Brazen Impact

The search for the world's least interesting movie poster might be at an end; the one for Brazen Impact looks like a couple who aren't getting along decided to pose in front of an expensive car that they don't really own but took the photo in order to pretend they do.

The film itself popped up on Plex here in the UK this week, and is as nightmarishly low-rent as the poster suggests. The star names here are George Stover, from Don Dohler films, and Sharon Smyth, who was a child actress in Dark Shadows. The rest of the cast come across as elderly relatives, who've had their arms twisted into appearing in the film, or someone's buddies who are all trying to act tough for the camera.

From what I saw of it the most noteworthy thing about Brazen Impact is the name of the lead character...which I'll never get away with mentioning here... the PG-13 version of the name would be 'Excrement Charlie'. At one point he goes off on an overseas trip, merely so that they can cut in someone's holiday video of Madrid, all filmed from a speeding coach and on a different format to the rest of the film! I have to confess that I couldn't make it much more than half an hour into Brazen Impact, but what I did see wasn't very brazen and there wasn't much impact either, just lots of yakking in cheap hotel rooms. A heir apparent to 'The Guy From Harlem' school of filmmaking inertia.

It's a crime movie that's got its all: the beautiful missing girl, a questionable hero, witness protection, and a mysterious villain. Unlike most independent, low budget movies, this one has a surprising talented cast. Standouts include: George Stover as the Chief Inspector, Sharon Smyth Lentz as Sarah and Dinka Doll as Vika. Veteran movie star Helene Udy, whose TV and Film career took off after portraying one of the main characters in the movie "My Bloody Valentine", gave an emotional performance.

Director Mark Byrne incorporated all his training and experiences from his past films to make a fine movie. Granted, Brazen Impact will not be nominated for an Oscar but it's an enjoyable film. ...and if it had the financial backing of Major Studio, you'd be seeing this on HBO.

It's good but a lot of errors such as the gun sounds are way to loud. The sound mixing in some parts are high and low. The acting isn't the best. Had some joyful moments but kind of got lost in the story line. For me it was longer than it should. I see the cast did have a lot of fun making this. A crime story that just got lost in the making.