Les Apprentis

Two days after seeing this thing, I'm still in agony over HAVING seen it. It's so bad, you have to wonder how anyone could write this tripe, much less allow it to be loose on the general public. Stilted acting, a leading man who looks like he's sleepwalking, and Alison Eastwood embarrassing herself. The action is indicative of low budget movie making, which means it is painfully bad. The plot? Well, if you were 6 years old, then you could have written this movie. Simplistic, idealistic, and just plain lame.

"Power Play" starts off interesting but it goes down hill fast. The only good actor is Tobin Bell and he has a very small part. Beyond Bell, "Power Play" has no redeeming value or interest. "Power Play" has more earthquakes in a few days than California has in a year. The earthquake scene in the mall is so contrived and completely unbelievable. And all the action scenes look like a bunch of third graders putting on a play. It's awful, simply awful.

Bottom line, if "Power Play" was made in the 60's or 70's it would be considered a poor "B" class movie. The fact that "Power Play" was made in 2001 is really sad. Is there such a thing as a "D" class movie? If so, "Power Play" casts the mold.

While channel surfing, we found this movie with its promising synopsis. We were dismayed at the flat acting, and formulaic storyline. We found amusing the exploding car scenes, unbelievable shoot outs, and sets that crash down with the weight of tyro-foam and cardboard. What was even more hilarious was seeing all the recycled scenes from "Dante's Peak", where the church front falls on the school bus, the store fronts break away from the main street, the overpass collapsing, and the red truck speeding down the alley way as the bricks fall down on it. It was a good laugh although unintended, and leaves the viewer wondering if it was not originally intended as a low budget spoof of disaster films.

i saw this film and couldn't not tell you what it was about. It is very poor.

Dylan Walsh (who played Nash) appeared to me wooden and showed no sign of emotion whatsoever. He looked like he found himself on the film set but did not know why he was there nor what he had to do. He was supposed to play a journalist who was also a heart-throb (I DON'T THINK SO!!! - NO WAY) and having woman fall at his feet. What a joke!

Alison Eastwood looked bemused and no wonder (Dean Cain (who is a heart-throb) was set to play 'Nash' but for some reason he did not take the part - a very wise guy indeed) finding herself faced with a completely different co-star to Dean, who wouldn't look bemused.

My main concern with this film was that Nash (Walsh) spent most of his time spying on various people and getting caught. He was then in a fight and every time he seemed to be beaten pretty badly BUT SHOWED NO SIGNS WHATSOEVER OF ANY INJURIES (THIS INCLUDED FALLING ABOUT 20 FEET AND STILL GETTING UP WITH NO SIGNS OF INJURY) doesn't this send the wrong message to people, in that you won't be hurt whether you fall 20 feet or are beaten pretty badly.

My advice watch something else.

My one line summary should explain it all, but I'll have a go at it.

From the get-go, this movie seemed like an overdone soap opera, and that's about all I can comment on. There were a few interesting scenes, such as the "Big one" that hit during the middle of the movie, but, wait, what's that? The earthquake *gasp*, wait a minute! That's Dante's Peak! Well, parts of it butchered and slapped in. I can't believe how poorly this movie was done, "borrowing" scenes from other, much better films. One wonders what director thought that viewers are dumb enough to believe large wooded mountain-esque backdrops exist in downtown LA, ala Dante's Peak.

My advise, forget the Bond Wanna-be, Nash, in this film and go for the real thing (again, someone from Dante's Peak coincidentally.)