Timebomb (1991)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Avi Nesher

Writer (WGA):

Avi Nesher (written by)

Release Date:

20 May 1992 (France)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Eddy Kay is wired to explode

Plot:

When someone tries to murder watchmaker Eddy Kay, the incident triggers a barrage of nightmares and flashbacks into a past that isn't his own...

Plot Keywords:

Watchmaker | Fire | Murder | Assassination Attempt | Amnesia

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Michael Biehn	...	Eddie Kay
Patsy Kensit	...	Dr. Anna Nolmar
Tracy Scoggins	...	Ms. Blue
Robert Culp	...	Mr. Phillips
Richard Jordan	...	Col. Taylor
Raymond St. Jacques	...	Det. Sanchez
Billy Blanks	...	Mr. Brown
Jim Maniaci	...	Mr. Grey
Steven J. Oliver	...	Mr. Redd
Carlos Palomino	...	Mr. Green
Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini	...	Mr. Black (as Ray Mancini)
David Arnott	...	Stan
Jeannine Riley	...	Landlady
Sharon Schaffer	...	Woman with Baby
Harvey Fisher	...	Dean Jordan

Also Known As:

Nameless (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Germany:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Raffaella Productions

Trivia:

The studio wanted Chuck Norris or Jean-Claude Van Damme to play the role of Eddy Kay. Avi Nesher fought to keep Michael Biehn and Biehn even took a pay cut to show his dedication to the picture.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Eddie leaves Dr. Nolmar's building with her he gets out the elevator and turns to the front door, seeing the men hunting him he turns back. In this short period of time the elevator has delivered her to the basement and returned. The door opens immediately he presses the call button.

Quotes:

Dr. Anna Nolmar: You don't even know who you are.
Eddie Kaye: I know who I am, somebody is tring to make me think I don't know who I am.

More 80s Schlock

Well this movie started out fair-to-middlin. I rented it because Tracy Scoggins was in it and so was Patsy Kensit who looks remarkably like Elizabeth Hurley or even Scoggins on the back cover of the video...

But shortly it became painfully obvious that the writer and director, Avi Nesher, was still REALLY into the schlock gimmicks of bad 80s action films. The key things that ticked me off was the "blond timid psychoanalyst" (played by Patsy) who is supposedly an educated woman by the nature of her profession but consistently was instead the "helpless blond ditz" without a shred of common sense. Unfortunately Patsy's character ended up just being the weepy decoration on Biehn's arm who constantly got him into trouble by inadvertently letting the enemy know where he was.

The movie soon went to plain bad shlock complete with the requisite "crashing into Large Neon signs at the top of building" scene. I even picked up the box several times through scanning it closely for evidence of a production date in the early 80s but no, this was made in the early 90s.

The only redeeming features of this movie were Tracy Scoggins who was basically the only believeable aspect of the movie but unfortunately had only about 5 min total of screen time. I loved seeing her in the Cher type wigs in the "flashback scenes". The most memorable scene was her last screen appearance where Biehn is attempting to force her to make a call... She's been hit across the face hard with a chain and knocked down...her face is covered in blood but there are no tears... Not even after he shoots her in the leg. Instead, and this is what makes it memorable...she "pants" through the pain instead of the unbelieveable overused "stoicness" that seems to be a requirement of all such scenes.

I also liked just watching Patsy Kensit and Biehn on the screen. They made a beautiful pair on screen and Biehn kept making me look twice as his profile (esp when wet) closely resemembled that of my favorite B actor, Christopher Atkins. I've certainly rented and watched a lot of truly bad movies just to get more screentime of actors and actresses I like!