Blast (2000)

Director:

Martin Schenk

Writer:

Martin Schenk (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

It's murder being young.

Plot:

Four teenagers pull a prank that goes awry.

Plot Keywords:

High School | Fall From Height | Pain | Dynamite | River

Cast

Liesel Matthews	...	Jessie 'Ears'
Blake Heron	...	Jonesy
Tony Denman	...	Corn
Adam LaVorgna	...	Shnetz
Denis Arndt	...	Sheriff
Ed Lauter	...	Swenson
P.J. Soles	...	Deputy
Erin Chambers	...	Nori
Tracey Walter	...	Zeke
Moultrie Patten	...	Ed
Jeanine Jackson	...	Principal Biggs
Melik Malkasian	...	Guard
Philip Haleen	...	Ike
Mark Cancio	...	Benny
Michael Dickman	...	Atherton

Also Known As:

Physical Graffiti (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for drug content, violence and language involving teens.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

Company:

Zeta Entertainment

Trivia:

The train trestle used in the film is part of the Vernonia-Banks Linear Park Trail. The trestle was burnt down in the 1980s. It was a major trestle used for the railroad to Vernonia's once-running saw mill that was well known as the world's largest at one time. The place that the group is seen meeting a couple times throughout the movie with graffiti on the walls is the site where the saw mill was, which is now known as the "Mill Pond" in Vernonia, Oregon.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ears takes a bite of her hotdog she starts to chew. In the next shot she has nothing in her mouth.

Soundtrack:

Resurrection

Liesel, All Time Supreme Queen Of Song And Dance, version 1.03

This is not a musical, none of Liesel's features are, but the soundtrack of Princess sings. This just says that a fan can get carried away at times.

*

In February 2007 I wrote an Amazon customer review re Blast and it is unusual in having no detail that I would prefer to change. I understood the user comments to reflect what the writer believed at the time, not necessarily a current view. Normal and reasonable for comments and reviews but now I know that the IMDb comments can be updated and could be that the Amazon comments can be too.

I approach this as a Liesel film, her third and last to date. After Air Force One (1997), the inept girl role that she played really well in that, I had not expected that her role in this would be all that much. It does a lot better. This is not at the level of A Little Princess (1995), which gives her the title I know her spirit by. It does not have that classic early Doyle soundtrack or the imagery that Cuarón was later to echo in Prisoner of Azkaban, but it still has power.

To me, this links well with Princess, if in a difficult way, as if it is part of a horror trilogy that has a gentle start. Her escape across the gulf between the buildings felt like pretend successful. This has a glaring realism and lack of pretence. I feel a need for other Liesel features to properly balance Princess, to return the thread from the horror and to bring things back to girl level and to the happy ending of that novel, but that does not seem likely to happen, now.

Some like horror. Some prefer to avoid girl level stuff. Air Force One will have its appeal with some, apart from the right wing politics and Liesel showing perfection in portraying a frightened early teen it has a lot going for it, perfection in drama and musical score. I personally like Blast a lot, real dynamite, despite it not being of my ideal genre, girlie stuff, despite it just having a sprinkling of Liesel. An actor of the first rank.

The very earliest episodes of Buffy. The feel of the romance angles, the feel of the movement of the plot. Blast is a story that can stand on its own feet and if it does look to such an influence it does it well.

My DVD being aspect ration 1.33 trimmed from a 2.35 original is a flaw, but 4x3 is a lot better than nothing. Something to put up with in the hope that a 2.35 version might appear sometime. Again, unlikely.

*

So this makes me feel a need for Liesel to take to screen acting again. Just that is a need for her in girl level stuff and A Little Princess is incomparable. I hope for too much.

Add the pressures that big name actors get from recognition, it is not a sensible job for anyone.