Starring: Michael Ironsides, Anthony Michael Hall, David Chung, Kayena Charlot    Directed by: Serge Rodnunsky

THE STORY:  Michael Ironsides as you've rarely seen him! As a good guy! Ironsides is usually a villain or an evil henchdude in the movies he's in. I guess its because with his gravelly voice and cold eyes he makes a pretty good bad guy. That's why I was fascinated when I saw this movie for sale for a few bucks. Seeing Ironsides not as a criminal for once piqued my curiosity.

Ironsides is Frank Parr, FBI agent. Frank's having a hard time. He was close to his partner who recently retired, and his wife left him, claiming she doesn't love him anymore. Then he's saddled with a new partner, Molly Sinclaire, and he's not too crazy about that. Luckily Frank doesn't get too much time to mope around about it. (Luckily for us...the word 'luck' doesn't appear in Frank's universe) While investigating a robbery of a gun shop by a local militia group Frank and Sinclaire stumble across a plot that may destroy the entire city of Chicago.

Huang, a Vietnamese immigrant has moved in with his sister, Shen. Shen has apparently lived in the US for some time, but Huang has been working under the Chinese government as a physicist. Huang has come to the US for a purpose other than being with his sister...revenge! He's already peeved about the US and the Vietnam conflict, but a few months before his young daughter was killed by an unexploded US land mine. As Shen later tells the authorities "He's a genius.", we see that Huang has not only successfully smuggled in plutonium, he constructs a nuclear bomb out of junk! Even with the FBI wise to his plot, he eludes them for most of the film.

There aren't any big time action scenes in this movie, though there are several instances where Huang uses physical violence in his plan...and they're used sparingly. The best part about it is that Huang's fights are swift and brutal and to the point. Here's a man that has a time limit to execute his plan and no time for screwing around. You can see that Huang doesn't want to waste time with his fights...he just wants to end them quickly, and he knows he can since the average Americans he meets aren't martial artists. I really liked that about this flick.

Another thing I liked is that Frank is clearly depressed about his situation but the movie doesn't waste my time while he sags around lamenting about how his wife left him and the dog died, etc. Its brought up several times, but the flick doesn't throw it in your face. We know what his problem is. Case closed. Frank himself dwells on it at first after meeting Sinclair (maybe she reminded him of his ex-wife) but in an interesting way. He asks her about her love life and she doesn't want to discuss her personal business...she turns it around and asks him about his personal life, making him shut up about it.

I wonder why the actress playing Sinclair, Kayena Charlot, was given billing under Anthony Michael Hall. After all she had a bigger part than he did and lets be honest...is Hall actually going to pull people into a movie nowadays? I didn't think he was that funny when he was on SNL and how long ago was that? 12 years or so? Hall plays Rogers, the guy in a lab coat that gives Frank the scientific aspects of the case. So what? Charlot's name isn't even on the front of the box. Geez. I hope she fired her agent.

I'm going to have to check around, to see if Ironsides has any other movies where he;'s not doing something evil. It would be interesting to see. Perhaps I'll try and find out if other movie villains have at least one movie where they ain't bad guys. It would be funny to find a movie where Billy Drago is the hero for once. (Can such a thing exist in our universe?)

Best Lines: "You think you're talking to the psychic network here? I don't know! You're the veteran, you're the one with all the field experience!"-Sinclair's answer when Frank asks her where Huang may have hidden.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?:

1.) I know its supposed to be  serious moment but the part where Huang tries to buy a gun and the street hood sticks him up is hilarious....because Huang kicks the guy's ass and takes HIS gun. I laughed my ass off.

2.) How did Huang get out of the house with all of those cops around?

3.) Huang's sister kind of ticked me off....when she goes to Frank and Sinclair to tell them about her brother she pretty much bad mouths the US...I'd have more respect for her if she wasn't LIVING in Chicago. Its all fine and dandy if she thinks the US is "very cruel". Go live somewhere else then, dammit. Strangely enough, she defends the US when she speaks with Huang later on in the film.

4.) I guess now we know why I'm no movie hero. When Rogers tells Frank the nuke is armed and in a truck heading north, Frank says "That's not far from here! Lets go!". I'd have said "That's not far from here! Lets get farther away!".

NUDITY AND SEX:  none

HUH?:  Quite logically the FBI is watching Huang's sister, in the event he attempts to contact her...but what freaks me out is when he call her and asks her to meet him she does so and the FBI is none the wiser? Didn't they tap her phone, or notice her leaving the house? There's a nuke on the loose for Pity's sake!

Oh yeah, right. Sinclair twists her ankle after making a 10 inch jump.

The old colored wire schtick is even sillier in this movie than in any other I can think of. Rogers doesn't know if Frank should yank out the red or the yellow wire on the bomb....but its known that Huang built the bomb with spare parts from an auto shop! The color of the wires doesn't mean a thing! Its not like there's a manual for building nukes that says "The detonator must be connected by a red wire, preferably scarlet, although a dark pink may do in a pinch.".

THE FINAL JUDGMENT: This movie was most likely made for Showtime or for TV, but I still enjoyed it. Even die-hard action movie fans need a break from the wilder side of movies every so often. This was a pretty cool little flick. Fans of Michael Ironsides should check it out.