Power Play

Think of a no-budget version of China Syndrome being directed by a film student who idolizes John Woo and you'll get 'Power Play.' The idea was good, but the execution, acting, and dialog absolutely killed it, not to mention ridiculous amounts of violence and disaster sequences that was used to compensate for lack of substance and development of the more interesting parts of the movie.

This is the story of a reporter investigating the disappearance of three members of a guerrilla activist group who mysteriously went missing after they broke into the offices of a power plant that is suspected to be causing a frenzy of earthquake. The rather cavalier reporter, going up against what should've been a more ruthless bunch of company execs, is chased around town (along with anyone he speaks to) in order to "clean" whatever conclusive evidence might remain of the plant's faults.

Unfortunately, there is no real sense of emergency because the characters interact with much hesitancy, coupled with idiotic dialog and a lot of horrible acting. Not to mention, the viewer, who may only be attracted to the movie for it's action genre appeal, is forced to endure a mounting body count and ridiculous amounts of violent shoot em-ups plus earthquake disaster scenes. All of the focus was put in the wrong place to apologetically compensate for the lack of direction and more interesting sequence of events that should've propelled the story. It might've been much better had the filmmakers focused more on a thriller, and paid greater attention to developing the corruption aspects of this story. Creepy villains, a naive reporter, and those who attempt to alert the reporter of the wrong-doing afoot. It is formulaic, but at least it would've been entertaining.

"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.

I thought this was a spoof of old 1970s disaster-movies for the first 10 or so minutes I was watching it ... the script seemed to be pretty much as cliche-ridden as "Scary Movie" or even "Police Squad", so I was settling down waiting for the comedy parts to start .... they just never started.

Then it became like having a loose tooth that you can't leave alone with your tongue and just have to keep playing with - I became obsessed with watching it to the bitter end, no matter what the cost to my psyche or my HMO for Therapy afterward. I HAD to find out if there was anything remotely redeeming about this film, but I was sadly disappointed.

The main characters were insipid and disappointing, with Dylan Walsh looking like he was on Quaaludes most of the time, and Alison Eastwood appearing uncomfortable delivering hackneyed lines to their uncaring cast-members on sets that must have cost all of $9 (Nine Dollars) to build.

In future years, this film may achieve cult-status alongside the likes of "Plan 9 From Outer-Space" or "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians", but all-in-all, your time may be better spent laying under a bright light having root-canal.

A major energy conglomerate is experimenting with new power sources and in the process is triggering major earthquakes in the L.A area when excess heat causes new fault lines. An investigative journalist is hot on the trail ,as are some ecological warriors and the company strikes back with assassins and bombs. Fortunately for the good guys the killers are stupendously bad shots mowing down innocent bystanders in plenty but proving wholly unable to hit the real target . Its pretty poor with a cast consisting entirely of somnambulists ;some weak special effects and a plot for whom illogical would be too good a word

Avoid !

The blurb on the DVD box made this sound very promising.

From the first scene, one had to wonder just what sort of production this was going to be. Thank goodness the bad guys shot that hysterical shrieking greenie - her acting was just too much to bear. I think we were all wanting to do that ourselves.

The earthquake scenes were so drawn out and repetitive, and the props so fake.

As for the first car chase, since when has every car involved in every car smash burst into flames?? (I think the German APCs did in Eagles Dare). The second car chase, when every car in LA was immobilized by the quake our second shrieker was able to talk on her mobile, avoid all the wrecks, and the pursuer was equally immune from the chaos. Like the first scene, it was a mercy when the poor girl perished.

Now, the ultimate destruction of the power plant was about as awful as the earthquake scenes.

Overall, perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen.