Betrayal

This film was a surprise because I came across it on the Lifetime Movie Network and watched a few minutes to kill some time before another program began and found myself entertained. First of all, what rescues this from being standard direct to video fare is the direction of action film helmer Mark L. Lester. In addition, the cast which includes James Remar and Adam Baldwin, has some underrated talent in it. Most surprising of all is the dynamic between Julie Le Page as the hit woman with the lam and former "Baywatch" babe, Erika Eleniak as a single mother with her troubled teenage son on road trip to her mother's place in Texas. Julie hits all the right notes as the manipulative, sociopathic hit woman who regards the unwitting mother and son as ride over the state lines with a stash of a million dollars. The female characters are strong, Julie, physically and Eleniak as the mother fighting for her son's life and makes the film very compelling. The road movie through the desert crime caper is nothing new nor original ("Thelma and Louise," anyone) but the performance of the sexy Le Page and the twist of ruthless hit woman teamed up with single mom trying to do the right thing brings a very interesting dichotomy to what could have been an otherwise forgettable film.

BETRAYAL is terrific little crime actioner, a Mark Lester job, that entertains from beginning to end. A lethal lady, played by sexy Parisian actress Julie Du Page, is on the run with a million bucks of mob money. Several people, including a police detective played by Adam Baldwin of SERENITY fame, are hot on her trail. She ends up in the company of a mom (the luscious Erica Eleniak) and her teenage son (Jeremy Lelliott), and all hell breaks loose when the son finds the money. Plenty of people die, there are some car chases, and the ending features a decent cat fight between the two Eleniak and Du Page. I am with those who think Eleniak deserves better roles than she normally gets, but better she is working than not at all. "B" movie stalwart James Remar plays an FBI agent who hooks up with Eleniak, although he is given little to do. The focus is on the two extremely beautiful women, which was fine with me. Du Page has a shower scene, guys.

I certainly don't agree with the raving reviews others gave this piece of crap. First of all director Mark Lester cast it poorly. In the likes of Julie Du Page (that's a real name?) playing a so called sex pot. Wrong. She's not that attractive to seduce a blind man. And she's so phony on her come ons. Obvious. In her Fredericks of Hollywood bra and panties (a mistake in costumes) she was all skin and bones with no bust at all. Most of the time she's squeezed in, pumped up and pushed together to give her a cleavage at all. Her back bone protruded her bony body. Yuk. Don't tell me those idiots that fell for her charm didn't notice. They must have been hard up. Also with too much lip gloss on her bot-ox lips. Funny scene is when she supposedly goes into the train station inconspicuously, wearing a skin tight, low cut, flaming red dress, with her mop hair and sun glasses - too funny. What she didn't have, Erika Elenkiak, as the tough mother, had too much of. Wearing too tight sweaters throughout the film making her breasts look over sized, she didn't do too much acting. Only looking forlorn and confused. Did she not know what was happening? Adam Baldwin plays a small role, thank goodness. With his usual non expressive face he wanders through this trite movie aimlessly. Then we have the son, played by Jeremy Lellliott, who spends most of the film crying. If he's not ogling our hit whore, he's sobbing "woe is me and my mom". He also must have had his hair dyed along with his mom to that brassy blond. It looked so fake.

It was late at night when I watched this so most others were spared the pain I went through watching.

I was surprised that several reviewers rated this movie so poorly. I rented it because the concept of a "hitwoman" intrigued me. I honestly thought Jayne (Julie Du Page) was a convincingly evil, cat-like assassin. Sexy, seductive, and OOH so lethal. I was impressed by the talent of the "son" played by Jeremy Lelliot. It was amazing to see so young a boy be so believable in his role. I believe that Erika Eleniak could do a good job of acting if she were given a more challenging role. She shined in "Under Siege". I wish she could land a role that would give her something to live up to. There were some rather predictable parts but that is the nature of movies like this. The one part that made me laugh was a shoot-out where three bad guys with 12-gauge shotguns can't hit the person they are after. All three of them are blazing away but they only manage to take out light bulbs and a bunch of woodwork. That was lame. The director must not have fired a shotgun or he would have known that scene needed to be modified. Anyway, there is a story here, a mom struggling to save her son, cops trying to catch some bad guys and a teen boy stuck in the middle of it all. And in a few instances you don't know who is the good guy and who is the bad!!!

"Lady Jayne:Killer" is a bottom of the barrel B-flick from the get go. You only have to scan the roster to see the personnel are a bunch of B-listers and maybe seeing ex-Playmate Eleniak get naked is the most one can hope for. Unfortunately, this lame flick doesn't even deliver a little gratuitous T&A as it limps along though its trite and cliche-ridden story about a beautiful hitwoman, a bunch of money, and a broke mom and son destined for a showdown. Pretty awful stuff not worth the time. (D+)