Dead Center (1994)

Pretty Good

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It helps me perhaps that I really like films such as this gritty, action packed film.Sure, it's no classic, by any means, but I liked enough to buy the VHS tape, and I would buy the film on DVD, but it's never been released that way.The main attraction for me is Justin Lazard, an actor who has never gotten the respect he deserves, or the roles either, for that matter. He's just perfect for this type of film, and his charisma and sex appeal shine here.Too bad he's never been featured in more mainstream films (Species 2 being the exception).I believe the film is well worth the visit, and I believe I'll go watch it again right now.

It kind of sits there, quivering. It lacks editing, acting or purpose. A rather typical piece of straight to cable low rotation trash from the 90s, it is long at 90 minutes. The production gave a lot of union personnel a paycheck. Terrible by even Menahem Golan's lax production standards, most of the actors involved probably paid to keep this off their resumes. The R rating is about the only reason a bored person would watch this thing, as there are dozens of unnecessary sexual situations. Any suggestion of a plot is destroyed by tons of foreshadowing. Any suggestion that this collection of of images has any relation to La Femme Nakita or the American version, whose title I forgets, is like saying that Kurt Russell movies and Lawrence Olivier movies were made on the same planet. Do yourself a favor. If you find it on tape, use it for a blank.

I gathered from this film, when seeing a preview for it, that it looked much like a male perspective on Luc Besson's `LA FEMME NAKITA' or John Badham's `POINT OF NO RETURN.' On viewing, I found that I was right. It's the story of Joe (Justin Lazard, who would later rise to notoriety in `big' films like `SPECIES II' and `UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN') who is a criminal, and gets busted by the cops on some kind of illegal transaction. He is then recruited to work for the government as a hit man by a woman named Mary (Rachel York), whom Joe hates/falls for. In the end Joe tried killing his government companions and attempts to `get out' of the system. Though the action scenes are impressive, and the action is constant, the film lacks substance, and looks very much like a made for T.V. film. However, the end of the film is original, and good. If you want to see what `POINT OF NO RETURN' would've looked like with a man instead of Bridget Fonda, then this is your movie!