Terminal Velocity (1994)

Ditch Brodie (Sheen) is a radically awesome skydiver who you know is radical to the max because he works at a Jump Center. He is also the bad boy of said Jump Center. He's probably spilled more Mountain Dew than you've ever drank. When Ditchington Brodie III (which may or may not be a variation on his name that we made up) meets the alluring Chris Morrow (Kinski), he becomes embroiled in an intrigue that involves the KGB, missing gold, thugs, goons, murder, and all manner of danger and mayhem. The skydiving man must become "Detective Ditch" as he attempts to get to the bottom of it all. And there's only one way to stop the madness - more skydiving. In Ditch's world, skydiving is the solution to all problems, even on the world stage. So while James Gandolfini and Christopher McDonald are on his tail, Ditch pulls his ripcord into heroic legend. We should all be more like Ditch Brodie. The 90's "Terminal" trend hits the big screen just in time to capitalize on another 90's trend - for all things outrageous, "Xtreme", and radically awesome. Everyone was always talking about "feeling the rush", or some variation thereof. Even Nastassja Kinski says at one point, "Is it a rush?", referring of course to skydiving, because if it isn't - not interested. And who better to be our guide through the awesome world of rush-feeling than Charlie Sheen, Ditch Brodie himself? The thing about Charlie is he does have a lot of charisma and screen presence. He also has good comic timing and cool hair. A lot of these elements are important to carrying Terminal Velocity, because the plot is pretty weak. It's all about the aerial stunts, and we give a lot of credit to the stunt people who worked on this film. They clearly went above and beyond. Of course, this wasn't the only skydiving movie flying around at this time - there was also the same year's Drop Zone (1994), as well as the somewhat later Cutaway (2000). Terminal Velocity is bigger-budget Hollywood-stupid, but a lot better than anything Hollywood is putting out today. At least it's an original idea, not a remake, sequel, or superhero movie, which are the exclusive province of Hollywood these days. It's also a PG-13-rated middle-of-the-road Hollywood action thriller, enlivened by the cast and stunts. Of course, there are the requisite silly moments which make it worth watching. Director Sarafian, known to readers of this site as the director of Death Warrant (1990), backs off on the violence so he can turn in a movie readily accessible to a wider audience. Sure, there are some blow-ups, a couple of fights, and some gun-shooting, but nothing you wouldn't see on TV. What he does deliver are skydiving scenes a-plenty, many of which include squealin' guitar on the soundtrack because it was the 90's, it was extreme, blah blah blah. You get the picture. Many people in our age bracket remember going to the video store and renting Terminal Velocity on VHS, or at least remember seeing it in the store. In light of that, the movie served its purpose - being an entry-level action movie for younger viewers. It still works in that capacity today, but now it also has the added bonus of having some nostalgia value for those are of an age who remember it from back then. So, strictly speaking, this may not be an all-time classic, but it has a special place on our shelf.

The end of the Cold War in the late eighties and early nineties did not cause as many changes to the thriller genre as one might have imagined. Ever since the late forties had Hollywood got used to the idea of casting Russians as villains, and the habit proved hard to break. If the villains were no longer KGB agents they could now be Russian gangsters or political extremists. There were a number of films of this nature in the nineties ("Crimson Tide", "Air Force One", "The Peacemaker" and "Fair Game"), and the tendency has continued into the twenty-first century with the likes of "The Sum of All Fears", "Salt" and "Transsiberian". "Terminal Velocity", dating from 1994, is an early example of this phenomenon. Richard "Ditch" Brodie is a former elite gymnast turned skydiving instructor. Brodie's operation is already under investigation by the FAA because of his laissez-faire attitude to their regulations, and it seems that he is in serious trouble when Chris Morrow, one of his pupils, is killed during a dive. And then something unusual happens. Unusual, that is, by the standards of real life. Less unusual by the standards of the action thriller, in which the sudden return to life of a character whom both the hero and the audience believe to be dead is a familiar (indeed, over-familiar) plot twist.Chris (that's Chris as in Christine, not as in Christopher) turns up alive and well with a semi-plausible explanation for her supposed "death". (That shouldn't come as a surprise. Did anyone think the producers were going to cast Nastassja Kinski as their leading lady and then kill her off after only one scene?) Moreover, she also turns up with a new identity. It turns out that she is actually Krista Moldova, a former KGB spy who has been redundant since the fall of the Soviet Union. The rest of the film tells the story of how Ditch and Krista join forces to thwart a gang of her former KGB comrades, now members of the Russian Mafia, who are out to steal a cargo of gold. It appears that the gold is needed to finance a coup which will return the Communist Party to power in Moscow. (Despite her former allegiance, Krista regards such a prospect with horror). Cue the standard explosions, chase sequences, suspense sequences and a finale, cribbed straight from one of the Roger Moore Bond adventures, in which Charlie Sheen performs several completely impossible feats in as many minutes.I fell in love with the lovely Nastassja when I first saw her in "Tess", when she seemed like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, our love was not to last; Polanski's masterpiece was a tough act to follow and none of her later films, including this one, seemed to be in anything like the same class. It didn't help that the second film I saw her in was "Harem", which must by any standards count one as one of the worst movies of the eighties.The film may borrow from the Bond franchise, but it doesn't really bear comparison. Even at their worst, the Bond films had a lightness of touch which "Terminal Velocity" lacks. With her Slavic looks- she may officially hold a German passport but her family are of Polish descent- Nastassja might have made a decent Bond Girl, but there is little in the film to inspire her. The villains are a nondescript lot and if Sheen drew any inspiration from the Bond series it must have been from the wooden George Lazenby. "Terminal Velocity" is the sort of dull, derivative thriller that we have seen too many of over the last quarter of a century. 4/10

I own this movie ( VHS ) as well as having seen it more than two times, I REMEMBER NOTHING! I guess there was a sky-driving boom in the 90's, I blame the movie Point Break, and born from that ridiculous craze we have a Charlie Sheen film. The plot is about ...I don't know?...Russians?...A pretty lady actress who may or may not have slept with Charlie Sheen?...I mean, I don't know...I should have retained something but no, I got nothing! It's an utterly forgettable movie made for mysterious reasons. I say mysterious because as a porno it would have made more money-as a movie without Charlie Sheen it would have made more money- as a straight up action movie without the skydiving it would have made more money- so what the f*ck were they thinking? Y'know, why did they think this would work? It's a mystery.

"Terminal Velocity" is another one of those highly charged, average adventure films with over the top action and absolutely no plot.Director Deran Sarafian makes sure the action comes thick and fast, with some of the stunts being truly spectacular, especially one particular scene in which our hero finds himself hurtling towards the earth in a convertible car, from thousands of feet up! The movie is loud, fast and has an unrelenting pace which should keep most movie-goers too preoccupied to be worrying about the absent storyline.Charlie Sheen and Nastassja Kinski star, and both fit the bill nicely as the attractive, home grown (maybe not Nastassja) heroes, yet both have little depth to work with. What disappoints me is that Charlie Sheen is so much better than this. After struggling to make a name for himself, he really sky rocketed to stardom with two sensational performances, first in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (86), and then again for Stone in "Wall Street" (88). Since then though it's been downhill all the way for Sheen as he quickly returned to selecting second rate scripts. Kinski (who still looks sensational) is also much better than this movie would suggest.David Twohy's script, about a hot shot skydiver who suddenly finds his world turned upside down when a mysterious 'student' enters his life, avoids the painfully obvious just enough. There's no obligatory love scene for instance, but all the villains are predictably wicked and two dimensional, and all get their comeuppance. Just another reluctant hero saving the world from evil clutches.Friday, February 10, 1995 - Greater Union Melbourne