Review: "Boiling Point"
"Boiling Point" is an enjoyable bit of action fluff or neo-noir lite, depending on one's perspective. Wesley Snipes is a cop whose good friend is killed in a federal drug bust gone bad and spends the rest of the movie doing his best to avenge his lost friend's death before the D.E.A. ships him off to New Jersey.
The name of the film and video jacket description are somewhat misleading, possibly better described as everyone in this film, cops and criminals alike are working against deadlines. It may have been better named "The Time it Takes To Do It," regarding one of Lolita Davidovich's call-girl with the heart of gold's more memorable lines. Dennis Hopper and Viggo Mortensen as Red Diamond and Ronnie, respectively have an opportunity to further explore the pre-ignition screen chemistry they captured in "the Indian Runner." They do a nice, crime partner riff on Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray when Ronnie expresses concern or regret about something he's done and Red histrionically helps Ronnie rationalize that remorse away, never to be seen again. As in Wilde's story of beauty only being skin deep and ugly being clear to the bone, the power of Red's influence is virtually invisible, so choose your mentors carefully, kids: it could mean the difference between fame and notoriety.
All the action seems to move effortlessly, interwoven between broken marriages, other entanglements and the backdrop of a lively swing-dancing club, which Red frequents. All the performances are strong: Snipes always watchable, Hopper enjoyably quirky, Davidovich beautifully engaging and Mortensen dangerously twitchy as Red's fall guy. Valerie Perrine is lovely as Red's unfortunate former wife, doing her best to pull her life back together between the times her criminal ex-husband's centrifugal force yanks her off course. "Boiling Point" succeeds where other action and neo-noir films fail because as a film it doesn't take itself too seriously: one could do much worse at the video store.
Review: Daylight
"Daylight" is a disaster-flick-meets-star-vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, sort of Rocky vs. the Lincoln Tunnel in desperate need of an editor. While Stan Shaw and Viggo Mortensen bring stand out, three-dimensional characters and desperately needed comic relief, it's not enough to save a script that seems tailored around special effects and a two hour movie that could easily have clocked in at 90 minutes.
If "Daylight" had a rules and clues section (as in "The Sixth Sense"), the cardinal rule would be, "Challenge the guy above the title and become this film's next grisly casualty." Still, Shaw is a delight to watch as is Mortensen in a nice riff on the arrogant, wise cracking action hero. While wise cracking action heroes ruled the Ciniplex (cyniplex?) in the eighties, Mortensen has fun with Roy Nord, displays excellent comedic timing and makes it appear that he could play this type of character in his sleep.
Mortensen worked on "Daylight" and "The Portrait of a Lady" simultaneously and has admitted that "Daylight" was a project done for monetary, rather than artistic reasons. He very nearly walks off with the picture, which earned him his "scene stealer" credentials and is no mean feat in ten minutes of screen time in a two-hour film. Still, 10 minutes is all the screen time the parade of wise cracking action heroes really needs, rather than way too many movies and, yes, I mean your Toms, Bruces, Mels, etc. Still, "Daylight" is rentable and the younger teens seem to love it.
"Vanishing Point" Review
Made for television, and not well, mind you, the remake of "Vanishing Point" is a film best watched with the sound turned down. Featuring gorgeous scenery, fast cars, comely actors and great music, this vehicle had potential, but it crashes because of a script that manages to be simplistic, manipulative and heavy-handed all at once. When Mortensen speaks of how there's no telling on an actor's part how the finished product of a movie will play, "Vanishing Point" has to be one of the projects he has in mind.
Kristine Elise and Viggo Mortensen (paired previously in 1993's "Boiling Point") are Raphinia and Jimmy Kowalski, a young couple expecting a baby. Raphinia spends this particular Palm Sunday navigating a pregnancy complicated by Lupus and the action spans the week between then and Easter Sunday. Jimmy goes off to deliver a car while the plot thickens and the speed increases from there. Based on the cult favourite, muscle car porn classic from 1971, this "Vanishing Point" tries to update an original film that was one part early modern product endorsement for Dodge, one part mental margarita and give it a conscience. The 1997 "Vanishing Point" rails against all the usual suspects: big government, political correctness and any US citizen who has ever owned a car made in another country. Ironically, it accomplishes this conscientious update with about the same degree of success as the politically correct westerns of the nineties: Some got away with it and others were just painful to sit through and the scenes in this film pretty much run that gamut.
Whenever the good and bad guys are drawn with no shades of grey in a story, I can't shake the feeling I've been lied to, and that's how I came away from this "Vanishing Point." There are a handful of believable characters, but the rest wind up chewing the scenery. John Doe, who gave a pitch-perfect performance as Amber Waves' angry ex-husband in "Boogie Nights," unfortunately doesn't have much to work with in the script as Sammy in this film. Doe's song, "Volunteers," is one of the tunes featured prominently in the film and anyone who has ever wanted to see Doe and Mortensen on screen together may have to either catch this one or wait until they collaborate again. I'd recommend waiting as I've seen both actors do better work in better films.
The secret this movie and its predecessor held for me was in one histrionic speech, culled from the 1971 original, a supporting character has in an auto showroom about the day when the Dodge Challenger, (both films) Jimmy, (1971) and the U.S. (1997) were "Number One." To borrow an idea from Joseph Campbell, when any person, place or even vehicle attains the "Number One" spot or insists upon it there is a danger, mainly that there's only one "Number One" and from that precarious spot there is so very far to fall. How those in the US and those impressed by the culture of love for powerful cars and the open road balance that with the diminishing oil supply and the slogan "No more blood for oil," is a loaded question, certainly too big for a film review.
(by Colleen Wallace)