Shadowchaser

I rented this one, and glad I did. Martin Kove is unfrozen(!) to battle terrorists that have taken over a high-rise hospital. Martin Kove has this easy-going, self-deprecating way about him in this film, so he basically makes the movie. The cinematography is really odd, perhaps it was shot on high-quality video, not film? Plot is an outright Die-Hard rip-off, with some unnecessary sci-fi twists. Despite the flaws, it's still kind of fun if you don't expect too much.

This movie is so much fun. A straight-to-video action movie that borrows plot elements from other films but adds charms all its own. You can criticize the script for not being terribly original but it's filled with memorable lines delivered with gusto by a good cast. The plot is brilliant so prepare yourself. A group of terrorists, headed by a Lundgrenesque android named Romulus, take over a hospital. Among the hostages is the daughter of the President (played by 44 year-old Meg Foster). The FBI is helpless to do anything so they decide to unfreeze the architect of the building. You see, the architect committed a crime and in this world criminals are cryogenically frozen. Well, somehow they goof up and unfreeze the wrong guy. Instead of the architect they get former pro-football player Martin Kove! He plays along so he doesn't have to be frozen again. Basically, the rest of the film is Kove "yippee-ki-yay"-ing his way through the hospital to rescue the hostages and inevitably fight the android. Look, I think we all know this isn't The English Patient. It's not even Die Hard. But for fans of popcorn action movies, this is a real treat. It's a movie full of quotable dialogue, fun clichés, and mindless action. It's a damn good time if you can relax and enjoy movies that aren't meant to be art.

A diabolical mashup of the above films, almost totally without merit. Meg Foster and Joss Ackland do their best with the clichéd script, but even they can't save this movie. Kove is not much cop as a leading man, and Frank Zag makes for a lousy Arnie impersonator.

As someone else has stated, this is a low budget cross between Terminator and Die Hard only without the massive appeal of either.

Its hard to believe the motive for hijacking a hospital in order to kidnap the president's daughter. Especially in one part where there is an opportunity to kidnap the president himself, the terrorists prefer to continue using the daughter instead.... yeah, she'll be worth more...

Martin Kove is cheesy but okay. Meg Foster's part seems like it was originally written with a teenage girl in mind. Frank Zagarino is amusing as the robot. And the rest of the cast go through the motions.

Another thing, this movie probably has the worst example of movie editing I've ever seen. In one scene, the cyborg seemingly has the two main characters trapped in the overhead vents, the next, the two leads are running away, without any explanation on how they escaped! There's other confusing scenes but if you watch the movie you'll see for yourself.

One of Kove's last lines in the picture reminds me of Eddie Murphy's character in Bowfinger when he yells out 'Got you, suckers!' I got a laugh out of that.

It kills some time but don't expect to get anything out of it.

So you take a slice of "Die Hard" and mix it with "Blade Runner", add a dash of "Demolition Man" and "The Terminator" and stir. Since all of the above movies did decently at the box office one can only expect that a combination of those movies can only create a mega-awesome, super-movie that surpasses all of them in every possible way, right? Well, no. It's an OK time-waster, though, and a fair enough effort overall. Actually, it does a pretty good job in the first part but gets increasingly stupid towards the end. At one point the evil cyborg is chasing the good guys and it is just blazing away with his fully automatic assault rifle, shooting at NOTHING. How many rounds fit on one of those clips? You think the robot's actually dead after falling down the elevator shaft? Hyuk, hyuk, gosh, no, he's still movin'! And you don't suppose he's gonna jump out again for one last grab at the good guys after he's been set on fire? No way, man! Same slop, different movie, but the budget is OK for something of this caliber and I've seen worse.