Timebomb (1991)

Talking to a family friend about having recently seen the 1991 Action trash epic Stone Cold, I got told that this title was another overlooked/ "classic" Action flick from the year. With Stone Cold having gone so well, I decided to set the timer.View on the film:Taking a pay cut and only staying in the role thanks to the writer/director ignoring studio demands for JCVD or Chuck Norris to star,Michael Biehn proves this stubbornness to have paid off,by giving the action scenes a real crunch, with Biehn leaping into the blunt-force hand to hand combat fights and the more peculiar shoot-outs with an infectious passion. Recalling his Terminator role of a man with a hazy past taking on present dangers, Biehn continues to stand out from the tough guys of the era, as Kay's battle to make sense of his fractured memories are used by Biehn to give Kay a shield of destructibility. Done when she was trying to break out of being a British Soap star,Patsy Kensit (who strips off for a sex scene) gives a good performance as the frightened sceptic to passionate lover of Kay,Anna Nolmar.Beating Universal Soldier by a year, the screenplay by writer/director Avi Nesher matches the action thrills by injecting Sci-Fi weirdness of recollections coming to Kay in the middle of punch-ups (!),and kooky devices and holograms crystallizing Kay's lost past. Sending Kay and Nolmar off as lovers on the run, Nesher cranks the action up with slick (unintended?) funny snipes the couple share as they try beat the evil Black Ops. Losing some of the budget over sticking with Biehn, Nesher & Don't Look Now cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond cover the problems with a charming inventiveness, that brings in an exciting shoot-out in an "adult" cinema, (some keep watching despite the ongoing gun fight!) the hand to hand combat given a razors edge by knives getting tossed in the air, and a last minute save triggering a roof top fight with Billy Blanks, as the time bomb goes off.

Eddy Kay (Biehn) is a likable, mild-mannered watch repairman in the L.A. area. After instinctively rescuing some people from a house fire, memories and flashbacks are triggered in his mind, and he even randomly speaks Hungarian and knows martial arts techniques. Eddy thinks he is going crazy, but with the help of Dr. Anna Nolmar (Kensit), he goes on a search for the truth about his identity. While this is happening, boatloads of badguys are after them, including the sinister Mr. Brown (Blanks), and Ms. Blue (Scoggins). It all comes to a head in Oracle, AZ at a place called the Lang Institute. We won't give away anything plotwise, but here's a one-word hint: "SuperSoldiers".Michael Biehn brings his usual excellent performance and presence to this film, which is more intelligent than other fare of this kind. For example, the name Eddy Kay is most likely a subtle reference to Kafka and The Trial, and its protagonist Josef K, and the travails of Eddy Kay are certainly "Kafkaesque" as they say. If this seems pretentious, blame the movie, not me. But back in reality, we have Billy Blanks as Mr. Brown (remember how all the Power Rangers' uniforms were color-coded by race/gender? I guess marry that to Reservoir Dogs (1992), which Timebomb predated by one year), who wears a spiffy three-piece suit and black gloves. Blanks and Biehn fight twice in the movie.Timebomb was certainly the Unknown (2011) of its day, one man's search for his identity as everyone around him tries to kill him and there's no one to trust. Add in some Altered States (1980) and a dash of They Live (1988), throw in a bunch of B-movie names and there you have it. If this sounds too much like a Sci-Fi slog, fear not. While there are some Science-Fictiony strands to the plot, they're usually worthy and never sink into slog territory. There's plenty of action as well.Thanks to some above-average elements, such as Michael Biehn and some interesting ideas, Timebomb makes for a quality night of VHS fun.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

I didn't watch the movie from the beginning, so after a few scenes I thought it was a parody of 80-ies stupid horrors and SFs! Unfortunately, it wasn't. The saddest thing is, there are some fine spots, psychology blurb is nice, even some nice action scenes (killing that bald guy with elbow in the face), when Anna tries to escape, Eddie grabs her, she falls slamming her head to the door so hard it was painful to watch :) but everything else is Unbelievably STUPID !!! The best scene is when Anna randomly pushes the buttons on that machine trying to do.... what exactly??? I laughed for 10 minutes straight! :) All in all it was fun watching it, if you like to sometimes watch a really STUPID movie and laugh at it don't miss this one! :)

This is a pretty crazy film that combines aspects of Sci-Fi, cybernetics, The Manchurian Candidate, and new world orders into a pastiche of overamped fights, chases and gratuitous gunplay. The performances aren't that bad but some scenes seem almost sped through with the need to quicken the pace and get to the meat of the film. Some decent special effects. Overall, if you see it in a vid store and the price is cheaper to buy it from the bargain bin than rental, go for it. Better yet, if it shows up on cable watch it rather than spend real money on it.