Zone sinistrée

"Crime Zone" takes place in a police state of the future, known as "Soleil" (the French word for sun). Low-tier citizens "Bone" (Peter Nelson, "The Last Starfighter"), who's just lost his job, and Helen (ever-ravishing Sherilyn Fenn of 'Twin Peaks' fame), are a couple yearning for escape, hoping to make it to a promised land called "Frodan". Then an authority figure named Jason (David Carradine, "Kill Bill") makes a proposal to them to commit various crimes, all of them done for an unexpected reason.

A hair better than most low-budget movies about Dystopian futures, "Crime Zone" manages to be, at the least, fairly interesting, and well visualized. (The name "Soleil" is amusingly ironic since most scenes there are shot at night.). The acting is variable, but Nelson is earnest enough, and Carradine does do more here than just phone it in. (He also takes an associate producer credit.). Fenn is the standout in that regard; Michael Shaner ("Lethal Weapon") overdoes it as Bones' former friend, a lifelong lowest-tier individual and self-proclaimed "****up." The action scenes are capably handled, the violence plentiful without being overly gory, and the soundtrack (composed by Rick Conrad) is pretty catchy.

Filmed on location in Peru, the homeland of producer / director Luis Llosa, who went on to do Hollywood movies such as "Sniper", "The Specialist", and "Anaconda".

Seven out of 10.

Before Liosa branched out with bigger films, this little, unremarkable and forgettable sci fi action pic, but with really good sets, generates moderate interest, helped by it's eye catching VHS cover. Hot exotic dancer/ex whore, Fenn, donning short white hair, and new lover, young hunky unemployed Bone, give decent sexy performances, as the ruled civilians in the dystopian crime zone. Itching to get free, they are thrown an opportunity, they can't resist by a shady stranger, cigarette smoking Carradine, who really doesn't have to act, and doesn't appear until the 32 minute mark of the film. He's in a few scenes, as the film progresses, and does add color to a somewhat, other unoriginal and thin premise, with some larger than life supports. Carradine's character is very intriguing, multi layered, but Fenn and hunk carry it. There's a fresh, sexy presence she carries in film, and she is really good. Unremarkable B great film isn't. C'mon' up your game, Lioza.

This video was (literally) collecting dust on the shelf of the store where I work. I dusted it off & took it home to watch, hoping it might be either a) a cheesy and unintentionally hilarious grade z flick or maybe b)an undiscovered sci-fi classic. It certainly wasn't a) and I'm beginning to suspect it might be quite close to being b). Peter Nelson (v.good, and broodingly handsome) and Sherilyn Fenn (also great) had real chemistry as the lovers in Soliel, the repressive 1984-style society, and the action sequences were genuinely thrilling. Pity about the hammy support by Michael Shaner, but it doesn't undermine the rest of the movie. If you like Blade Runner and 1984, give this film a chance.

Distant future. A dystopian society with elements of a rigid caste system, in a world after a nuclear war. The city where the burning blonde Helen and the melancholy Bone live. A place in which they, on the one hand, want to succeed, and on the other hand, from which they want to escape. One day they get such a chance when someone named Jason gets in touch and offers them to steal the disk in exchange for him taking them outside the oppressive location. The announced mission does not bode well, but there probably won't be another chance. The heroes get to work, but, as sometimes happens, one thread pulls behind it a whole series of other events and, being nobody yesterday, the heroes turn into involuntary "runners in the shadows".

Most of this picture consists of obvious and not so obvious oppositions. The location is called the "City of the Sun", but it is always night here and it rains regularly. Local law enforcement agencies, in addition to their uniforms, distinguished by a stylish gothic make-up, adhere to strict discipline and formalities, but their behavior and regulations are not much different from the morals of frostbitten street mercenaries. Here, regulated prostitution coexists with restrictions on personal freedoms and hopeless devastation coexists with thriving sectors. The killing of unwanted elements has been turned into an element of entertainment broadcasts. Otherwise, there is a typical "high tech, low life" set and attention to small details, traditional for the cyberpunk genre, somewhat diluted with elements of neo-noir.

This film does not pretend to be any highly artistic or pompous messages, the plot is straightforward and individual scenes could use more elaboration, at the same time, the overall atmosphere is quite at the level, so in particular for the same one-time viewing in the evening or two.

This was a difficult movie for me to rate. First of all, I usually enjoy films with Sherilynn Fenn because she adds a unique quality to movies with her beauty and youthful charm. Throw in David Carradine and any movie would probably be somewhat successful. Additionally, I really enjoy films of an apocalyptic science-fiction nature. Unfortunately, things just didn't seem to click for me in this one. While Sherilynn Fenn (as "Helen") certainly did her job well enough I don't think David Carradine ("Jason") was used as extensively as he should have been. Additionally, Peter Nelson ("Bone") seemed more like a supporting actor than someone in the lead male role. Along with that I didn't care for the performance of Michael Shaner ("Creon") at all. Likewise, the sets were extremely cheap looking and the action was kind of boring. Granted this was a Roger Cormen film and low-budget productions are his specialty. But it didn't seem to work in this particular case. That said, I rate the film as slightly below average.