Land of the Free (1998)

Powerful

Let's be realistic.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Land Of The Free casts martial arts actor Jeff Speakman as the campaign manager for charismatic candidate William Shatner. Speakman who is a Navy veteran and Annapolis graduate has to be the dumbest graduate of that institution. He has no idea that William Shatner whom he looks on as a father figure is fronting for these rightwing paramilitary groups who are looking to have him front for their takeover of the country. Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it. If he has more polish than a Trump, Shatner sure lives like one.Anyway the FBI approaches Speakman who reluctantly becomes a mole and he gets indictable material on Shatner. But now Shatner and his group of right wing crazies are out for him and maybe his wife Lisa Darr and son if they get in the way.A lot of martial arts and car chases. Speakman and family hijack an empty school bus and reek plenty of havoc on a California freeway. And nary a cop in sight. Where was CHiPs?Shatner really hams it up in his performance as our would be dictator. He knows it's a turkey he's in so gobble incessantly.Not his finest hour on the big or small screen.

PM Entertainment made some good action movies, but this isn't one of them. It does have its trademark high production values (for direct-to-video movies), and it has a few good stunts. The rest of the movie is pretty poor. The acting is terrible - Shatner hams it up, and Speakman isn't much better. The action sequences are poorly directed - the martial arts become a jumble of fast-moving limbs, and the driving sequences frequently use slow-motion that make them as exciting as pouring molasses out of a jar. The rest of the movie is just as slow-moving, and it seems to take forever to end. And you would swear that the movie's music composer wasn't watching the movie he scored, because he always uses the same somber-sounding military music, even during the action sequences! If you want to see a good movie from PM Entertainment, try RAGE, LAST MAN STANDING, EXECUTIVE TARGET, or THE SWEEPER instead.

Oh the pain. I got this as a gag for a friend who's a fan of Shatner premium ham and always jokes about classic lame-sterpiece The Perfect Weapon. So, this is the best of both worlds, right?Wrong. My friend was totally sober as the intense pain and throbbing from this movie resulted after his neural synapses collapsed. You can imagine how I was feeling since at the time since I was the polar extreme of sober. Plot shmot, just let Bill Shatnerize some bad lines set in a scary, twisted society where Bill is this close to elect power. Can you imagine making it mandatory for citizens to watch T.J. Hooker everyday while Shatner's 'Rocket Man' plays freely in elevators nationwide? Too bad Bill only appears in a few scenes. The rest is Speakman trying to look heroic (it didn't work) and dramatic (like over-amplified scratching against a chalkboard), typical cars flipping stunts, and the corniest school bus scene EVER. This is a movie you should see once and never again! Not as torturous as IMPULSE.

While William Shatner's performance was the best part of the movie, the rest of the acting by every single every other person in this movie is just awful. The music is one of the worst scores I have ever heard, and the car chases are just non-stop and totally unrealistic. On the plus side, the hand-to-hand action scenes are actually entertaining. If you feel like watching a movie that really defines 'B-movie,' this is it.