Detonator (2003)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Jonathan Freedman

Writer:

Herschel Wahlkoch (writer)

Release Date:

23 January 2005 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Action

Tagline:

The countdown started!

Plot:

A former FBI agent must stop a madman from setting off a bomb.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Bomb | Handcuffs | Locker Room | Fire

Cast

Randall Batinkoff	...	Beau Stoddard
Elizabeth Berkley	...	Jane Dreyer
Stan Shaw	...	Robert Brickland
Bokeem Woodbine	...	Jack Forrester
Denis Forest	...	Steve Kerwin
John Pleshette	...	Stuart Newman
Peter Jason	...	U.S. Attorney Fred Goldenberg
Terri J. Vaughn	...	Sharona Brown
Cheselka Leigh	...	Candi
Will Stewart	...	Van Wilson (as Will Foster Stewart)
Tom Virtue	...	Fred Bizzert
Patrick Bristow	...	DeJuan Michaels
Tommy De La Cruz	...	Kid
Gregory Scott Cummins	...	James Grimes
Diannah Bays	...	Diana - reporter

Also Known As:

Detonator - Spiel gegen die Zeit (Germany)
Write-Off (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

USA:92 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-11 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

CO 1. Filmproduktions KG

Trivia:

Actor Denis Forest, who played a pivotal role, died during the production of this film. He had already filmed his scenes. The production people wanted to dedicate the film to his memory.

A nice surprise!

I rented "Detonator" without any kind of expectation. I simply wanted to see Elizabeth Berkley's new film. Considering it's a straight-to-video (well, straight-to-DVD...), I was thinking it wasn't nothing great. A kind of TV action flick. But I was really wrong: it ended up to be more than I was expecting. First of all, it's hard to understand it's a low budget film: the technical credits are really excellent, including the visual effects. The opening scene (with the Valentine's box) is suspenceful and very well done. Director Jonathan Freedman did a really good job on this film. The action scenes (like that one with the big shooting at the bad guys' home) are great and there is a nice work on the characters' development.

The actors are all brilliant: Randall Batinkoff has made a very good job playing the postal inspector Beau Stoddard. He deserve starring roles like this one (I only remember her cameo appearance as Helen Hunt's boyfriend in "As Good As It Gets"). Elizabeth Berkley was a pleasant surprise on her first action film, playing FBI agent Jane Dreyer. Very believable. All the cast has done a fine job, including Will Foster Steward, whose Van Wilson gives a - brief - comic relief to the story. The screenplay is often a lot better than others big budget action flicks: there is an interesting plot and the film is not a purely mess of pirotechnic effects, explosions, car races and bi-dimensional characters. I only hated the last scenes with Elizabeth Berkley and Randall Batinkoff... it's really pathetic. What happened to the writers or the director? Where that scene came from? However, it's just a 3-seconds shot and that's not terribly bad. It's totally unreasonable, but you can laugh a lot of how useless it is, put that way. "Detonator" is a really good low budget action flick that deserves the audience attention. Elizabeth Berkley once said she would love to star in an action film: well, she choose a really nice one.