Fatal Defense

Stalker time again on the MyTime channel, as single mother Scott discovers she's the target of a twisted psychopath putting both her life and that of her young daughter in peril.

Scott has a physically demanding role but it's Sherilyn Fenn we've all come to see, here playing a hard-nosed, tea-drinking detective who gives Scott the initial idea to learn self defence as a means of regaining her composure and confidence following a violent home invasion.

Reasonably taut, formula-fed plot does best in anticipation of the action, those scenes awkwardly staged invariably looking stilted and crude even by telemovie standards. The performances are varied with the principal cast mostly consistent, although the same can't be said for many of the background characters who appear wooden and amateurish.

Average telemovie offers nothing new in terms of plot, although it's good to see former diva Fenn and Scott in dominant roles (Fortier completes the triple threat as Scott's no-nonsense detective sister) with no male hero to fall back on. This aspect at the very least should appeal to some viewers.

What were the producers of this extended music video thinking? The not particularly good music was incessantly oppressive from start to finish; 86 minutes of continuous acoustic assault. For the first time that I can recollect, I was actually looking forward to the commercial breaks, as they provided some much needed respite.

It wasn't even background noise, and while it never quite overwhelmed the actors' delivery of their respective lines, it was certainly a significant distraction. Then again, given the poor quality of the script, and indeed the entire screenplay, maybe this was deliberate.

The only redeeming quality, it makes one appreciate the beauty of silence.

The most painful movie for the eyes and ears. Such a disappointing movie that is terribly written, terrible acting and the most stupid and annoying thing you will ever watch. Just not worth watching at all

The premise alone is so eye-rollingly rote that, even if it were to have been executed competently, I'd be surprised if the feature was anything other than cripplingly mediocre. 'Fatal Defense (2017)' is an uninspired amalgamation of every daytime television trope one can think of, forced into the constraints of a blandly acted and boringly shot mess of a piece that features a constantly overbearing and oddly pop-infused musical score which is almost hilariously over-wrought and inexplicably loud to the point where dialogue is often near inaudible. The apparent 'experts' in the flick are ridiculously unconvincing as they clumsily try to convince us that they are trained killers by flailing their arms or rolling around on the floor - until they're exposed to their ultimate weakness, that being slightly wet moss, of course - and every character lacks any legible arc beyond the basics of, for example, beating the bad guy. It's really the absolutely awful script that drags this down to almost unwatchable levels because no-one ever says anything remotely interesting or, worst of all, anything that a real human being would ever even think to say. 2/10.

How this movie made it beyond 4 is beyond me. Not one watchable or believable scene, pathetic direction, can't blame the actors for the otherwise sordid movie this is. The screenplay writer needs to be sent to Syria before he/she releases the next one. Even Asylum movies are better than this - wait I didnt check if this was by them b4 I wrote this so the joke might be on me