Vítimas da Justiça

Brent Huff's movie resembles those TV dramas of the 1950s in which a small group of people, confined to a small space, deal with a tense situation over a limited period of time.

The group of people are three couples: Alan, a hot-shot defense lawyer and his pregnant wife, Amy; the adulterous Bill and his latest bimbo, Sheri; Charles, a liberal black man and his white wife, Liz. The small space is Alan and Amy's comfortable but isolated vacation home, deep in the rustic woods, and the period of time is a bit less than 24 hours.

Tension occurs when these citified, somewhat pampered couples are confronted by two killers who proceed to threaten and torment them.

There's some predictable dialog about how quickly the city folks' veneer of civilization wears away when confronted with the reality of violence and there are the usual personal revelations which come about as the pressure increases. None of this is pushed enough to become pretentious and the result is an efficient 90-minute time-killer.

Acting is competent with, perhaps, Shawn Huff as "Sheri" making the strongest impression because of her flashy "star" quality. One wishes her part had been written with a bit more nuance.

James Brolin makes for a rather uninteresting "Alan" but he has the confidence, at age 53, to play a scene in which he strips down to a pair of black briefs. It can't compare to his "beefcake" scene in "The Car" but it still provides some welcome "eye candy."

Incidentally, if you're looking for this at the video store, you may find it under the alternate title: "Final Justice."