THE STORY: Ice T and Mario Van Peebles in the same movie? Hmmm...sounds bad, huh? Well, its no 2001 but its not as bad as it might look from the outside.

Earth is about to be hit by a big [unwrite]ing asteroid. this impact will destroy all of civilization, but luckily the government has a failsafe plan. A super duuper missile or something called THOR. The problem is that THOR was canned a few years before and no one can get it up and running except for one man...Doctor Corbett. Unfortunately for Corbett a rogue cult knows about this (they have members in the military) and they kidnap him to prevent him from operating THOR.

This cult is led by Mario Van...I mean a guy named Thomas Payne. (Wasn't he a writer or something?) Payne and his followers are fanatical about religion and think that the asteroid impact is God's will. The government desperately seeks leads to where Payne is hiding out. To this end they enlist the aid of FBI agent Janine Tyrell. Tyrell arrested a man named Reese who is Payne's arch enemy. Tyrell is given authority to do whatever it takes to get Corbett back alive in three days. So she gets Reese out of jail and tells him when they find Payne and Corbett she won't bat an eye if Reese kills Payne. It  seems that Payne is responsible for the deaths of Reese's family. Reese wants nothing but his vengeance.

There's no real suprises here...Reese, a black man is teamed up with Tyrell, a white woman. Thankfully we aren't subjected to a lot of white person in the hood situations. To be honest, Tyrell seems fully capable of her job and at no time acts like a stereotypical movie female. Hell, she's bad! Tyrell doesn't take prisoners and she doesn't do any soul searching when she kills bad guys. Not that Tyrell is the most rounded out character, but Reese is pretty flat. First, Reese is played by Ice T. So don't expect any range. Second, Reese has no other purpose or lines except to find and kill Payne. Simple.

Naturally our heroes find Payne and after a pretty anticlimactic shootout rescue Corbett. To throw a spanner in the works an Air Force officer, Captain McNally turns out to be Payne's contact in the government. No biggie. He gets smoked. The earth is saved and the bad guys are vanquished.

A shame. This movie could have been so much better. It could have been better than Armageddon. (Not that a feat like that would be hard, and it probably wouldn't have won any awards, but I digress...) Think about it....a religious nutcase has his hands on the one man that can save the earth! Instead of dealing with the action parts of the movie so much it would have been interesting to deal with the personalities of the characters and the theological implications. Payne believes God wants mankind to be wiped out; Reese hates Payne for the death of his wife in one of Payne's anti drug campaigns. (Payne had a war with drug dealers); Corbett's an atheist. He doesn't understand why Payne feels this way or why people follow him; Tyrell just wants to do her job, but it turns personal when her fiancée is killed in a random meteor hit. See what I'm gettin' at? This movie could have been a real doozy, but instead its just another churned out action flick with  plot we've seen far too much of in the last few years.

Tyrell was Suzi Amis. I really liked her character. Tyrell wasn't what I'd call "a babe". She wasn't an ugly woman, but she wasn't a "knockout", like you'd expect in a movie heroine. She was generally average looking. Clarence was the big man...(no, not Clarence Clemmons) "Tiny" Lister.

Best Lines: "I looked at your hand, you ain't got no wedding ring....what are you, a lesbian...if you are its nothing to be ashamed of. This is the 90's. You can talk about it." -Reese and Tyrell engage in some movie-buddy banter.

"Man, I'm from Texas. We don't have to deal with this kind of crap!" -Tyrell comments on California earthquakes.

1.)  Why is Tyrell telling Reese he can kill Payne in front of witnesses? There's two prison guards right there! She says in no uncertain terms that if Reese agrees to help her she'll let him snuff Payne with no questions asked! I'd like to see that case go to court. All any good prosecutor would have to do is dig up one of those guards.

2.)  I can understand Payne's zeal about his faith...in a way...but I can't understand it to the point of his crimes. Its different to target criminals than it is to kill a few government agents and kidnap a man with the ultimate goal of letting the entire world be destroyed! What is it with these suicide cult guys?

3.)  Luther smacks his lips EVERY FEW DAMN SECONDS. (Luther was played by Coolio) Its really annoying. Now, I'm not into rap but this has nothing to do with this statement....Coolio sucks as an actor. Hell, he was just playing himself  basically and he was still awful. God, it felt good to say that.

4.) Clarence, Payne's right-hand man, changes his mind pretty [unwrite]in' quick. He's willing to go along with the whole scheme and follow Payne into the jaws of the apocalypse but as soon as Corbett mentions that Payne might be a false prophet, Clarence switches sides! Talk about weak-willed!

NUDITY AND SEX:  none

HUH? :  So, with the resources of the entire United States Air Force, not to mention the government, the only people that can possibly find Corbett in time are Tyrell and Reese. Right. Theres no way that no one knew where Payne was holing up. His followers need to buy food, they need water and basic necessities. Someone would have squealed the first time a cop shoved a nightstick in his ass.

These "asteroid hits the earth" are interesting, but in a way silly. Don't give me that "its what killed the dinosaurs" thing either. We don't know that for sure! Until someone invents a time machine we ain't gonna be sure. Its not an impossible scenario...just improbable...space is big. Really big. Really really big. Big enough that most of us can't comprehend it. Strange how a lot of big rocks have been coming our way in the last several years ain't it? (if you watch a lot of flicks, that is)

As soon as the general found he had a security leak he had everyone in the immediate chain of command investigated and under surveillance. Captain McNally's loyalties to Payne were exposed almost instantly when a review of his mandatory investigation procedure results told that he was once and maybe still a member of the cult. That's what I'd be writing if this movie had anything to do with real life. Do you think the government hands out clearances for free? 'Fraid not. McNally would have been dead meat from the word go. (His ties with Payne would have kept him from a job on the general's staff let alone in a top secret facility.)

THE FINAL JUDGEMENT:  Mildly entertaining. I was going to award this movie with three devils. I still am, but I'm holding one back because of its wasted potential. It occurs to the Inferno how ironic it would have been if this straight to video action flick (that didn't have a lot of action) was a better movie than Armageddon. Armageddon's only real claim to fame is special FX. Still, its more engaging than this movie. Too bad...it had so much going for it that we didn't see.