DEADLY IMPACT

DEADLY SPOILERS

Deadly? Really? Nowhere near - this DTV quickie has all the impact of a soap bubble on the side of a Chieftain tank, i.e. not very much. It's got a big-ass explosion halfway through which in a properly budgeted production would have either been done with a couple of truckloads of explosives or top-end CGI (fire never looks right when done in the computer), but in a one-star cheapie they have to be done with less convincing CG effects. The end result is pretty flat and frequently nonsensical with gaping plot holes and echoes of several other, better, mad bomber movies.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: top agent Tom Armstrong (Sean Patrick Flanery) is hot on the trail of bomber-assassin-mercenary master criminal "The Lion" (Joe Pantoliano, frankly better value), until the latter captures Armstrong's wife and traps him and his team in a basement with a ton of C4 that'll go off unless Armstrong shoots his own wife. Eight years later, Armstrong is dragged back into action when the maniac surfaces again (why has he waited so long?), setting bombs off unless he gets $100 million. Is there something more to it than that? Has "The Lion" got some incredibly complex personal reckoning going on as well?

Take a flying guess. Clearly Deadly Impact wants to be Speed and emulate the battle of wits between Dennis Hopper and Keanu Reeves or, if wet, Blown Away with Tommy Lee Jones (and his hilarious Oirish accent) and Jeff Bridges. Or, if even wetter than that, Albert Pyun's dodgy Ticker with Steven Seagal and, er, Dennis Hopper (and his hilarious Oirish accent). The plot doesn't make any sense anyway - once the villain has rung in and threatened Armstrong's new squeeze, why is she then allowed to go off and follow a suspicious lead by herself? What you're ultimately left with is a dull, drab cheapie with no flair or character about it that's hardly worth the effort.

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