Rollie Tyler is a special effects expert who is approached by the Justice Department to stage a fake assassination of a big-time mobster turned informant. Reluctantly he agrees, but after the hit the secret service guys try to kill him and he has to use all the tricks of his trade whilst on the lam to clear his name.
This is a great thriller, distinguished by a terrific premise, a first-rate cast and a fantastic script by Robert T. Megginson and Gregory Fleeman which keeps coming up with novel scenes and wringing plenty of new twists on some old ones. The basic idea is a gem; if you wanted to stage a fake murder in public who would you hire - somebody who does it for a living. This is just the start of the story's ingenuity; once the phoney murder is done and he's become a liability, Rollie isn't sure whether or not he really killed the mobster, every law enforcement officer in New York is after him and he can't risk endangering the lives of his friends. The movie has an enjoyably offbeat take on conventional thriller scenes; the standard car chase involves a van full of slippery tricks, the cops break down a door to be confronted by a snarling marionette and the hero disposes of a clutch of goons using radio-controlled gadgets. Brown is excellent in the lead, and Dennehy is sensational in possibly his definitive, nothing-to-lose, wound-too-tight, bulldog copper performance, but everyone in the cast is good. I particularly like Venora (for more of her see Bird and Heat) who gives an earthy, kooky depth to the normally-thankless girlfriend role, which makes her sudden death at the start of the second act much more shocking, and Orman (better known as Gordon from the TV show Sesame Street) as Dennehy's weary boss - check out the nicely-timed variation on the I'm-putting-you-on-suspension scene. With suspenseful location photography by Miroslav Ondricek and great stuntwork by Frank Ferrara and Victor Magnotta, this is an innovative, funny and exciting action thriller all the way. 7/10
This is a great thriller, distinguished by a terrific premise, a first-rate cast and a fantastic script by Robert T. Megginson and Gregory Fleeman which keeps coming up with novel scenes and wringing plenty of new twists on some old ones. The basic idea is a gem; if you wanted to stage a fake murder in public who would you hire - somebody who does it for a living. This is just the start of the story's ingenuity; once the phoney murder is done and he's become a liability, Rollie isn't sure whether or not he really killed the mobster, every law enforcement officer in New York is after him and he can't risk endangering the lives of his friends. The movie has an enjoyably offbeat take on conventional thriller scenes; the standard car chase involves a van full of slippery tricks, the cops break down a door to be confronted by a snarling marionette and the hero disposes of a clutch of goons using radio-controlled gadgets. Brown is excellent in the lead, and Dennehy is sensational in possibly his definitive, nothing-to-lose, wound-too-tight, bulldog copper performance, but everyone in the cast is good. I particularly like Venora (for more of her see Bird and Heat) who gives an earthy, kooky depth to the normally-thankless girlfriend role, which makes her sudden death at the start of the second act much more shocking, and Orman (better known as Gordon from the TV show Sesame Street) as Dennehy's weary boss - check out the nicely-timed variation on the I'm-putting-you-on-suspension scene. With suspenseful location photography by Miroslav Ondricek and great stuntwork by Frank Ferrara and Victor Magnotta, this is an innovative, funny and exciting action thriller all the way. 7/10