Dead in a Heartbeat

i disagree with peoples views on the story being original. While watching the film it occurred to me i had seen this film before, just not. This is exactly the same as 'Speed' just with people not buses and a different motive. Yes the pacemaker story has originality and yes the movie was quite entertaining but come on, doesnt anybody else realise this?

Granted, "Dead in a Heartbeat" (2002) is a made-for-television movie with fade out/fade in prompts for commercials, but.the script does include some entertaining elements. For one, Judge Reinhold plays an experienced explosives specialist / police lieutenant investigating some bizarre murders. Working with a cardiologist who installs pacemakers, Reinhold and his team sift through medical records to find the killer.

Add in mounting tensions - most involving worrisome countdowns - and possible romance and you have a decent storyline. But watch this one only if a Hallmark-style TV movie agrees with your viewing tastes.

The return of Judge Reinhold might have been a better title. We seldom see the one time 80's comedy king – and co-star of Beverly Hills Cop, so it's nice to see him carrying a reasonably entertaining movie.

Reinhold plays an unpaid bomb squad expert who stumbles upon a plot to blow up anything attached to a pacemaker. With the aid of a suspiciously coy and over-confident Doctor (Miller) the duo hunt down a mad bomber who has an obvious vendetta against someone in the medical profession.

Whilst Dead In A Heartbeat, is a lot lame, and a little oddball, the plot's so fresh and new that one can't helped but be engrossed in it. The idea of someone putting a bomb in pacemakers, is so preposterously absurd, that I guarantee most people will revel in the 90 odd minutes of thrills here. And it's nice to see Reinhold in a showy role for a change.

This is one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen. A madman who is going around placing bombs in pace makers, this movie combines the standard mad bomber movie with the standard medical chase movie and tosses in the cliche of the bad guy going after the family of the hero at the end.

The unique thing about this movie is that as bad as it is (and it is just wrong to make a movie like this) Judge Rinehold actually does one of his better acting jobs in this movie. (Imagine if Billy from Beverly Hills Cop 1 didn't go nuts and became a normal cop.)

Tension 9 - Perhaps you may predict who is going to make it and who isn't, nevertheless many situations are guaranteed to deliver chills to your own heart.

Story 6 - A deranged high-tech wiz out of vengeance implants bombs into the pace-makers applied to Dr.Gillian(Penelope A Miller)'s patients. Task of the surgeon will, of course, be removing them before they explode, with the aid of an artificer (Judge Reinhold). Original idea (with so many crazy people around these days, I don't find it so absurd), although the fact that the killer is omniscient makes it unrealistic. I understand she is meant to look self-assured, however Penelope at the beginning does surgery like she is mixing salad.

Ending 6 - Ordinary

OVERALL 7 - Good high-paced movie with fast action and sharp dialogue; the first scene is recommended for those not yet convinced that cigarettes are bad for the health.