Backflash

I'm barely ten minutes into this movie when I start thinking, "This is one of those movies where some naive bulb (Patrick) shacks up with the wrong person (Esposito) and gets burned in the process". Well after twenty minutes that's definitely the road this movie was heading down with Patrick playing the everyday joe who's fearful of being a failure and the sexy ex-con Esposito who tries to twist him around her little finger to fulfill her plans.

Patrick and Esposito's chemistry works fine enough and the film features a couple of funny bits, but the story gets pretty convoluted as it reaches into the third act and by the end it has only gotten worse. So when it's all said and done, Backflash has played out like any number of typical straight to video quickies. There's adequate atmosphere and it features some recognizable faces in the supporting cast, but there's little freshness in the story department. As a movie on it's own merits, it's average, but Robert Patrick fans will probably want to check it out.

Gritty business. Very entertaining.

Low Budget. No flashy stuff. Sexy leading lady, good character actors. Parched-out desert locales. Cryptic but effective script with plenty of good twists.

This is the kind of movie John Payne made when he switched from playing handsome singing A-leads to laconic tough guys back in the 1950s. Kansas City Confidential, for example.

Later on Lance Hendricksen did a lot of good stuff like this. Maybe Robert Patrick is the new LH.

What more could you ask for?

In this film, Melissa Joan Hart leaves Sabrina behind and gives a hilariously sarcastic and sexy performance as a wise-ass, hard-drinking, prostitute-turned-back room mortician. Unfortunately, Melissa's screen time is limited and the viewer is left with a film that mostly comes across as an edited-for-television version of itself. Think Wild Things with all the sex removed and Bill Murray's screen time cut dramatically. My recommendation is to use scene select to watch Melissa prove she can really deliver as an actress, then go watch Body Heat.

For a low-budget movie, BACKFLASH looks pretty good. The cinematography is crisp and bright, and while some scenes look a little sparse at times, it never looks really cheap. The problem instead is with the screenplay. It plays like a first draft - scenes go by v-e-r-y slowly, when the story should play out quicker and tighter. There's no spark, and that includes the various twists and turns - you'll most likely have seen most of them before, so they aren't a surprise. The movie tries to jerk us around more near the end, but the twists in this part aren't believable and/or just lead to plot holes. And while Robert Patrick isn't a bad actor, he's wrong for a role that more belongs to someone who can convincingly play a little dim and not totally sure of things. And sadly, Michael J. Pollard is wasted in a role that just gives him two minutes of screen time at most.

The camera loves Jennifer Esposito in this dark comedy. Great acting and directing, this film takes you on a ride through crime and sick humor. Melissa Joan Hart is hilarious in this film. If you like Quentin Tarantino films, you'll love this one.