Punto di contatto

With modest budgets, Edgewood Entertainment's action films do manage to entertain. They're paced well, by and large. The action is what they can afford. Something blows up in every movie, and sometimes three or four somethings blow up. That's why people watch action films, and there's plenty of action in this one. There's generally a one-dimensional bad guy (JK Roberts, Rolland, the wonderfully bald Bruce Campbell terrorist), and this one has the cliche gang of small town thugs (none of these films are exactly advertisements for moving to Vermont, but Edgewood is not the Tourist Board, after all) and one more complicated and subtle bad guy.

There's always a B-plot romance, and the one in here is quite tepid, more a mild flirtation. I like the female character and actress, but if you're hoping for an R-rated sex scene, nope. Not in this one.

These films get skewered by the MST/Rifftrax guys, whom I'm a fan of, but these films are far and away above what they usually skewer. If you can't see that, it's because you are judging not the film, but the insults in riffing, like being a bully laughing along while a smarter kid makes fun of the kid in class who might just grow up to become Bill Gates. Quit doing that.

While it's true that this is a bit of a dorky-looking action hero, he's a good actor. And I just watched 2 years worth of Jack Ryan Amazon TV shows with the dorkiest looking Jack Ryan I've ever seen (and dorkier than I could have imagined), so that's hardly specific to Edgewood. In fact, I think that makes viewer identification with the hero easier. Hey, look, it's an average looking Joe, that's me, says the male viewer. I think it's a smart choice.

I could rate this higher to bring up the average rating, but I honestly think 4-5 stars is about right. You're never bored. It's interesting enough to keep me from playing video games while I'm watching the movies. The mystery in this one is pretty well done. Crap blows up. You spent 90 minutes being entertained. Isn't that the whole point?

Action thriller. A CIA agent aborts his mission but serves life for murder anyway. He is sprung from the prison to do one more job... Don Mogavero is excellent. Everything is good about this film except the wife's acting. Thankfully, she is not there long enough to spoil this film. Not terribly original but all the familiar bits are nicely put together, the result is highly entertaining.

I've seen many Edgewood studio movies, mainly due to MST3K and Rifftrax. Time Chasers was my introduction to the studio and I have also seen Radical Jack, Ice Breakers, some spider film I can't remember t he title to and this one, there may have been one more...Anyways, the movies are usually kind of bad, but they are not too horrible, seems they are getting better as they go as the spider one was a pretty good bad film. This one was not really good, but it was interesting as I was wondering where it was going after the hero got caught.

The story, a man leads a double life, his wife thinks he is a normal tech and who could blame her as the guy looks like he would have trouble mowing the lawn without injuring himself; however, he is a spy! A bad one as he keeps goofing up, still not sure how a guy can just walk in and make a cake for an ambassador. Well he fails the assassination attempt, gets arrested, loses wife and escapes prison wearing an overly large jumpsuit and while trying to expose an attempt to blow up the congressional building he wears a overly large crisp sweater. Seriously, who was in charge of the wardrobe!

As I said, I was interested to see where it was going because at first I thought it was going to be a very cheap True Lies, but the former wife and child have nothing to do with most of the film. The lead looks horrible and it does not help that he is wearing comically burnt clothes during most of the action scenes. The lady cop seems tacked on and the ending really did not have a good resolution, but it did grab my attention I guess...

After CIA operative Sebastian Dellacourt (Don Mogavero) botches an assassination attempt, he's tried and sentenced to jail. Sometime later, one of Dellacourt's old bosses offers him a chance at freedom if he'll complete one last mission - bust up a dangerous militia bent on destroying the US government.

I think I've rated every movie I've seen from Edgewood Studios a 3/10. For Pressure Point, there are so many problems I could point to that it's really not worth the time and/or effort. The screenplay, the dialogue, the acting, the fight choreography - it's all so hopelessly pathetic. I suppose, however, that one of the biggest problems with Pressure Point is lead actor (and writer) Don Mogavero. He's pretty much the antithesis of an action star. No offence meant toward the man, but Mogavero looks more like he should be playing an accountant rather than a CIA hitman. He's got a dad bad, a disappearing hairline, and all the athletic grace you'd expect from a middle-age white dude. Now that i've written that, I realize he doesn't sound that dissimilar to me. Hey, maybe I'm an action star and I just don't know it!

There are many, many little things about Pressure Point that left me scratching my head. Things like: What's up with the total lack of security at that maximum security prison? I think I saw a total of three guards - and two of those were on a smoke break. Or, where is this film supposed to be taking place? Vermont? Delaware? Who knows? Or, is it really that easy to steal a helicopter from a group of law enforcement agents? It's like taking candy from a baby. Or, could Dellacourt's prison escape have been any more awkward looking? He can't run very fast, he has all the jumping ability of a walrus, and he's wearing a prison outfit that's about three sizes too big. Smooth it ain't. Or . . . well, you get the idea. From an empty six-pack of Diet Coke used as a weapon to sticks of dynamite in a microwave, there's a lot here to ponder.

Finally, I want to mention two things in Pressure Point that I actually enjoyed. First, Steve Railsback easily acts circles around everyone else in the cast. He also makes a fantastic baddie. The movie might have been better had he had more screen time, but i'm sure they didn't have the budget for that. Second, it was "nice" spotting Matthew Bruch in a small role. If you're a "fan" of the Edgewood Studios' classic Time Chasers, then you're all too familiar with Bruch. Go Castleton!

3/10

PRESSURE POINT was a decently-shot and directed, but badly-acted run-of-the-mill action/spy drama. This film was not ultra-low-budget, since there was some actual expensive-looking location shooting in Chile and other locales. It was merely low budget. The action scenes are fairly well-staged and nicely edited. They also made good use of library music to make the movie seem more expensive than it is.

Steve Railsback made a quite good villain. I've always thought that he was a compelling presence in most of the productions he has appeared in. Larry Linville from MASH was definitely phoning it in, in what appeared to be an attempt to channel G. Gordon Liddy. An impossible feat, since Liddy isn't dead yet. Sorry, Larry.

In spite of its decent production values and competent shooting style, make no mistake, this is merely a vanity production written by its utterly obscure "star", the balding and affectless Don Mogavero, a charisma sponge if there ever was one. Not only does he have no charisma of his own, but he sucks any out of anyone appearing in a scene with him. Makes Steven Seagal seem like Bruce Lee. According to the IMDb, he had one other film, Jeckyll Island. I must now pick that up to see how he would handle a movie (which, like this one, he also wrote himself) that has him as a master thief. Holy moly.

Let me specify that I paid $1 for this DVD, and it was well worth a buck for mindless entertainment value. I give it a FOUR, for its decent action-film directing and staging. Fans of low-budget action flicks might find this an interesting diversion for a couple hours. If you like Andy Sedaris films, you'll be in familiar territory here. More demanding moviegoers should stay away. And paying substantially more than a buck is not recommended.