Des vacances en enfer : Belle journée pour se venger

We watched this with much anticipation, after having enjoyed the original Deadly Excursion. We were let down early and often. The acting (especially by the lead females) was sophomoric- is freshmanic a word? Samaire Armstrong, who was so engaging and gorgeous in the original movie was disappointing here. And what with all the eye makeup, especially early in the film? That's all we could look at when she was on the screen. Unless they used a stand in, Samaire is a pretty good runner. She ran well in this movie as well as in the original. The bad guys were terrible, Miguel made us laugh with all his ridiculous attempts to woo Ellie. And, speaking of Ellie, Alexandria DeBerry was a total disappointment in this movie. It was as if it was her first acting gig ever. She had been pretty good in the original. OK, I shouldn't say a total disappointment- she wore a bikini a lot and looked pretty good. Maybe they should have used her only in scenes where she did not have to act or say anything. Too many plot holes to discuss in this review. No explanation of where or why the money got involved.

It's so insanely drawn out, it feels like there will never be a conclusion. I can't even tell you how many times they swapped around who was the one kidnapped between the daughter/father/mother, it kept flip-flopping around. The acting is so-so but the plot is not good.

This was one of those movies were I was not inclined to drink while watching it. I would recommend this movie if you are looking to pass some time and not waste it.

Look for:

1. The ethnicity of the bad guys - they were all Hispanic - I found this kinda offensive.

2. The sometimes extreme violence against both men AND women. Corin Nemec was beat up to a disgusting extent.

3. Mother and daughter looking like SISTERS!

4. The clothes that the women wore.

5. Mother's ability to beat up other MEN (even really big ones).

6. The icky uncle on the island with all the women.

7. The hint of another sequel (as this was a sequel to Deadly Excursion).

I noticed that very often when these TV movies first are aired, the ratings for them are somewhat high. Then as more people review them, they fall to where they more accurately belong.

A few hours ago this movie had a 7.1 rating. It is down to 6.2 as I write this. It should drop further, considering how bad it is. I don't like writing reviews with spoilers in them, so I'll skip all the plot holes that you could drive a cruise ship through. Suffice it to say the plot is ludicrous, and, as is often the case with these movies, the actions of the good guys make no sense.

I generally don't like picking on actors, but Corin Nemec is seriously miscast here. He doesn't do much more than take up space, like a placeholder. I'm not sure he is capable of playing anything other than a nice guy, which just doesn't work in this movie.

The worst part is that there is obviously going to be another sequel, another movie picking up where this one left off. Oh, joy.

The only slightly redeeming quality with this movie is that we get to see Alexandria DeBerry prance around in a teeny bikini through most of the movie. That somewhat distracted me from her vapid acting.

My four stars might be generous. But the bikini itself earned one extra star.

Really good movie for LMV. Best TV movie I have seen in years. Actors are pretty good. The actors playing the bad guys are very convincing and had me really believing the story line. Beautiful scenery in Florida.