Blast

With "Blast", Albert Pyun presents us with his B-movie version of the "Die Hard" scenario. Aside from the stop-motion fighting sequences and familiar plot elements - even down to the hero's ex-wife being the terrorist's last hostage - the movie also featured deflated performances from Andrew Divoff and Rutger Hauer. Even as the leader of the terrorists, Divoff is given very little to say and even less to do. Walking fast and tough down hallways seems to be his character's primary ability. And what was with Hauer's legs having been blown off? Wow - not since Gary Sinise in "Forrest Gump" have I seen such a convincing leg amputee.

Tim Thomerson looked like he was trying his best to be invisible in his role as the police chief who only appears on a single set. And if you've got a keen eye, you can spot pre-American Pie and pre-implants Shannon Elizabeth as one of the swimteam hostages. Other than that, a couple bad computer animated explosions, bad guys who have the hero at point-blank range yet still wait for him to escape to the other side of a locked door, a seemingly unkillable hero, and not-so-subtle characterisations make "Blast" another serving from Pyun that one should definitely miss.

Flat actionner with terrorists taking over a lesuire complex for some odd reason taking girls as hostages with only the aikido-fighting janitor to save them all.

There is an implied feeling of the girls being "raped" by the terrorists, but they really aren't. The terrorists demands are silly and flat. The whole film is flat.

Overall: 0/10 Totally un-memorable. And that's a good thing.

At the time of the Atlanta Olympics the FBI stopped a potential terrorist attack, this film is what might have happened if they hadn't. Terrorist plant bombs all over the Olympic buildings and take the USA women's swimming team hostage. However a janitor is left inside who happens to have weapons training and whose ex-wife is on the swimming team staff. He begins to evade and kill them as the clock ticks.

This is laziness itself. The film tries to give itself a base to work from by setting itself in reality and basing itself on what `might' have happened. Let me tell you - this wouldn't have happen, even if the terrorists attack had happen it wouldn't have been like this! The story is stupid - `Die Hard in a swimming pool', great. I wonder is John McTiernan ever saw this if he would regret making Die Hard and inspiring so many rubbish videos. The story is absurd and just wants some shooting and fighting - for example, Bryant gets two guns, does he use the ammo carefully? No - he runs into a room, fires all his bullets, hits nothing, throws the guns away and legs it! This is no Die Hard. And if you think this isn't stupid then the terrible, terrible finale will prove it. It will have you roaring with laughter - it includes an exploding wheelchair, a walking stick that doubles as a samurai sword, a disabled man who can't walk but can do martial arts moves and swim and some terrible effects. It really is that bad…..

Ashby is a bad version of Willis. He runs round in a sweaty, dirty white tee-shirt with blood stains but manages to be totally without charisma. I couldn't believe how poor he was here. Of course, he can't take the prize for worst performance. Divoff tries with a cheap version of Rickman, his accent never settles in one place and is really just a rent-a-thug role. However the prize for worst goes to Hauer in a bad haircut as a terrorist expert from Interpol, however he does set a great example for disabled people everywhere by overcoming disability to physically fight the baddie - stupid!

Overall, words cannot describe how bad this film is. In every area it is tacky and nasty. Please - if you like this - get Die Hard on video and watch how it should be done. Trash - 2 out of 10.

There isn't much to be said about this movie. Certainly nothing to add after all these comments. I wouldn't even consider bothering unless I've found a strange bonus.

That bonus is music score. This movie caught me as background curtain while writing some data on my machine. Momentarily I've detected excellent score from Anthony Riparetti.

Never even heard about this composer. Indeed movie offers nothing unseen in this genre. But Riparetti done his homework. And homework made with great aplomb. From the first sequence to the end, he follows, communicates and captures visual essence with superb dynamic of his music. It compliments every scene. No, he doesn't offer profiled theme like Mancina offered in Speed. But, it clearly shows that he is one capable composer, at least for this genre - for this be the first score I've ever heard from him.

In fact, I was sure there has to be some score/soundtrack available from this movie. Alas, no such luck. Low profile movie and it would be miracle to actually generate even one single available track.

Anyway, if you would like to learn how to superbly dosage electronic music in any action movie, this is the movie for you. Forget the story, ego-trips that such genre generates all the time. For sake of music, do watch it, you wont be disappointed in this department. Guaranteed!

It is a great irony for such prosaic movie to own such a fantastic score. This score would superbly compliment some A class action movie. But, life supplies such ironies all the time I'm afraid.

Not sure if I got the spelling correct, but it's Italian for "half-and-half." *Warning: spoilers ahead.* Sure; it's a rip-off of the "DIE HARD" trilogy. And, truth to tell, Janitor Jack doesn't get _any_ guidance from Agent Leo until the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the film. Furthermore, if I had been the director, I would have had the swimteam extras with the bathing caps be among the casualties. I mean, they kept them on through the whole movie!! What real-life hostages would've done that? But, at least, they provided _some_ explanation for why the hero knew martial arts. The very similar "SUDDEN DEATH" obviously had a bigger budget. And, yet, they _never_ explained how Van Damme's character (a divorced fire marshal) was so proficient at hand-to-hand combat! So, where I give "SUDDEN DEATH" two stars, I give "BLAST" half a star more.