Blast

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Blast" (1997) doesn't have anything that will want you to see it or f by any chance you will - to remember it longer then one minute after you will watch. Even Rutger Hauer, who is a very compelling screen presence in almost everything he does couldn't save this flat, predictable and very lazy flick. I don't usually watch this kinda movies now, but at the time i owned this in VHS format, and somehow stumble on it in my attic - this is the only reason i'm writing this now to inform you - don't watch it, don't waste your time on it.

Overall, there isn't really anything to say about this very poor "Die Hard" rip-off. You definitely have seen this movie without seeing it many times in much, much better movies. Just a poor flick.

Linden Ashby stars as a janitor (Okay this was done in Virtual Assassin and Nightsiege:Project Shadowchaser II, Enough with the kung fu janitors who used to be secret service agents or something!) who is an ex-secret service agent who protects the swim-team from terrorists looking to nuke the U.S (What terrorists aren't?) and of course our hero wades through the disposable terrorists with the help of a wheelchair bound Rutger Hauer. The cast alone shows promise; Linden Ashby, Rutger Hauer, Thom Mathews and Andrew Divoff. However their efforts are in vain as Pyun never figures out how to use them effectively. Mathews in particular is a good martial artist, so why not have him as one of the henchman, ensuring us a fight sequence between Mathews and Ashby. I mean it would be better then seeing him like a prissy swim coach. Blast however makes the worst mistake of being just plain tedious. Aside from the ridiculous finale that sees Rutger Hauer as a sword wielding paraplegic, Blast is the worst type of B.movie a brainless bore with no redeeming value. Still, Rutger Hauer's presence saves this from my lowest rating possible.

* out of 4-(Bad)

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

As soon as I had started watching the film and saw the opening credits roll,a banner come up indicating that this was A FILM BY ALBERT PYUN and alarm bells started ringing in my head.Worse yet,it didn't take itself long to assert itself as A FILM BY ALBERT PYUN.All of ol' Alberto's defining touches are there from the off-set:the weary looking production values,the hazily-handled filming style,the sloppy editing,not to mention deficets with the script and dialogue.DTV favourite Rutger Hauer is on hand,headbilled as the leading man,but not featured until about half an hour into the film.The virtually none-existent action scenes do little to help matters.

Oh,the story?What could have happened had the FBI not averted a terrorist attack at the Montreal olympics.But although it even brags as being about this at the beginning of the film,it's conveyed in such an unbelievable way,you couldn't possibly believe it.It's unbelievably uninteresting as well,so it should really be avoided on all counts,shouldn't it?*

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.

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.