SALUDES

Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis both turn in good performances in `Too Young To Die'. Together, the two really make the audience believe the roles are real; unfortunately, the roles are real as the movie is based on a true story. The movie has not one upbeat moment in it, then again, it's not suppose to, as the subject matter-the true story-can be described as nothing other than a depressing tragedy. Can our society condone the killing of children in the name of justice, even for crimes like the one described in this story? Or, should children be held to a different, lesser, standard than an adult? `Too Young To Die' does not answer this question, but it makes one think about it. So, if you want a good, thought provoking movie, this is the one, but if you're looking for a laugh, get a different film, because this one will bring you only tears.

When I found `Detonator' at the video store and saw that it had Patrick Stewart and Pierce Brosnan in the staring roles, I got my hopes up. I thought, with Captain Pacard and James Bond in the movie, it should be pretty good. Then I saw that Alexandra Paul and Christopher Lee were also in the movie and thought with a cast like that, how could the film help but be good. Well, I found out.

The premise of the movie is not bad; a fanatical Russian military man (Christopher Lee) builds a nuclear bomb and tries to detonate it, on a train bound for Iran, to trigger a military resurrection of the former Soviet Union. Of course, an elite team of United Nations commandos (Patrick Stewart, Pierce Brosnan and Alexandra Paul) tries to stop the train before ultimate fireworks show takes place. Maybe not the most original storyline for an action/adventure movie, but it had some potential.

Unfortunately, not even this cast could make up for the horrible script `Detonator' offers. This is not the first script David Jackson has written, but it sure seems like it. In fact, the dialog is so dry and uninspired, that the chemistry one would expect between actors of this caliber is absolutely non-existent; which makes this movie boring, and a real disappointment.

There are two sure ways to identify a movie filmed on a low, low budget.

One is when blaring mistakes are made in the continuity and detail of the movie and not caught by the film maker. For instance, when a character is introduced as a sergeant in one scene, and then in the very next scene, he's a lieutenant. Or, when a boat is rented for a scene and the flashing red lights of the burglar alarm are left on outside the entrance to the cabin while filming the sequence. This in and of itself isn't that bad, but, when the scene starts off with a burglar breaking into the boat right next to said flashing red lights, one can't help but notice and wonder how that got missed. That's right, you guessed it, these are but a couple examples of the myriad of mistakes made in `Rangers'.

The amount of footage stolen from other movies is the other way to quickly ID a cheap movie. Of course, I've seen movies where a few seconds of a scene from a different film is used without it being noticed to much. But `Rangers' goes way to far in this respect. Twenty five minutes of footage is used in `Rangers' from the Chuck Norris flick `Invasion U.S.A'. In fact, during one stolen scene, one can see the main bad guy from `Invasion U.S.A', Richard Lynch, leading his band of terrorists on the assault of a government building; a scene which is suppose to be from `Rangers'. It's almost like the writer of `Rangers' ran out of ideas in the middle of making the movie and decided to stick any old chunk of film in there to fill the hole. A little advice to any aspiring film makers out there, don't steal footage from a really bad movie and add it to your own really bad movie. This only makes for a really, really bad movie. And that's my opinion of `Rangers', a really, really bad movie.