Acts of Betrayal

THE STORY: Sometimes I just want a direct to video movie to suprise me a little. Just a little. No such luck here. This one was so paint-by-the-numbers it was child's play to tell what was going to happen next.

First off, the hero, FBI agent Lance Cooper is a 'boy scout' type guy, but he used to be a marine sharpshooter. So we know he's going to be really tough and really good at busting caps in people's asses. His partner, Beau Morelli is a black guy, so well,...I don't have to tell you. You've guessed already. (If you haven't guessed you need to watch more b-movies and get back to me)

Well, Cooper and Morelli are supposed to take Eva to Washington so she can testify on her drug dealing mobster husband. She's a federal witness. Eva is kind of saucy and she's constantly bitching or coming on to Cooper. However there's a conspiracy to kill Eva before she can testify and the assassins are a well-equipped mercenary outfit. Somehow they know that Eva will go to the bank to withdraw her money as the FBI agents drive her out of town. The mercenary leader, Trenton Fraser, (called "Hydra") has an elaborate plan to kill Eva at the bank by staging a fake robbery. This goes awry and Morelli is killed. (You must have GUESSED THAT! I toldja he was the hero's partner and he's black!)

From that point on Eva and Cooper are on the run. Cooper manages to call his boss, Crispin, and arrange to be picked up at an isolated Army weather station. Unknown to Cooper, Crispin is in on the assassination of Eva. Using his marine training, Cooper takes out most of the mercenaries but he and Eva are captured by Fraser and his female sidekick at the weather station. Fraser doesn't want to kill Cooper...he respects him. So he offers a deal. If Cooper doesn't act while he kills Eva he'll give Cooper two million bucks. Cooper plays along long enough to cue Eva in on an escape plan. (which consists of Eva stomping on the female mercenary's foot while she's being held) Cooper shoots the female mercenary, wounding her and then he and Fraser shoot each other. Fraser is killed instantly. Cooper is badly wounded and Eva goes outside to call for help. While she's outside, Crispin arrives with some men. But instead of coming to Cooper's aid he kills the female mercenary, mistaking her for Eva. Then he explains to Cooper how he was paid to get rid of Eva by a corrupt senator. Just before Crispin and his goons kill Cooper, Eva comes in behind them with a machine gun (dropped by one of the mercenaries) and blows all of the corrupt FBI agents away. Then she helps the bleeding Cooper up and they leave to go testify.

Well, I've seen worse movies. This one wasn't boring. But nothing out of the ordinary happened in it. As I said you can tell what's going to happen before it happens. I rented it because of the picture of Maria Conchita Alonso on the box cover. Alonso played Eva and she was also in the movies Extreme Prejudice and The Running Man. I just think she's kind of sexy. Cooper was Matt McColm.

Best Lines: "Would you mind not stuffing my face in your crotch! If you want it that bad you should be asking nicely, Cooper...who knows, maybe I'm excited by gunfire!"-Eva when Cooper tries to protect her from gunfire. Ms. Alonso has a pretty sexy voice.

"The bitch is right here, asshole!"- Eva when she comes up behind Crispin and kills him.

1.) Don't the bad guys in this movie kind of go through a lot if they want Eva dead? They know where she lives. Why not just go kill her? Instead they stage an elaborate bank robbery/murder scheme. Why? These guys perform everything like a well timed military exercise! They have enough firepower to kill a battalion of soldiers! Why not just go blow Eva away? Is the bad guy leader such an over-achiever that he has to plan some fantastic scenario just to kill one freakin' woman?

2.) Beau, Cooper's partner is a minority. He's black. That's how I knew...I'm tellin' you I KNEW he was going to be pushing up freakin' daisies before they even met Eva. For the love of Pete, isn't that cliche old enough now?

3.) Speaking of Cliches, I would have preferred it if Cooper was just a really, really, really good FBI agent. But all movie heroes in these kinds of flicks have to have this kind of background. Dig this...Cooper was not only a marine, he was a marine sniper! (of course...he can't just be a regular really, really, really good FBI agent) Suprisingly, they say he was a Staff Sergeant. I don't know why they didn't go the whole nine yards and just say he was fuckin' Captain. Not only that, but a hero in this kind of movie also has to have a deep personal loss in his past. Not only is Cooper's wife dead, she was raped and murdered! (Geez....couldn't she just have fallen in the bathtub, or had a heart attack? Noooo....gotta be something really bad, like raped AND murdered.) To round out the cliche committee's work, Cooper's boss is in cahoots with the bad guys. No suprise there. You'll know that as soon as he comes on screen the first time. I'm shocked that when Cooper and Hydra, the bad guy leader, meet they didn't throw in the whole cliche kit 'n kaboodle. Both men are ex-military dudes. I'm suprised Hydra didn't say something like "Ah, Sergeant Cooper! Last time we met was in the middle east when you turned me in for killing those civilians!"

4.) After the female mercenary is shot she sees the wounded and helpless Cooper on the floor and says "fuck you!". That's it? Cooper has been shot about three or four times. The woman has been shot in the leg. There are weapons laying on the floor. Why doesn't she get up, hobble over to a weapon and kill Cooper? I mean, I know that it must hurt like all get out to have been shot in the leg, but she ain't that hurt! They've been trying to kill Cooper for hours if not a day or so!

NUDITY AND SEX: Eva is seen in her underwear. She also makes a lot of sexual innuendoes.

HUH?: What kind of movie would this be without some fat bubba guy working at a gas station? Amazingly the guy is smoking a cigar while he works at the pumps! Do you know how stupid you have to be to do that? Do you know how monumentally retarded you have to be to work at a gas station and do that?

Crispin kills the female mercenary because he thinks she's Eva. Crispin oughtta know what Eva fuckin' looks like! He's the Deputy director of the FBI in charge of this case! She's a federal witness! He's never seen a picture of her? Even if he hasn't he knows that Eva is Hispanic. The female mercenary is whiter than June Cleaver!

When the bad guys catch them and death looks imminent, Cooper tries to give Eva a cue to act (by stomping on the mercenary's foot) by calling her a "Class Act". (Just roll with it...the term class act was used earlier in reference to Eva) Suprisingly he says "She's not a class act" (or something along those lines) about five or six freaking times! Eva doesn't get it at first. So he keeps saying it. These highly skilled mercenaries can't figure out that Cooper's trying to get Eva to do something so he can shoot them?

I guess there is honor among criminals. Fraser seems completely serious when he offers Cooper a deal. But why do it? He's a mercenary assassin! He's been trying to kill Eva and by default kill Cooper through the whole flick. Why fuck around now when you have him at your mercy? Dumbass. He should have shot Cooper, blew Eva away, collected his money and flew to the Caribbean. Its not like he's not a murderer!!

THE TALLY: There's enough action in this movie to get your rocks off, but its done in such a matter of fact way that there was little tension. I never once feared that the heroes would lose. I just wish that something...anything...in this movie had been a suprise. Too bad it wasn't. I think Maria Conchita Alonso is a pretty good actress. I wish her talents weren't wasted on this lackluster movie.