Cliché fatal

Contrary to popular belief, all former wrestlers are not destined to win Oscars. This certainly fits the bill here in the TNT production SHUTTERSPEED. Former wrestler Steve Borden plays no nonsense cop Riley Harris, a detective determined to find a the killer of a friend of his. Nobody murders a friend a Riley Harris, leaving me to guess that the rest of us are on our own.

When Detective Harris isn't beating up thugs, not to mention due process of law; he's sits around in confabs with his boss or his estranged brother, looking bored. I mean, really bored. Well, that makes two of us.

This made for TV fluff would have at least made for decent time burning fodder, had it not been so predictable, better acted and not suffering from such an flat script. Had Borden's character been assigned to detect an original thought in the script, the detective would have hanged up his holster and retired in despair.

The man called "Sting" (WCW) is back in a very good action/thriller type movie. His first outing was as close to comic genius (The Real Reason, Men Commit Crimes) as I've seen from the "wrestlers turned movie actors." In Shutterspeed, Steve Borden is a narcotics officer who gets caught up in foreign epsionage when his fiancees brother witnesses a murder while working in Berlin and winds up with a camera containing film that someone else would, and does, kill for. Although Borden's characteristic "stone face" can be mildly irritating at times, he does a very good job in the "cop avenging friends murder" role.

This is possibly the finest movie I have ever seen, the fact that Steve 'sting' Borden did not win some kind of award for his performance as no nonsense, maverick yet sensitive cop, Riley is an absolute disgrace that can only be explained by bribery and corruption. Mr Borden's performance was tender, yet explosive. A performance that Olivier often promised but never delivered. The screenplay crackled with unresolved tension of both a sexual and asexual nature. The action scenes fizzed and exploded off the screen. The plot was woven like a spiders web, but a spiders web of intrigue. Hopefully there will be more adventures of hard nosed detective Riley to come, if not then catch this one soon. Watch it or forever more be a chump!

What can be said about Shutterspeed but WOW! This movie was fantastic. Steve Borden has proven himself to anyone that may have doubted his acting ability. TNT should definitely make Shutterspeed into a series, it would be a sure hit. The movie kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, it was so full of action and drama. A definite 10 on my scale.

When you take Eric Bischoff's innovative genius for crafting original and intelligent plots, add to it Steve "Sting" Borden's dynamic and riveting personality(as well as his limitless array of acting and physical skills), combine the two and sprinkle liberally with unsurpassed production values and you get the pinnacle of made-for-TV wrestledrama cop films... Shutterspeed. This magnificent rampaging beast of a film never ceases to amaze, zigging when you expect it to zag. And when you expect it to zig, it punches you right in the brain. My only regret in watching this film is that I didn't die first, so that I could say that I came back from the dead to watch Steve "Sting" Borden turn in the best ever portrayal of a renegade cop by a reanimated mannequin. That's mostly true, my only regret really is that I didn't die first.