When terrorists led by Montessi (Kim Coates) take over a water plant they set the system in motion to shut down and poison the drinking water. Luckily cop David Chase (Jeff Fahey) is locked within the plant and sets about freeing the hostages with worker Melissa Wilkens (Carrie-Ann Moss).
In a world of many many Die-Hard inspired movies you really need to do something special to make sure that it stands out. Unfortunately this doesn't do anything to make it stand out from the raft of other DTV movies. The plot here doesn't inject any type of excitement into the film - for most of it the idea is that in 4 hours time, the water system will shut down releasing bacteria into the drinking supply. Well - why not just issue a public health warning to not drink the water rather than send in the SWOT team straight off? A later sub-plot comes in that has to do with stolen USA bonds but for the most part this lacks an sense of urgency.
The action doesn't really help inject urgency. Fahey just sneaks around the place without being believable - Willis looked trapped in Die Hard, here Fahey just looks like he's out for a walk. There are no exciting scenes and no tension, it all makes for a boring 90 minutes. However the problem doesn't stop there - the performances are a poor beast as well. Fahey is a nice enough actor, but only when he's playing it tongue in cheek. Here he doesn't have the ability to play a man under pressure and hence fails to pass on any tension to us. Coates and Busey play the villains as a mixed pair. Coates plays the villain with too much comedy - he's not funny and he doesn't provide menace. On the other hand Busey (in career freefall) plays it too psychotically, he isn't believable either as he just kills people every two minutes. Carrie-Ann Moss is OK but, as the Matrix showed, she better than this.
The only nice touch is Busey's little spiel over the opening credits - it's a nice touch but it lacks style. Overall however, this is yet another unwanted Die Hard clone with nothing new worth watching.
In a world of many many Die-Hard inspired movies you really need to do something special to make sure that it stands out. Unfortunately this doesn't do anything to make it stand out from the raft of other DTV movies. The plot here doesn't inject any type of excitement into the film - for most of it the idea is that in 4 hours time, the water system will shut down releasing bacteria into the drinking supply. Well - why not just issue a public health warning to not drink the water rather than send in the SWOT team straight off? A later sub-plot comes in that has to do with stolen USA bonds but for the most part this lacks an sense of urgency.
The action doesn't really help inject urgency. Fahey just sneaks around the place without being believable - Willis looked trapped in Die Hard, here Fahey just looks like he's out for a walk. There are no exciting scenes and no tension, it all makes for a boring 90 minutes. However the problem doesn't stop there - the performances are a poor beast as well. Fahey is a nice enough actor, but only when he's playing it tongue in cheek. Here he doesn't have the ability to play a man under pressure and hence fails to pass on any tension to us. Coates and Busey play the villains as a mixed pair. Coates plays the villain with too much comedy - he's not funny and he doesn't provide menace. On the other hand Busey (in career freefall) plays it too psychotically, he isn't believable either as he just kills people every two minutes. Carrie-Ann Moss is OK but, as the Matrix showed, she better than this.
The only nice touch is Busey's little spiel over the opening credits - it's a nice touch but it lacks style. Overall however, this is yet another unwanted Die Hard clone with nothing new worth watching.