Face of Terror

This movie trots out its throw-away story with all the cache of a very bad example of a TV movie. All the elements prove it: a predictable plot; a formulaic screenplay; cardboard cutout characters; hackneyed dialogue often delivered with the conviction of someone reading from a cue-card; clichéd situations; neat "just add water and stir" fight scenes; caricature archetypes. The baddies are just a little too cool to be real and Nick Schroder's rebellious good guy role is so predictable that you can almost see the painted footstep positions in every scene. I didn't bother to watch it through, because the outcome's fairly obvious from seeing just the first 20 minutes.

The movie starts out pretty well, or so it seems. Well, the plot unravels quickly and we learn that Nick Harper, who's looking for his missing sister, stumbles even more quickly into the underworld of Barcelona.

Aside from the weak and predictable plot we do have some decent acting, the characters are well within the bounds of such a movie; considering both genre and budget. Unfortunately, there is no character development and the archetypes are too overbearing. We got the good cop (who leashes out in the name of good), the bad guys who are too cool for their own good and of course the hot Spanish female sidekick. And we do have that terrorist, who's parents were killed and thus he became an avenger. All those plot strings circle around the movie in order to meet at one point.

Sometimes the actors try to act larger than life, and act too tough, too sleek, whatever you want to call it. Nick is getting on with his investigation very fast and all seems to fall into place quite neatly. And even though he is a total stranger to Spain, he makes good pace. Sadly, it does no good for the movies credibility.

One thing I liked about the movie was the lack of Hollywood-style stunts, it looked almost "real", when we see a jump, or a fight; a brawl you would witness at your local bar. Nice going. I did not really care for the terrorist undertone, as we did see too many movies with that theme already.

All in all an okay movie, with no real twists or turns. No unexpected side effects, pretty straight forward. Something you wanna watch before going to bed, light and easy.

Despite the low rent nature of the production, FACE OF TERROR is quite fun to watch and serves well as an okay timewaster. It's an action thriller that manages to create a sequence of nifty set-pieces on what is an obviously low budget. There are the requisite fist fights, shoot-outs and foot chases on display here, none of them spectacular but all of them serviceable enough in their own way.

The simple storyline feels like it belongs in a Steven Seagal type movie. It sees an American travelling to Barcelona to investigate the disappearance of his sister. His only lead is a sleazy photographer but before long he gets drawn into a world of terrorism and murder. The film benefits from location shooting in Barcelona which brings out the highs and lows of the city.

The American actors tend to give less naturalistic performances than their Spanish counterparts. Certainly Ricky Schroder makes for a rather dull leading man despite his best efforts; Paulina Galvez is much better as the love interest he teams up with along the way. The villains are rather weak and ineffectual here, particularly SKYLINE's Eric Balfour, although Dean Haglund (who played one of the Lone Gunmen in THE X-FILES) is having a ball as the aforementioned photographer, his character oozing slime throughout. FACE OF TERROR is no great shakes as a movie but I liked it all the same.

what a bad movie, it has a typical Hollywood-style, the characteristic cop of the E.U. fighting against a blacks mans (like ever), this, I supposed is for demonstrate the common ability of the policeman of Hollywood. however the acting of the "hero", friends, and no friends are terrible (excepting the terrorist), are over acted, and forced. But the worst thing i found in this movie was, overcoat,the weak plot, that not has nothing of complexity, the scarcity effects that doesn't complement the poor story and the comic mustache of Nick Harper makes of this movie something to see before to the bed, or if you are so tired.

I loved this movie! Eric Balfour is SO hot in it. If you enjoy Eric Balfour then you will enjoy this movie. I bought it, I've seen it a million times. No matter how low the budget it turned out great! It has a lot of action and drama in it. I guess it depends on if you like that type of movie or not. I would highly recommend you see it before you dis it. You should trust me. It's one of Eric's best movies. And Rick Schroder does an awesome job. No doubt about that! It is truly sad how Saleem Haddad's (Eric's character) sister and family dies. But I won't get into that. This is a great movie to either watch by yourself our with a family member. It's great either way.