Spoiler (1998)

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Gary Daniels stars as a spoiler, an escaped convict in a prison system that freezes it's criminals for years on end while bounty hunters and police are always two inches behind our wrongfully accused hero. Gary Daniels is rather impressive and the movie far exceeds the expectations you have of it. One of the main reasons Spoiler works so well is that it relies more on the conflict between Daniels' personal tragedy instead of action. The action sequences (Especially the one on one between G.Daniels and Brian Genesse) are poorly staged but the story holds so much interest and the special effects are good (Especially considering the budget) that one is more inclined to go with the flow of the film and enjoy the movie's melodrama as Gary Daniels searches for his daughter. Indeed the movie ends on a depressing note and it becomes one of the few B.movies that actually leave an effect on you. Although the movie should not be taken seriously on its politics, it is admirable that the movie's real entertainment comes from the stylish directing and good acting from the cast.* * * out of 4-(Good)

I want you to imagine for a moment. Imagine you are coming home from an evening out on the town with a friend, after having a few drinks together. As you're coming around the corner, You see a person carrying a child and walking a dog. You hit the brakes and try to swerve the car, but you end up hitting him/her anyway, then going off the road and ramming a telephone pole. You wake up hours later where you learn that the person was your spouse and the child was your child, and the dog was your dog. Then you learn that not only did your best friend go through the windshield and die, but he had advanced AIDS and since he bled all over you, now you do too. And to top it all off, they've had to amputate both your arms. Then a Man walks up to you and says "I can make it all better, I'll let you have another chance. I'll give you back your family, your dog, your friend, your car. I'll take away the memory of this evening, and the disease as well. I'll even cure your friend. And All you have to do for me is watch Spoiler." It's not worth it. Say no and walk away. Spoiler is hands down the worst movie I have ever seen. I've sat through Manos, The hands of Fate, I've sat through Monster a Go Go, I've watched Red zone Cuba twice, I've seen every move Steven Seagal has ever made. I saw street fighter, Armageddon, Clockstoppers, the Core and the Day after Tomorrow in theaters and spoiler is still the only movie I've actually almost passed out from watching. It's also a landmark movie in it's use of time compression technology, as it makes each minute feel like you've just watched between 6 minutes and 4 months of nothing happening. My Friend and I Actually looked at each other after it was over and said that it was the longest 7 hours of our lives. Then we looked at a clock and realized it had only been 90 minutes. (Then we promptly pulled the tape out of the cassette, snipped it in a few places and threw it into a dumpster off a fifth story balcony). Spoiler___________________________________________In the end, your expecting them to build up something climactic, and the surprise is that nothing happens and the movie ends, and no one cares. The best part of this movie is when they drag the main character in and beat him with clubs. If only they would do that to the director too.

It's a pretty sad to see a man wasting all those years and almost never able to see his daughter. But at least he gets to see her, even if she was old enough to be his mother. In a way the tagline of Mason trying to see his daughter before it was to late was good.

Why didn't one of the 8 voters post a review so I could have avoided this one. Billed as a sci-fi flick about an escape artist, there's not much clever escape stuff, not much acting, not much plot, and lots of big holes in it anyway. It's over-rated at 5, I'd give it a 3, about equal to the bummer Solders of Fortune, maybe on a par with Counter Measures. I can't see it appealing to anyone, it's even short on action. -Bob