Bombshell

What a silly movie. If you can't figure who the masked guy is after the first five minutes of seeing him, then you need to get a new hobby.

Though one of the more stylish SciFi Channel Original films to be churned out in the mid 90's Bombshell is a technological paean to Virtuosity. Brightly colored vinyl clothing, trendy scifi plotline (nanotech), ambiguously futuristic LA location shots and an over ambient techno soundtrack grace this film, that on its surface is more glitz than actual story. But that is its advantage. Bombshell doesn't try to get into the overly heady world of nanotechnology and its lauded but theoretical uses but instead takes a nice cyberpunk premise and runs with it full tilt. It plays with the future so freely that its like watching a collision of J.G.Ballard, with fashions by Hot Topic and Post artschool film mixed with Popular Science until you have Henry Thomas racing down the canals of the LA river in his futurisitic speedster, a scientist desparate to remove a destructive part of himself and unable to do so until he obeys his unseen master to the finish. Its not rocket science or even quantum science but it is a surreal and inoffenseve little diversion that would be welcome in a tech-nightmare moviethon.

Okay, so it is not THE greatest of films, and granted I've only seen the movie on sci-fi channel, so I do not even know what the R-rated version is like. But I have seen this film twice and both times I really enjoyed for various reasons.

One is that I loved the cast. I thought everyone was well-picked for the parts they play. A lot of my personal favorite young actors and cult favorites are amongst them like Henry Thomas, Madchen Amick, Frank Whaley, Brion James, Shawnee Smith, and Victoria Jackson.

The film is also major sci-fi eye candy. The direction and the special f/x remind me a lot of the film STRANGE DAYS, which is another film that serves as sci-fi eye candy.

And it's also just one of those classic plots that was put together so well in a revised sci-fi version that others have tried to do, specifically PARANOIA 1.0, but have failed miserably.

I enjoyed BOMBSHELL, and if you liked STRANGE DAYS, you will probably like this film.

Thumbs up.

Scientist, Buck Hogan (Henry Thomas) is working on a breakthrough in Nano-technology for treating / eradicating cancer. When he finds a catastrophic flaw in the project, he does the sensible thing and tells his boss (Brion James) who ignores him.

Hogan quickly finds himself facing a series of terrifying events, including unnecessary surgery, and the implantation into his body of his own personal doomsday device.

One problem with BOMBSHELL is its silly "futuristic" setting. From the fashions to the cars it's all hyper-colorful cheeeze. This is an unintentionally humorous distraction and a shame, since the basic story isn't bad and could have easily been set in contemporary times.

Another annoyance is the utterly non-threatening villain. He's pretty pathetic, especially when he gets all "vulnerable".

Ugh!

Co-stars Madchen Amick and Shawnee Smith...

Bombshell pulls off the difficult trick of creating a believable sci-fi future; it's a trick that many higher budget movies have failed at, but director Paul Wynne knows that technology should simplify life not complicate it, so he opts against the usual blinking lights and dark sets , choosing instead a streamlined, colour-coded world. It oozes camp panache, both in the production design and in the performances from a strong cast of under-rated actors, who are photographed like models in a fashion spread.

Henry Thomas is admirably non-butch for a leading man (especially one who has just 24 hours to find out why his kidney has been replaced with a bomb). Frank Whalley does the nervous-nice-guy-with-hidden-depths routine he perfected in Swimming With Sharks, Madchen Amick fights like girls really do (pulling hair, kicking, shouting - no graceful pseudo-karate here) in defense of her mono-kidneyed man, and Pamela Gidley sparkles in a cameo as a predatory reporter with perfect lipgloss.

Bombshell glories in its influences; the sets are strong and sparse and would have made Kubrick smile, LA is eerily empty in a Planet Of The Apes-type way, the waitress is Marilyn in pink latex, and the corporate overlord with unscrupulous business practices is played by Bladerunner veteran, Brion James. The cars look like giant Hotwheels.

If you find the plot thin, silly even, then you're missing the point; Bombshell has a tongue wedged firmly in its cheek, and is all the better for it. Enjoy the ride...