Timebomb

When I saw this film, I thought "Wow, this guy might be the next James Cameron." Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but director Avi Nesher has a sharp, distinctive action style, and a flair for technology and attention to detail. This is a rough, tough action film, with touches of science fiction thrown in. Performances are decent, although Michael Biehn still seems stuck in Kyle Reese/Dwayne Hicks mode. Unfortunately, Nesher went on to do a bunch of straight-to-video films, the interesting "Doppleganger" and produced a batch, the only decent one being "Automatic" which he didn't direct, but certainly has his style imprinted on it. I'm hoping he hasn't given up on his dream sci-fi project, "Hammerheads" which I've heard about years ago.

In this fairly straight forward, but pretty well done action film, Michael Biehn plays a likable guy working in his own watch repair shop. He suffers from amnesia and soon his past is about to catch up to him. Predictably he wasn't a watch repair man is his "previous life" but a lethal assassin.

The amnesia formula has been done many times, most notably with the blockbuster Bourne trilogy taken from Robert Ludlum's novels, but "Timebomb" has its merits. Michael Biehn is a good enough actor to play a convincing human action hero and the plot, while quite routine, delivers suspense and action. The mixing of science fiction into the film is also pretty interesting as it provides a few twists. However, there is enough cliché here to prevent this film from being anything special. Fans of the genre will enjoy it for what it is, others shouldn't even care to look. --- 6/10

Rated R for violence and profanity. Ages 13+

I am able to admit that the implausibility levels of this movie tend to rise steadily through the entire film; but I enjoyed the chemistry between Kensit and Biehn. At times it also becomes suspenseful. A lot of the scenes leave you scratching your head or wanting more, but I think this film sets out and does its job quite well. It was also good to see Mike Biehn as I really haven't seen him in anything else besides THE TERMINATOR, (I did see THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE; so so). Other than that I can't say much more except this movie reminds me of the good 'ol late night low-budget action flicks they used to show back in the early 90's on CINEMAX like PRAYER OF THE ROLLERBOYS or CLASS OF 1999!

Well this movie started out fair-to-middlin. I rented it because Tracy Scoggins was in it and so was Patsy Kensit who looks remarkably like Elizabeth Hurley or even Scoggins on the back cover of the video...

But shortly it became painfully obvious that the writer and director, Avi Nesher, was still REALLY into the schlock gimmicks of bad 80s action films. The key things that ticked me off was the "blond timid psychoanalyst" (played by Patsy) who is supposedly an educated woman by the nature of her profession but consistently was instead the "helpless blond ditz" without a shred of common sense. Unfortunately Patsy's character ended up just being the weepy decoration on Biehn's arm who constantly got him into trouble by inadvertently letting the enemy know where he was.

The movie soon went to plain bad shlock complete with the requisite "crashing into Large Neon signs at the top of building" scene. I even picked up the box several times through scanning it closely for evidence of a production date in the early 80s but no, this was made in the early 90s.

The only redeeming features of this movie were Tracy Scoggins who was basically the only believeable aspect of the movie but unfortunately had only about 5 min total of screen time. I loved seeing her in the Cher type wigs in the "flashback scenes". The most memorable scene was her last screen appearance where Biehn is attempting to force her to make a call... She's been hit across the face hard with a chain and knocked down...her face is covered in blood but there are no tears... Not even after he shoots her in the leg. Instead, and this is what makes it memorable...she "pants" through the pain instead of the unbelieveable overused "stoicness" that seems to be a requirement of all such scenes.

I also liked just watching Patsy Kensit and Biehn on the screen. They made a beautiful pair on screen and Biehn kept making me look twice as his profile (esp when wet) closely resemembled that of my favorite B actor, Christopher Atkins. I've certainly rented and watched a lot of truly bad movies just to get more screentime of actors and actresses I like!

This is a pretty crazy film that combines aspects of Sci-Fi, cybernetics, The Manchurian Candidate, and new world orders into a pastiche of overamped fights, chases and gratuitous gunplay. The performances aren't that bad but some scenes seem almost sped through with the need to quicken the pace and get to the meat of the film. Some decent special effects. Overall, if you see it in a vid store and the price is cheaper to buy it from the bargain bin than rental, go for it. Better yet, if it shows up on cable watch it rather than spend real money on it.