Midnight Witness

(1993) Midnight Witness THRILLER

Produced, written and directed by Peter Foldy, it has Paul (Paul Johansson) getting his butt kicked by karate peer, Garland (Maxwell Caulfield) in a exhibition. And by the time he comes home to pick up his live-in girlfriend, Katy (Karen Moncrieff) to attend to his birthday at his parents place. He becomes accustomed to one of his birthday gifts given to him by his brother, which happens to be a video recorder. And by the time Paul comes back home, both him and his girlfriend then argue some more. And by chance, as he gets out of his bed sometime in the morning, it is then he witnesses a scuffle through his window. Of five cops beating on a drug dealer, until one of them catches Paul filming them. Paul then pulls his girlfriend out of bed for the intentions of escaping with the video tape as they are coming up to his apartment unit. It turns out that the they guy who beat Paul up in karate class happens to be Garland, who is a veteran in the force, barking orders to the rookies, particularly, a guy named Peterson (Mark Pellegrino). Besides finding Paul's address book, he also manages to get his wallet after Paul dropped it running down the stairwell. Garland puts a APB on Paul and his girlfriend Katy as they are sought after through the news and so forth.

This movie is outdated nonsense with many inconsistencies! I mean, it's very obvious that the film was made on a whim, like upon Paul escaping with Katy down the stairwell, he drops his wallet. When Katy tries to submit the video tape to his reporter friend who works in the media, misses him in minutes. Paul and Katy steal a car, the car doesn't even get reported. I mean, speaking of condemning video tapes, why does it have to be that news station it has to be given to? Why can it be given to other news stations? All of these inconsistencies made is so that it can be stretched into a one hour and 30 minute movie. Because of these dumb things you just want to use your fast forward button while playing.

Los Angeles resident Paul gets a video camera for his birthday. And after the festivities are over, he gets something else: bad news from his girlfriend Katy. She wants to leave him because he won't commit, and she wants children and he says they can't afford children. If he really wanted them, she says, they could find a way.

Paul wakes up in the middle of the night (despite the movie's title, it's actually closer to morning) and hears cops arresting a suspect. Seeing what looks like the Rodney King incident outside his window, he takes that video camera and makes a record of the incident. One of the cops looks up and sees him, and Paul and Katy have to start running. Amazingly, they have time to put their clothes on before the cops arrive to keep them from getting away with the tape.

Since the situation gets even worse for the poor suspect, and since Officer Garland has been accused of brutality in the past, the poor couple find themselves in even more danger. Katy has a reporter friend named Jason (apparently an ex, from Paul's reaction), and that's who she believes should get the tape.

Meanwhile, the captain in charge of the rogue officers wants to find out what happened to the suspect. Everyone denies what he suspects, though Officer Patterson seems most likely to be persuaded to tell the truth. Garland reminds him what cops do to those who don't go along with 'the code', though. If you wonder how Garland ended up being so creepy, you need look no further than his domineering mother.

Helping Paul and Katy when they are on the run are a wacko named Lance and his pregnant girlfriend (or perhaps wife). Lance's sister Molly seems to be a hooker or an exotic dancer, but she is nice to the couple despite everything. Eventually, Katy and Paul hope to reach Katy's mother's house. In Las Vegas.

This was exciting, though somewhat too violent for my taste. There are several unnecessary killings (why does that have to be the only solution in so many of these movies?). As far as acting skills go, I would single out Andy Romano as the determined Captain, Jan-Michael Vincent as the crazy Lance, and Lenore Andriel in a brief appearance as Lance's sister. I'm not sure, but Maxwell Caulfield probably gave us an enjoyably sinister performance. Let's say he didn't appeal to me personally. And while his rear end was blurry on my TV, I certainly didn't want to see it.

And Mark Pelligrino had quite a struggle as Officer Patterson--his grandfather was a cop for many years. His father was a cop. You don't rat on your fellow officers.

I was happy as long as Paul and Katy were on the run, but whenever they started discussing the problems with their relationship--oh, PLEASE. But adversity sometimes brings a couple closer together.

I'm not saying this was one of the great action films. But if you have no real expectations and don't compare it to others ... not bad, really.

to me this movie was watchable,but not great.there was some excitement and suspense,but not as much as i had hoped for.the acting is pretty good.the characters were okay,although i thought Jan Michael Vincent's character was very strange and out of place in this movie.the movie didn't always hold my interest and my mind sometimes wandered.the basic plot of the movie is that a man videotapes some crooked police beating another man.the police notice they are being taped.from there,the man and his wife go on the run to escape the crooked cops who want the videotape.as far as this genre of movies goes,this movie is average.if you have nothing better to do,you could do worse.but,like i said there were times when my mind wandered,due to some slow spots.this is certainly not the worst movie of the genre i have ever seen,but not the best either.many people may really enjoy this movie.it just depends on your taste.for me,i give "Midnight Witness" 5/10