Blast

If you have watched a lot of B movies as I have, you have probably watched your share of "Die Hard" rip-offs. So you might be wondering how the "Die Hard" rip-off "Blast" differentiates itself from others. Well, for one thing, it's the rare rip-off to cast a minority in the hero role. And the screenplay was written by Steven E. de Souza, the screenwriter of "Die Hard"! Maybe de Souza thought that since everyone was ripping him off, he might as well rip himself off.

However, this rip-off falls far short of de Souza's previous glory. For one thing, parts of the script are really inadequately written. Both the heroic lead and the prime villain are pretty thin. The actors don't get enough to aid them, so their characters end up being very uninteresting.

Actually, most of the faults found in "Blast" are not due to de Souza. The movie has one of the most grossly miscast leads I have seen in a movie for a long time. While Eddie Griffin can be funny in comedic roles, seeing him trying to act like an ex Navy SEAL is ludicrous. Another problem is with the look of the movie. While this movie had a budget much higher than many rip-offs of "Die Hard", only a few brief moments look slick and expensive; most of the movie looks like it was done with a television budget. As for action, the action goes wrong in every way you can think of, from its editing to its direction. There's absolutely no excitement to be experienced. The entire movie has a ho- hum feeling to it.

If you want to see a *good* rip-off of "Die Hard", I suggest you watch the Dolph Lundgren movie "Command Performance".