PURE DANGER (1996)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
In 1980s C. Thomas Howell used to be one of the most promising
young Hollywood actors. 1990s weren't that kind to him and, just like
for many stars of his generation, his career made a detour to oblivion.
Howell reacted to this by trying to switch his career and make a
name in movie business as a director. Judging by his 1996 thriller
PURE DANGER, this is not going to happen any time soon.
Protagonist of the film is Johnie Dean (played by C. Thomas Howell),
paroled convict who tries to make a living as a cook in small town
diner. One day this establishment is visited by Freethrow (played by
Marcus Chong), mortally wounded gangster. Before dying,
Freethrow leaves pile of stolen jewels to Johnie and his co-worker
Becky (played by Teri Ann Linn). Johnie and Becky haven't got much
time to discuss what to do with this treasure because the diner is
visited by representatives of two rival gangs - one led by De Palma
(played by Michael Russo), another by Felix (played by Leon). Johnie
escapes to Los Angeles where he tries to fence the jewels with the
assistance of his old friend Dice (played by Rick Shapiro).
Unbeknownst to Johnie, Dice owes some serious amounts of money
to certain shady characters.
Script by William Applegate Jr. and Joseph John Barmetller provided
PURE DANGER with stereotypical, predictable and uninteresting
plot. Howell did nothing to compensate for its deficiencies; PURE
DANGER is directed very badly, showing Howell's inexperience at
any occasion and quickly destroying audience's interest for plot and
characters. Acting, including Howell's, is also very disappointing,
except in the case of Marcus Chong whose character leaves film
prematurely. Occasionally, there is a line of interesting dialogue or a
gag that can make people laugh, but they don't justify audience
having to sit through hour and half of PURE DANGER.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
Review written on April 11th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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