Audience Member
Not bad, but I liked it better the FIRST two times I saw it when it was called The Manchurian Candidate and then Telefon.,
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is the third or fourth movie to team B movie legend and "Dudarosa style ranch house" designer/bronze sculptor Michael Dudikoff with veritable bad movie auteur Fred Olen Ray (Operation Cobra, the Shooter, Black Horizon).
First off, don't be fooled by the sci fi-esque cover; this certainly has elements of the genre, but it is more of a political thriller in the mold of 'Manchurian Candidate' and Olen Ray's previous Don "the Dragon" Wilson effort 'The Capital Conspiracy." Dudikoff plays Robert Dean, a dude who works for a shadowy technology firm connected with a politician in some way and has a bunch of memories that may or may not be implanted to force him to carry out an assassination plot on a rival senator. Something messes up with the programming, and now Duds doesn't know if he's Robert Dean or John Rice, a homeless ex-special ops guy kidnapped along with the chick from Nightmare on Elm Street.
I have to say, I liked this. I'm a big Dudikoff guy, and I'd watch him read names out a phone book on screen for 80 minutes if I had to (and some of the shit he's been in has been just as bad). He had this great 1993 haircut with blond highlights here, even thought it was like the year 2000. This wasn't as lighthearted in tone as, say, 'Bounty Hunters' or 'Moving Target,' but he still brought it with his trademark faces and voices. The chick from Nightmare on Elm Street was also pretty cool; she overacted and delivered her lines in hilariously unnatural ways, and gave us a great performance. My favorite movie of hers was always part three of Elm Street, and this was probably up there.
The rest of the cast (and the tired plot, to be honest) was pretty boring and lackluster, if I'm telling the truth. The problem stemmed mostly from a lack of a credible or entertaining antagonist- there was no James Booth or Brion James, or even Mark Hamill here.
Okay, if the 'Koff wasn't in this, I'd have probably hated it and fallen asleep. It doesn't have the hitman angle going for it (like the Silencer did) to keep it interesting for me. To its credit, there are worse movies to fall asleep to.
Dudikoff fans will only really like this for Dudikoff. If you like Heather Langenkamp, she's here and decent. There's hardly anything redeeming about it or chuckle-worthy. I'd say that if you're looking for Duds and a sci-fi themed film to kill 90 minutes, pass this up and check out 'Cyber Jack' instead. Yeah, Cyber Jack at least had Brion James cooking a Christmas ham of a performance; and he plays a murderous computer hacker alibino and has priceless lines like "I've been following your work on the internet" and Dudikoff doing cyber-porn. Yeah, rent that. I think.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
This is the third or fourth movie to team B movie legend and "Dudarosa style ranch house" designer/bronze sculptor Michael Dudikoff with veritable bad movie auteur Fred Olen Ray (Operation Cobra, the Shooter, Black Horizon).
First off, don't be fooled by the sci fi-esque cover; this certainly has elements of the genre, but it is more of a political thriller in the mold of 'Manchurian Candidate' and Olen Ray's previous Don "the Dragon" Wilson effort 'The Capital Conspiracy." Dudikoff plays Robert Dean, a dude who works for a shadowy technology firm connected with a politician in some way and has a bunch of memories that may or may not be implanted to force him to carry out an assassination plot on a rival senator. Something messes up with the programming, and now Duds doesn't know if he's Robert Dean or John Rice, a homeless ex-special ops guy kidnapped along with the chick from Nightmare on Elm Street.
I have to say, I liked this. I'm a big Dudikoff guy, and I'd watch him read names out a phone book on screen for 80 minutes if I had to (and some of the shit he's been in has been just as bad). He had this great 1993 haircut with blond highlights here, even thought it was like the year 2000. This wasn't as lighthearted in tone as, say, 'Bounty Hunters' or 'Moving Target,' but he still brought it with his trademark faces and voices. The chick from Nightmare on Elm Street was also pretty cool; she overacted and delivered her lines in hilariously unnatural ways, and gave us a great performance. My favorite movie of hers was always part three of Elm Street, and this was probably up there.
The rest of the cast (and the tired plot, to be honest) was pretty boring and lackluster, if I'm telling the truth. The problem stemmed mostly from a lack of a credible or entertaining antagonist- there was no James Booth or Brion James, or even Mark Hamill here.
Okay, if the 'Koff wasn't in this, I'd have probably hated it and fallen asleep. It doesn't have the hitman angle going for it (like the Silencer did) to keep it interesting for me. To its credit, there are worse movies to fall asleep to.
Dudikoff fans will only really like this for Dudikoff. If you like Heather Langenkamp, she's here and decent. There's hardly anything redeeming about it or chuckle-worthy. I'd say that if you're looking for Duds and a sci-fi themed film to kill 90 minutes, pass this up and check out 'Cyber Jack' instead. Yeah, Cyber Jack at least had Brion James cooking a Christmas ham of a performance; and he plays a murderous computer hacker alibino and has priceless lines like "I've been following your work on the internet" and Dudikoff doing cyber-porn. Yeah, rent that. I think.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
Full Review
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