Def Con-4

THE STORY: Out of all the end of the world movies I have seen only one actually made sense...that was Mad Max. In Mad Max the premise wasn't nuclear war...it was the problem of  resources running out and society beginning to crumble because of it. Some post apocalypse movies such as Soylent Green, Omega Man and The Ultimate Warrior have had premises of a virus or some other non-nuclear threat causing the end of the world. I guess that's because the nuclear destruction of humanity would realistically cause enough devastation that there wouldn't be much left to tell a story. Forget The Day After...watch a movie like Threads to see what I mean.

Walker, Jordan and Howe are on board a nuclear bomb loaded satellite. They're mission is to launch missiles against any threat nation that goes nuclear in war. Their worst nightmares come true when world War three begins. Within a short time humanity has bombed itself into ashes. The astronauts stay in orbit for weeks, monitoring the earth and hoping to see a sign of life. Howe listens to the radio nightly hoping to get a message from his wife who has a transmitter. He gets one, and its not good. Rashly he decides to launch the escape capsule and go back to earth. Jordan and Walker are against going back to earth since the radiation is high in most areas, but they have little choice when Howe launches. Unfortunately, the attempt to abandon the stations nuclear missiles goes badly and one of the bombs doesn't launch. Its armed and counting down. The capsule lands off course and Jordan is knocked unconscious in the process. Howe thinks she's dead, but is mistaken. When someone bangs on the outside the capsule Walker and Howe try to open the door, only so Walker can be dragged out and killed. Howe seals the door. Howe leaves the still injured Jordan to look for help when night falls. He's captured by a man named Vincent. Vincent wants all the food the capsule has. Vincent also has a prisoner, JJ, a young woman. Howe makes a deal with JJ when Vincent steps outside. If she helps him and shows him where to get a boat he'll take her with him. Vincent comes back and stops that plan. before Vincent can kill Howe, Howe tells him that Jordan will never let him in the capsule so he'll never get the food. Vincent is intrigued about Jordan...because she's a female. He even asks what kind of nipples she has. the next morning Vincent takes JJ and Howe to the capsule in a makeshift tank. They are ambushed by a group of people and captured.

The bad guys that capture them drag the capsule back to their base. They are led by a snotty little punk named Gideon. Howe learns that Gideon's father was a navy officer. When the war began Gideon's father came to get him from college and took JJ, his girlfriend, too. the copter they were in crashed. Only Gideon, JJ, Corporal Lacey and the pilot, Boomer survived the crash. Boomer was paralyzed. But he knows about the satellite equipment in the copter. Gideon soon took control of the survivors in the area and Lacey became his second-in-command. Gideon kept boomer alive and used his knowledge to force Howe's capsule to land in the area by sending a program into it. He needs the equipment in it to locate a survival station. The radiation will kill everyone in their area within two months if they stay.  Gideon's kind of twisted. He tortures the helpless paralyzed Boomer and arranges to have Vincent, Howe and Jordan hung. JJ too, when she rebels against his ruthlessness. But he offers Howe a chance...if he will pull the lever that will hang his friends, he will spare Howe. Howe agrees. Just before he pulls the lever, Boomer, crawling with his hands, makes it out of his prison and gets a gun. He shoots Gideon but only wounds him. In the confusion Howe escapes. Jordan is the only doctor and she agrees to help Gideon if he'll promise no hangings. He does, but after she sees to his wounds, he says he'll have Vincent and JJ shot instead. Jordan tries to poison him, but Gideon has Lacey kill her.

Meanwhile, Howe finds a boat. He kills the guards on it, that were Gideons' men and goes back to the base for Vincent, JJ and Jordan. He uses Vincent's makeshift tank and frees them. Gideon, Lacey and Jordan with a few men get to the boat and set sail. While leaving the port, Gideon shoots the men. Howe swims out to the boat but Gideon threatens to kill JJ if he doesn't jump overboard. Howe isn't really an action hero, so he jumps. But then JJ pushes Gideon over and gets rid of Lacey. Howe picks up Vincent at the shore and they head out to safer places. Lacey and Gideon swim to shore and make it back to their camp just in time for the last nuke that is still in the capsule to go off.

To make this movie different from others of its type, Howe is an unlikely hero. He doesn't seem particularly brave. His only motivation for going back to earth was hearing his wife on the radio. Once he's on the surface he realizes she's probably dead by then anyway. Howe doesn't fight his way out of problems or seem tough either. Vincent captured him with ease. He only helps Vincent at the end because he needs him. I found Howe's character refreshing because he wasn't super human. If Van Damme or Shwarzenegger were in this role they would have simply beaten up half of Gideon's army and shot the rest.

Best Lines: "We're not going down into any radioactive disease land!"- Walker refuse to land the ship even when Howe wants to go save his family.

1.) Wouldn't a bigger crew be advisable for this bomb laden space station? If either Walker or Howe were incapacitated how would the nukes be launched. Jordan's a doctor and there was no indication that she knew anything about how to launch the nukes.

2.) Speaking of the station, why weren't they put on Def Con 3 before the nukes started going off? by the news broadcasts we can see that tensions were rising on the planet. (By the soviets, but then this movie was made before the Soviet Union fell.) also, Howe says they were in space for 15 months...that's along [unwrite]in' tour! And I've had some crappy long tours...but in orbit? With only three people!? That would really suck!

3.) Howe is very trusting! When the capsule first lands someone bangs on the outside. Howe is ecstatic! He tells Walker about how they can trade some of their food for aid and all that...Walker and Howe try to dig the way out. (The capsule's door is half buried from impact)  Waitaminnit! this is post-apocalypse earth! Did it ever occur to them that people might be distinctly UNfriendly after being nuked to hell?

4.) A falling tree with spikes is how Vincent traps Howe. Yeah, all them spikes just happened to miss him. Right.

NUDITY AND SEX: none

HUH?: Gideon is a little snot. How the hell did he take control of all of these people. Lacey was a marine corporal and he seems happy to be Gideon's lackey. Why? Gideon wasn't in the military? he's not a big guy or threatening. He's intelligent and probably manipulative...but that ain't gonna get get you too far in a situation like that. Its plain to see that Gideon doesn't give a [unwrite] about anyone but himself. Why hasn't someone else taken control?

This movie couldn't survive under any other premise, but what about nuclear winter? I don't think the radiation would be low enough for these folks to survive either.

THE TALLY: When I first saw this movie I hated it. But I watched it again, to make a better assessment. Its not that bad. Its not a rock 'em, Sock 'em adventure, but its not a total fart fest either. There are plenty of opportunities to make jokes and the overall story isn't too bad. Since it isn't a classic, but still not painful, I give it three devils. Def Con 4 has escaped the Inferno...barely.