Double Frappe

"Double Tap" asks the question: Can a beautiful deep cover FBI agent (Locklear) fall for a shadowy hitman (Rea) with scruples? This, the film's premise, has potential which is mostly lost in a morass of Hollyweird window dressing including jerky jump cuts, unnecessary blends, strange music, over acting, cheap atmospherics, etc. with little attention paid to story coherence and character development. Bottom line: "Double Tap" is little more than an fodder for those in the mood for some noirish crime drama on late night TV.

It doesn't sound like much. A direct-to-video flick with a generic title, starring Heather Locklear. However, Stephen Rea -not the type of actor you would expect in this kind of movie- gives a full-fledged characterization of a hit-man with a conscience and idiosyncratic habits (and I don't mean the double tap to the head of each of his victims; his other skills include gardening...). His relationship with the FBI agent played by Heather Locklear rings true. Add to this a flamboyant directorial style and a good soundtrack, and you get one of the better B movies of the year. Rating: 7.

Stars Stephen Rea, oscar nominated for Crying Game. Does a lot of vampire, underworld stuff. Heather Locklear, model and star of Dynasty, TJ Hooker. Locklear is agent Hanson, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When her meeting with some shady characters is interrupted, she is hauled in to figure out what's going on. Rea is Cypher, assassin for hire. But when she finally tracks him down, things are MUCH more complicated than they seem. Who are the good guys anyway? It's barely okay. Like a dog chasing its own tail. Gets weird towards the end. It deserved better. Directed by Greg Yaitanes, who does a LOT of television series work.

Stephen Rea is a philosophical gardener. Because gardening doesn't pay enough, I suppose, he's also a hit man with a signature of leaving a rabbit's foot next to his victims. Heather Locklear is in some law enforcement agency, although which is never quite clear. While she's trying to track him down, he's hired to kill her, so of course they fall in love which is never consummated.

It's a mildly ridiculous script, but director Greg Yaitanes manages some nice touches, like filming Miss Locklear in her group scenes so she is tiny. The leads underact, there are a few performers who will later become notable, like Mykelti Williamson, and the 90- minutes slid by before I noticed.

DOUBLE TAP features Heather Locklear in a much grittier than usual role. As FBI agent, Katherine Hanson, she finds herself up against a mysterious hitman whose signature is that of the title.

Hanson and her team must track this person, before every other criminal in town winds up dead! This gets complicated when Hanson gets a bit too close to her quarry.

This is a surprisingly effective thriller, and Ms. Locklear is far better than one might, at first, expect.

Actually, the only complaint is due to the lighting. The late 1990's ushered in the whole every-scene-must-be-dark phenomenon. This film is no exception. So, unless the characters are outside, in full sunlight, they're always cloaked in smoky, shadowy dimness! Even in the daytime! Ugh!

In spite of this, the movie is recommended...