Memorial Day

The previous user comment about this being an OK movie is quite bizarre... it's quite clearly a low budget, c-grade, made-for-TV quality movie -- if it was made for TV in the early 80's. The fight scenes are awful, and I can't imagine anyone, not even someone who knows Speakman's martial art of choice would really care about what kind of punch he is throwing at any stage.

Maybe his comments were actually about a different movie... the back cover of the DVD that I picked up for $3 reads:

"Chicago SWAT TEAM leader Jimmy Fain (Jeff Speakman) is committed to a mental facility, blaming himself after he fails to diffuse a terrorist bombing threat. There he meets a mysterious inmate who insists that Fain is the man destined to save the world from nuclear disaster. Going against all sane logic, Fain breaks out of the asylum, racing against time to save the human race from self-destruction.

In desolate Siberia, mercenary saboteurs armed with a HI-TECH STEALTH HELICOPTER steal the control codes for Russia's orbiting LASER SATELLITE called TALON. Within hours, ruthless industrialist Gerald Lancaster launches a series of space-based laser attacks on American NUCLEAR SUBMARINE and a Russian ORBITING SPACE STATION. Soon, Russia's capitalist government falls victim to a hard line communist coup and the West prepares for the return of the cold war.

Crossing the Canadian border, Jimmy Fain rescues a defecting Russian scientist who holds the key to destroying the TALON satellite. Pursued by Lancaster's hit squads, Fain battles to destroy the TALON satellite, before Lancaster plunges the world into NUCLEAR Armageddon."

Now THAT's a movie worth $3! However, in the movie I actually saw:

1) There is no character called Jimmy Fain. 2) The character Speakman plays is not a SWAT TEAM leader. 3) His character doesn't have a breakdown, he is forced into an insane asylum, but doesn't meet anyone there. 4) Siberia is never mentioned or seen. 5) There are no HI-TECH STEALTH HELICOPTERS. 6) Russia is never mentioned or seen. 7) Canada is never mentioned or seen. 8) There are no defecting or any other kind of scientists (technicians, maybe). 9) There is no-one called Lancaster. 10) There is no nuclear threat at any stage. 11) There is a LASER SATELLITE, but it's called EAGLE, not TALON.

Apart from that, it's a perfectly accurate description of the movie.

What's odd is the IMDb Plot Outline for this movie reads:

"An embittered satellite expert gets the opportunity for revenge against the USA by aiding terrorists in a plan to destroy the country's military base."

This is also completely inaccurate. There is no embittered satellite expert, there are no terrorists, and there is no plan to destroy any military base. The movie DOES have a satellite in it though, I'll give it that. And 2 out of 10.

90 mins of a not quite there conspiracy movie that's not hurting anyone and just trying to make back its budget without embarrassing itself.

A government assassin bolts the ranch after having a crisis of conscience/nervous break down. He went to the media with a tale of space lasers launched to be used as kind of a proto-Space Force thing. Naturally super secret shadow gov't has him committed. They put the project on ice for awhile and bring him back as a pawn in an overthrow of the US gov't. As if anyone would try to over throw the gov't!! Will he clear his name and prevent totalitarian rule of the US?? I DON'T KNOW!!

All of the actors, also look like Wish version of actors. Wish Lee J. Cobb. Fat wish Martin Sheen. Actually two Wish Lee J Cobbs. Wish Peter Finch. They're mostly taught and tan and talk in a growly voice. None of them are horrible. One of the cast won a primetime Emmy.

It was nice of the writers to write one underused woman into this sausage fest.

A perfectly decent movie that you can mute if you have an important call to take. You won't miss anything.

About the only thing worse than the awful dialog is the (over?) acting. Bruce Weitz's talent somehow comes through, in spite of what appears to be poor direction. Oh, yeah..the effects. Cheap...laughable at times. A notch or two above Flash Gordon.

Memorial Day is a decent film starring martial arts expert Jeff Speakman who happened to study the same type of karate (kempo) as I did. The movie basically details a former intelligence agent who had information about a special satelite that is being used to harm innocent americans. Speakman plays the agent who is deemed insane and confined to a mental hospital. He is released with the idea of him being ordered to kill a presidential candidate who is little more than a puppet in the eyes of the people who put him there. The film moves pretty well and the acting is decent.

I guess the two biggest or best things about this movie are:

1- The in-joke/rumor that there was a sequel to Independence Day called Memorial Day. Hum, this movie is obviously a rip on ID4 (even the box logo is similar), but there is nothing else.

2- Martin Sheen's cameo. Hmm, no credit, hmm.. bad movie...

Yes, this is a bad movie, I'd recommend passing on the film that has some decent sets and may appease Speakman fans, but otherwise, the story is full of holes and is just plain wierd.

Rating: 3