Warhead (1996)

When the diabolical villain Kraft (Lara) takes over a missile silo and threatens to launch an ICBM at Washington, only one man can stop the madness: Jack Tannen (Zagarino), of course. He assembles a team which includes Jessica Evans (Giordano), an MIT-educated scientist. Kraft kidnapped her father and forces him to help him, so Jessica has her own reasons to go on the incredibly dangerous mission to take down Kraft and his army of no-good-niks. Will Jack and Jessica succeed? In the first part of Warhead, we can tell director Mark Roper, director of Queen's Messenger (2001) and Marines (2003), among other DTV action outings, was trying to ground his movie in serious, topical themes. Raw news footage of neo-Nazis and references to such events as Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma City bombing make the viewer think Warhead is going to be a gritty, "ripped from the headlines"-type film. However, once the silly action scenes begin, and Zagarino and Lara show up, we know we're in for something else entirely.The stars (and possibly some of the same sets) of Armstrong (1998) reunite! Zagarino is sub-Lundgren once again, and the dark haired, dark-featured Lara cast as some kind of white supremacist is just odd. Lara's forced "quirkiness" falls flat. His "seriousness" is, well...not so serious. And if they were going to make his political views abhorrent, they should have done a better job. His positions on taxes seemed right to us. He's pretty ahead of his time, that Kraft.Sure, Armstrong wasn't the best movie in the world, but it had Richard Lynch. Elizabeth Giordano, who teams up with Zagarino all the time (including Deadly Reckoning, 1998), doesn't add much to the equation. Because Warhead is filled with the aforementioned silly action scenes, as well as goofy dialogue, and relentless clichés, we can honestly say this movie is stupidity at its most dumb.But it's important to remember: you absolutely know that going in. Whoever acts shocked that a Zagarino/Lara vehicle is dumb should probably have their head examined. If you're in the mood for something very dumb, Warhead fits the bill well, because for most of the movie, it's just stupidly funny and reasonably entertaining. To expect more - or something else - would be wrong.Somehow, even the Jetskis with missile launchers attached to them seemed too little too late. That being said, the stuntwork should be applauded, but Nu-Image is really hit or miss. They're not a powerhouse like PM.If you feel you might have too many brain cells, check out Warhead.For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

**SPOILERS** Bargain basement version of the classic count down to Armageddon thriller "Twilight's Last Gleaming" has a bunch of disgruntled former US servicemen take over this secret missile silo and threaten, after launching one of them that exploded harmlessly in the Navada Desert, to nuke Washington D.C unless their demands are met. Lead by former top black/ops commando Kraft,Joe Lara,the renegade GI's give the government just 12 hours to come up with 1 billion dollars, depositing it into Krafts secret numbered Swiss bank account, and safe passage to a country to be named later.At the beginning of "Warhead" were given a history lesson on the militia and white separatist movement in the US with film clips of the Oklahoma City Bombing and skinheads and KKK members marching and kicking a** on the streets of a number of US towns and and cities. But in the movie they, the skinheads and KKK as well as white separatists, have nothing at all to do with the story. We soon see that Kraft is, in his mind, a super patriot and even, dispelling his racism, has a number of African/American former GI's in his gang of insurgents.The crusading Senator Brickman, Frank Natano, who's campaigning to put an end to "Kraft's Commandos" is seen at the beginning of the movie literally thrown out of office when his TV, as Brickman turns the sound down, blows up sending him out his high-rise office window to his death. That's the first of many really cool and explosive scenes that is about the only reason for watching "Warhead" with the story and the acting that goes along with it just too off-the-wall to take seriously even for a moment.After screwing up at taking out Kraft and his boys at their secret training camp somewhere in Idaho US Army special operation honcho Jack Tanner, Frank Zagarino, who's held responsible for that fiasco is put on hold or behind a desk by his boss Gen. Edwards, Brian O'Shaunessy. Tanner later gets back into action screwing himself and his commandos by being ambushed by Kraft's men in, of all places, sunny and out of the way Hiati with only Tanner surviving the massacre!Having had all the excitement, as well as lumps on his head, that he can handle Tanner decides to take a sabbatical only to run into, or is it that she ran into him, pretty MIT graduate who also has a doctorate in electronics Jessica Evens, Liz Giordano. It turns out that Liz's dad just happens to be US government computer whiz Dr. Evens, Michael McCabe, who's being held hostage by Kraft, or so she thought. Dr. Evens is the only person who can, by knowing the secret code, launch the nuclear missiles in the silo that Kraft and his boys had earlier captured from the US Army.Realizing that his country, if not the entire world, is in mortal danger Tanner gets the go ahead from his boss Gen. Edwards in order to take out Kraft and his missile's and again, which seems to be S.O.P for him, almost screws everything up. Not because of his incompetence but that he and his country are being sabotaged from within by not only the top presidential adviser Tim Lansdale, Todd Jensen, who's just doing it for the money, but also by Dr. Evens himself, who was thought at first to be Kraft's hostage. Dr. Evens also believes in the same garbage that Kraft does in that the only way America can be saved from the mess it finds itself in is by first nuking itself!Slam bang ending with Tanner and his men storming the silo as Jessica tries to keep her crazy father from launching the missile that's to take out D.C. Dr. Evens ends being gunned down by Kraft, as he tried to shield his daughter from being shot and killed, who then has it out with Tanner inside the silo as the missile is being launched.Outlandish finish with Kraft being put to sleep, permanently, by Tanner who escaped by the skin of his teeth from the now sealed silo that explodes in a thermo-nuclear blast with him Jessica and every one else on his rescue team safe and sound! You would think that an explosion of that size, a 20 megaton nuclear device, would have flattened and wiped out everything within ten to fifteen miles from the impact site! Instead we see Tanner Jessica & Co. walk away without a scratch or as much a care in the world? Just think of the amount of deadly radiation, not counting the fire and brimstone, an explosion like that would emit! Yet nothing happened to Tanner & Co. who were only within a few yards of the blast!

I've seen the film last night on German TV and I must say that I liked it. Sure it contains plot holes, where you could drive a tank through (like the silly hacker war), but in general it is great evening entertainment. Fast and action packed, it is like a rollercoaster drive that keeps you glued to the screen every minute. So all I can say is, grab a couple of beers, don't worry about the plot and acting; and just enjoy it.

I don't know why, but Warhead is one of my favorite movies.May be it's the typical Mark Roper-action style in combination with the music during the ( long and violent ) action scenes. The story is about a group of ( fashistic ) terrorists overtaking an american nuclear-silo and a secret Special Force, which takes'em out step by step. Especially the shoot-out in the middle of the movie, where nearly the whole Anti-Terror-Unit is killed by the terrorists impressed me. Mark Roper made a extraordinary well job in this scene. Little note for anyone coming from Germany and planing to rent it. Don't do it ! The video version is heavily cut. Check out the version running in TV ( Pro7 ). It contains more of the violence. If you watch both versions you get in impression of how different these versions are. If you've the right connections, buy the US-release or the ( rare ) UK-print.