic soliloquy. An element of suspense is missing as there can be no question of the outcome, and one need not have prescience to realize it.