Critical Mass

I gave this film a 2 because it at least tried to have a plot and wasn't as awful as something like "Manos the Hands of Fate." It's the typical, international terrorists try to make a nuclear weapon to destroy the west coast schlock. That being said, I can now go into why this movie sucked so badly. Granted, someone makes a terrorist film every year. That's just how it goes. The problem with this one is how blatantly unoriginal it was. Not only was it the same old formula, throw in a German, a down on his luck, former cop security guard, and the whiny bitch senator and boom, you've got a movie. Udo and Treat seem to have really needed cash, or exposure, or both. The worst part is that I haven't even mentioned the blatantly stolen footage from Terminator 2. They stole every damn thing that they could use for the story. They didn't even change the Cyberdyne Systems name. Can we say "lawsuit" or "copyright infringement?"

Well this was a good laugh. The only problem it wasn't a comedy & was so trying to take itself seriously. The acting in the film is appalling, with Treat Williams (A good B actor at the best of times) walking through the film in a trance, & he wasn't even one of the worst in it. There was the usual stock women characters ( a bossy reporter with gleaming fangs) who was extremely irritating, & a leggy blonde in the tightest mini skirt who was laughably in the government & spent most of her time looking serious.

I wont go into the plot, as it was extremely boring & laughable, & I certainly wouldn't want to destroy any enjoyment for anyone who wants to waste 90 minutes of their life.

Apart from the first ten minutes, which are shamelessly lifted DIRECTLY from Terminator 2 (exactly the same shots - maybe they couldn't afford to do their own explosions)this is brilliant b-movie fare, encapsulating several Shakespearean themes in a twenty-first contextualisation, with that fine character actor Treat Williams expertly dealing with the conflicting emotions, weight problems and freak bad luck thrown at the lead man. Go and see this film: the dialogue may be a touch wooden, the effects a touch cheap and the acting a touch awful but you can see that there is a touch of class about this movie.

Awful. I can't even beleieve it got screened. The first 10 minutes ARE awful, as they did just use clips from Terminator (of the attack on the Cyberdyne building). I can't state how appalling it is. You can sit there and just know whats going to happen. One guy pushes a table and ... yes, you guessed it, it falls out of a window, then some guy unloads several clips of ammo into the police cars, etc etc.

The rest of the film hard my heart... Well, normal actually. The writer of the film could easily have been a 12 year old. From the first moment you hear the security guard saying "I always have bad luck" then someone else in the cast telling him "I hope your luck changes soon" every few minutes, you know the out-come of the movie.

Random slaughtering. A bad guy that makes you just want to punch him cos he's so pathetic, poor gun-fights, terrorists that would make you wet yourself - with laughter, and such.

The film takes itself too seriously. The only bonus is the young lady in it. She's a bit of cinematic "alright" ;)

This opens at the cyberdyne factory but it isn`t TERMINATOR 2 . It also involves a German leader leading his terrorist gang but it`s not DIE HARD . Oh hold on the plot more or less is DIE HARD , and do you know what`s worse ? THE WHOLE OPENING SEQUENCE IS TERMINATOR 2 !!!! . You read that right , the opening sequence of CRITICAL MASS contains lengthy scenes from James Cameron`s 1991 blockbuster and instantly reminded me of the straight to video film RANGERS that contains umpteen action scenes from other films . Can anyone tell me how legal this is because when RETURN OF THE KING is released I`m going to stick the three LORD OF THE RINGS films together and sell it to distributors claiming it`s my own original work.

On its own ( ie the bits that weren`t stolen from TERMINATOR or UNIVERSAL SOLDIER ) this movie isn`t up to much , it`s just another of those " Bunch of terrorists hold everyone to ransom " type movies though when a bunch of journalists get blown away the hero saves the one with long hair and firm breasts so you`ve got to admire his sense of priorities