“Deadly Impact” DVD Review
It’s remarkably clear to me that some films should never be made. I don’t want to point fingers at this one in particular but…ok, I will. This movie shouldn’t have been made. As much as I enjoyed the performances by the leads in it, I simply haven’t seen such a disappointing mixture of bad writing, directing, and editing from a film in a long time. There’s a good chance you’ve never even heard of this 2009 film either, as it’s so obscure that even Wikipedia has scorned it for an entry. Although it’s director, Robert Kurtzman, has been around directing films for awhile now, it’s clear after this film that it’s certainly not his forte.
Synopsis
When a police officer’s life collides with a powerful assassin the result is lethal in Deadly Impact, debuting on unrated DVD April 20 from MGM Home Entertainment. Directed by special effects guru Robert Kurtzman, best known for his work in City Slickers and Cabin Fever, the film stars Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints franchise) and Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos, The Matrix franchise). In an explosive game of cat and mouse, Deadly Impact follows hard-nosed cop Thomas Armstrong (Flanery) whose life was shattered when he became the helpless target of a mastermind murderer. Returning home after a much-needed break, Armstrong joins the FBI to seek revenge and help track down the same killer that threatened his existence, however this time the assassin is back to terrorize not just a single person, but the entire city. In an exhilarating race against time, Armstrong must stay one step ahead to capture the madman and save innocent lives before time runs out.
Before I tear this film apart, I should really make it known that I enjoy both Flanery and Pantoliano’s past works. Both are incredibly talented and both are pretty much the only reason I didn’t get up and walk away as this film hit the halfway mark. It’s not that the plot is really terrible; it is executed so incredibly poorly. It has no tact and there’s no epilogue to wrap any of the story up. It is, in essence, just a giant mess that seems like it was aborted in the editing room after the second pass. This is annoying on so many levels since it’s kind of shot like 24, but the writing, directing, and acting is so far removed from what even I would consider B-grade that it’s not funny.
I think the main concern I have with the film is how it’s set up; the “shocking” intro to it is thrown at the viewer abruptly and with zero build up. We’ve no idea of the “history” between Flanery and Pantoliano’s characters (we’re given some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it “prep” sequence where they drop that Flanery’s been on this guys trail for years now) and the resolution at the end of the scene is just way too quick. Then when we transition out of the credits it just…unbelievably horrible and embarrassingly bad; I really do pity all of those involved with this film as there is sincere lack of love or care that went into it.
I can only imagine that the budget for this film must’ve been quite low; nothing is particularly impressive to look at and the explosions are often so far away that you can’t even get a good look at the destruction. Then there’s the issue of the random “romance” scene between Flanery and Carmen Serano’s character; their characters connect on literally one or two lines of dialogue and then the face sucking begins. I can honestly say that the transition between scenes has about as much tact as a porno does.
I was about to say that I could go on about this film all day, but I really don’t think I can. There’s so little substance here in the completely predictable and pointless plot that any kind of “twists” it attempts to pull off are null and void. Hell, I actually think this movie would have worked out better if it was longer and had an editor that actually understood what the word “transition” means. It was just that bad of a film and I cannot recommend that you Avoid It enough. You’ll get nothing out of it, short of Flanery exhibiting that he can cry quite convincingly on demand.
The DVD
I was given a test disc copy of this film, so I don’t know what the final packing or video transfer is like…not that it really matters, as I can probably take a pretty good guess at it. But as for what I’m given here to review I’m limited to a watermarked video transfer and an admirable 5.1 mix effort—there’s at least some LFE output to rock the room on occasion. There are zero extras and…well, that’s it. Nothing more to say here other than Skip It.
Deadly Impact is now available on DVD.