Il volto del terrore

Despite the low rent nature of the production, FACE OF TERROR is quite fun to watch and serves well as an okay timewaster. It's an action thriller that manages to create a sequence of nifty set-pieces on what is an obviously low budget. There are the requisite fist fights, shoot-outs and foot chases on display here, none of them spectacular but all of them serviceable enough in their own way.

The simple storyline feels like it belongs in a Steven Seagal type movie. It sees an American travelling to Barcelona to investigate the disappearance of his sister. His only lead is a sleazy photographer but before long he gets drawn into a world of terrorism and murder. The film benefits from location shooting in Barcelona which brings out the highs and lows of the city.

The American actors tend to give less naturalistic performances than their Spanish counterparts. Certainly Ricky Schroder makes for a rather dull leading man despite his best efforts; Paulina Galvez is much better as the love interest he teams up with along the way. The villains are rather weak and ineffectual here, particularly SKYLINE's Eric Balfour, although Dean Haglund (who played one of the Lone Gunmen in THE X-FILES) is having a ball as the aforementioned photographer, his character oozing slime throughout. FACE OF TERROR is no great shakes as a movie but I liked it all the same.

As someone already said the plot is quite predictable and the characters are not too realistic. The acting is fine. The kind of movie you enjoy on TV and easily forget. That sounds like a 5, so, why did I give it a 7?

Because of something that is extremely hard to see in a movie directed by an American director. Something we, spaniards, appreciate. It's as simple as the title says: Spain looks quite like Spain. When you're used to see Spain in movies as some sort of mix between Mexico, Spain in the 50's and random stuff* it's nice to see a movie where, even if some of the character and scenes are not too credible, Spain does not look like a grotesque parody of itself.

*By random stuff I mean like when in Mission Impossible (don't remember which one (2?)) they mixed at random different traditions from different parts of Spain. (Quite as if the movie said "Los Angeles", and you had the Statue of Liberty, the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Bellagio casino and the Grand Canyon all at the same time.

So, the movie itself is more like a 5-6, but it had a +1-2 for that.

This movie trots out its throw-away story with all the cache of a very bad example of a TV movie. All the elements prove it: a predictable plot; a formulaic screenplay; cardboard cutout characters; hackneyed dialogue often delivered with the conviction of someone reading from a cue-card; clichéd situations; neat "just add water and stir" fight scenes; caricature archetypes. The baddies are just a little too cool to be real and Nick Schroder's rebellious good guy role is so predictable that you can almost see the painted footstep positions in every scene. I didn't bother to watch it through, because the outcome's fairly obvious from seeing just the first 20 minutes.

Rick Schroeder really wears the mustache well in this movie. Let me tell you Rick has come a long way since the early days of Silver Spoons. You must give this guy some credit though, you have to make a living somehow. I would have to rate this a D movie. Special effects are some of the worst I have ever seen in a movie. Does anyone know if this made it into any theaters anywhere in the world? I have never acted a day in my life and am confident I could play the role Rick Schroeder played in this movie a 100 times better than he did.

Most importantly lets not forget the mustache. I definitely could not have worn the mustache as well as Rick.

It's obvious the director, Bryan Goeres, loves Barcelona. That's the best thing that can be said about this movie that has a look of made for television all over the place. Mr. Goeres likes to work with light weight actors as was also the case with his "Art Heist" that also was shot in Barcelona.

The story tries to capitalize on the world of fashion, crime and terrorism at the same time. This tale of how a Los Angeles detective goes looking for his lost sister Faith after not hearing from her in quite some time, rings false from the opening scenes and the end result is a film that while not horrible to watch, is just as predictable and trite as could be expected with this director at the helm.

"The Face of Terror" has one of the worst performances by an actor in recent memory: Rick Shroeder. His Nick Harper is a man who doesn't register an ounce of emotion throughout the movie. His scenes with lovely Paulina Galvez show absolutely no spark between them. The rest of the cast doesn't have anything to do in a story that doesn't go anywhere because the whole thing is unbelievable.