Zero Tolerance

Though I will always recognize PM Entertainment and director Joseph Merhi for being the main producers of karate B-movies from the 1990s, a flick like ZERO TOLERANCE reminds me that they were in fact more versatile when it came to the action department. This is an ambitious, occasionally cool but ultimately mild shoot-em-up picture that foolishly takes a "less is more" method when it would have been better off embracing excess. Particular fans of Robert "T-1000" Patrick may apply.

The story: When his family is murdered and his own life endangered by a powerful drug cartel, an FBI agent (Patrick) becomes a vigilante deadest on revenge.

As much as I like ol' Joe Merhi, I wish that a more inventive director had helmed this one and brought more life to the potential-filled plot. PM regularly made films that were a lick or two above the dramatic average of competitors, but here, it unsuccessfully attempts to navigate a precisely-balanced screenplay. John Flynn or Andrew Davis might have taken the screenplay and coordinated it into an escalating action-thriller, whereas Merhi bloats the first half of the picture with plot while skimping on action, then reverses the formula for the second half. It's a competent film, definitely, but the dramatic scenes appear awkwardly-placed and the actors often underwhelm in their performances.

Action-wise, the movie does well enough but could achieve more. Much to my surprise, there was a smattering of fight scenes, though none of them particularly stood out. The highlights are several exhibitions of bullet ballet, clearly modeled after John Woo's output. Viewed in a vacuum, the handful of large-scale shootouts is furious and entertaining. However, other films have had better results in westernizing the HARD BOILED standard: NEMESIS and even HARD JUSTICE are both relatively cheap films that alternatively did a better job of aping Woo's style and improvising with the resources they had. ZERO TOLERANCE features occasionally cool stuntwork and a handful of unique guns, but I've seen much better.

Strong production values are balanced out by a surprisingly grim tone, making this an interesting action flick to watch but not necessarily a fun one. I declare it to be on the low side of average: worth catching on TV, maybe worth renting digitally, but probably not worthy of purchase.

Robert Patrick is quite the little terrier in this routine actioner about a wronged man hell bent on revenge (now, that's what I call a plot!) Patrick's claim to fame is that he looks a bit like Peter Weller (I'm gonna live forever!) And also played a robot in 'Terminator 2' (Now, that's what I call a stretch!) Here, he sports a blonde, bouffant, fifties rockabilly barnet and possibly the tightest pair of jeans I've ever seen in a movie. It's amazing he can talk, let alone roll around incessantly in those things, it's truly impressive, believe me. The whole ensemble makes him look like a reject from a Jimmy Dean look alike contest for violation of the the age limit. A rebel without a pause, he systematically blows away countless mafiosi without seeming to sweat. Patrick has devised a full proof method of combating the mafia which is basically 'duck and cover'. Frankly, I'm amazed he can even move, but it works. Despite having very loosely fitting standard Italian suits, the bad guys have not learned the concept of 'duck and cover' and continuously stand in plain site waiting for the cue to be riddled with bullets. They do not learn from this and just carry on with the same strategy. Back at bad guy central, the Mafia bosses scratch their heads over Patrick's astonishing success and decide that war has well and truly been declared on them, albeit from Lilliput. It can only end in one place. You guessed it, an abandoned warehouse. Or maybe they only look abandoned because they're so big. And full of explosions. Patrick, continuing his zero tolerance of gun control (and underwear judging by the EXCRUTIATING tightness of those jeans), proceeds to single handedly demolish Las Vegas, best described in a better film elsewhere as 'a suitably biblical ending to the place.'

The only other film I can recall with a similar looking lead with an eerily familiar pair of trousers is in 'Blue Jean Cop' AKA 'Shakedown', in which our hero, despite having very and I mean VERY tight jeans; manages to run, jump and hang off the wheels of a plane. Despite being called 'Shakedown', nothing shakes in his jeans, believe me. The actor in that film was a chap called Peter Weller. Funny, that.

Cool action B movie from the 90's with Robert Patrick

ZERO TOLERANCE was a recent "bargain bin" DVD purchase and in all honesty I threw it into the player this weekend as an antidote after watching "World Trade Center," figuring that after watching such a heavy-duty drama I needed to see something empty-headed as a chaser. In that regard, ZERO TOLERANCE didn't disappoint. It's a by-the-numbers revenge fantasy whose "plot" (scumbag drug dealers kill an FBI agent's family, so he goes rogue and hunts them down one by one) was probably written on a cocktail napkin, but there's so much wall to wall violence, carnage, and gunfire going off during its short running time that you barely have time to notice how silly the whole thing is. Robert Patrick of "Terminator 2" fame plays our FBI hero, who racks up some pretty impressive frequent flyer miles as he criss crosses the country picking off the heads of the "White Hand" drug cartel in Las Vegas, in New Orleans, and all points in between. My wife and I found it extremely funny after a while that there are dozens and dozens of goons firing thousands of rounds of ammunition at our hero throughout this movie and none of them even come close to hitting him, meanwhile Patrick can pop up from his hiding spots with two nine-millimeters clutched in his hands, fire off two shots at a time, and yet he hits his target every time. I didn't bother to try and keep a body count for this movie but I'm sure the grand total must've been astronomical. Nothing here hasn't already been done before in countless other shoot-em-up action movies like the "Death Wish" or "Punisher" films (to name but a few) but it sure is a fun ride while it's playing! If you find "Zero Tolerance" for less than five bucks (like I did) then by all means, take the ride.

Zero Tolerance stars Robert Patrick as an FBI man with wife played by real life wife Barbara Patrick and two children. He gets an assignment to bring back from Mexico a notorious drug lord in Titus Welliver.

Things start to pop and don't let up for a minute when Welliver escapes custody with Patrick's two other agents and a whole lot of Welliver's men escape.

Welliver then gets the brilliant idea to take Patrick's family hostage and then confront Patrick and force him to take him across the border under the guise of custody, Welliver and a whole lot of illegal heroin. Works too and then he kills Patrick's family and nearly blows Patrick up in a limousine.

After that it's personal as Patrick whom we see a hint of his violent nature during Welliver's escape, goes full blown Rambo. The body count may run into triple digits. Did Sly Stallone ever do that well? Patrick is after the rest of Welliver's associates a five member board of a drug gang known as the White Hand. Do we have to ask if he succeeds?

If you like chase scenes, lots of bloody violence, and plenty of action you'll love Zero Tolerance. Makes one overlook a whole lot of flaws in the writing and the direction.