Subterfuge (1996)

Not a bad little actioner. Matt McColm shows impressive martial arts ability...at first I was thinking "Who the hell is this guy?", but it soon becomes clear that he knows his stuff, plus he has a sense of humor about himself. Jason Gould takes the "nerdy computer whiz" role and gives it a human face. And Amanda Pays is a very solid female addition to the cast. The film has quite a lot of action, and an undercurrent of offbeat humor that makes it a little different from your typical low-budget action flick. My main two complaints are: not enough hand-to-hand combat scenes (none for Pays, who does play an ex-marine, after all), and a few too many underwater scenes (and we all know how rarely those work in the movies). (**)

I just watched 'Subterfuge' while flipping through the crappy encore channels you get with digital cable...It's movies like this which make me think I still have a shot at getting into the business. This movie is obviously not to be taken seriously by viewers..but How producers, writers, directors, ACTORS take this seriously while making it is beyond me. Matt McColm deserves an oscar for strutting around with no shirt and doing his jump off a high ledge and screaming "Aaaaahh!!" while attempting to tackle a bad guy. And although Amanda Pays still looks good since 'Leviathan', she offers us little when she is supposed to be the girl that McColm has sex with while carrying out his 'beat the bad guys' mission. This movie looks like an 80 minute Baywatch episode, except with cheesier music and less T & A. Lovely editing job by the filmmakers- check for the shot of Pays and McColm pulling away in the speedboat MULTIPLE times. But the scene that takes the cake is when the bad guys drop a grenade in Matt's boat while he wines and dines three babes, then we cut to him punching one bad guy in the face on the beach...PRICELESS. I give this movie 1 out of 10 stars...a must see for anyone who has nothing to do on a saturday before finals week.

CIA, Russian, Drug Smugglers, Handsome men and beautiful women, what more could one ask in a movie. Plot maybe? Or at least one that didn't have more holes than a pound of swiss cheese. Jonathan (Matt McColm) is hired to recover the black box from a civilian aircraft shot down by the Russians. He drags along his sidekick, the computer nerd, and the attactive Alex (Amanda Pays)on an adventure where he gets to use stealth boats, lots of scuba gear, and his feet and fists and spend time lounging on beaches every time there are a few extra minutes.There were so many goofs and mistakes in the movie that if someone ever documents them in the "goofs" area they would take a day to print out.In a restaurant scene a bad guy perfectly shoots a singer in the center of the forehead from thirty feet away with a handgun on his first shot. Then he proceeds to miss everyone else until his gun is empty. The movie was full of things like that. If you watch this movie be prepared to suspend belief for the duration.

This may not be a bang on action flick, but the chemistry between the three leads, including the buffed Matt McColm and Amanda Pays works. Additionally, the genius brother, adds not only the needed "intelligence" but also the bits of comic relief. Not a 10, but definitely not a zero. Also found it interesting that Russia and the USA are referenced as "allies" quite a few times throughout the film. Also appreciated the time taken to study and accurately depict the major cities of the smaller, former "eastern block" countries.