User Reviews

There are some good points and bad points to the movie.

Good Points:

1. Good special effects 2. Great action scenes 3. Funny at times

Bad Points:

1. Acting at some points isn't great 2. Tries to be like die hard 3. Eddie Grifin ain't an action man

It is a very different film for Eddie griffin. Most of his film are comedy but to be honest action man is not his stile. He does do OK but not good enough. So if you are looking for the spectacular you are looking at the wrong film but if you want to just watch a action film watch it.

Compared to direct to video-DVD movies made nowadays "Blast" is pretty good. It doesn't pretend to be original. But it does deliver on action and humor. Eddie Griffin maybe not entirely convincing as a serious action hero,he is still better than Steven Seagal on a good day. As a matter of fact this movie is far superior to the stuff that Steven Seagal has made in the last years. So why are people so harsh when reviewing this movie. To be fair there are scenes that remind you that this is a C movie and that the acting is barely passable. Still there are quite few funny interactions between Eddie Griffin and Breckin Meyer that make it worth viewing. You should not see this movie as a serious action movie. It's more of a parody with some serious elements in it. It entertains!

DIE HARD rip-offs are a staple of the direct-to-video market. There have been so many direct-to-video films that have followed the DIE HARD formula that one can not blame me for being less than excited about seeing BLAST. The cover art and the description on the DVD box made it seem like just about every other direct-to-video action flick that has come out in the past five years or so. However, unlike most direct-to-video action flicks, BLAST has a decent cast, a reasonably good screenwriter, and a fair share of laughs. That doesn't mean BLAST is necessarily a good movie. It isn't. In fact, if it were released theatrically, I would have been mad to pay the ticket price. Direct-to-video was the right choice for the film. It's better than most direct-to-video fare due to the charm of Eddie Griffin and his chemistry with Breckin Meyer. If it weren't for Griffin and Meyer, BLAST would truly be a waste of time. 5/10

It could have been worse if it was longer.

I rented this movie based on the synopsis on the back. Here is the first line: "Former Navy Seal Lamont Dixon (Eddie Griffin) thought he left his fighting days behind when he became a tugboat captain... "

Okay I really rented the movie based on my vision of the pitch someone had to give to get this movie made.

My vision of the pitch:

"Okay.... Eddie Griffin.... okay... stay with me.... Eddie griffin is a retired Navy Seal.... okay.... stay with me.... now he's a tug boat captain!.... okay stay with me.... he fights terrorists from his tug boat! HAHAHAHA... but it's not funny... okay, okay, stay with me.... "

I had to see THAT movie.

Turns out Griffin is a firefighter!???!?! WHAAAA?? I thought he was a navy seal! I wanted Navy Seal action. He's a firefighter with PTSD?!?!? Not funny, bad acting, lame action. Don't get me wrong, I am usually okay with bad movies. But I need to see some kind of over the top, outrageous, action scenes. The Transporter 2 that was a bad movie worth seeing. I would even see that again. I wanna see a jet ski chase down a bus on the freeway in every bad action movie!

The only funny part of this movie is the explanation from Breckin Meyer about why his parents named him Jamal. I'm naming my kid Jamal.

All in all unless your a HUGE Eddie Griffin fan. NEVER SEE THIS MOVIE! EVER!

It feels like a recycling of all "die hard" movies combined with some segal flicks! of course they cant get away with that so they put in a kid.. This way they could add a family drama type background and an angsty fireman. All they needed more was a hint of sex.. Which they clumsily poured in at the end! The movie runs like a train! Which is undeniably good, the problem is the background. You shouldn't think too much, actually I advise against thinking at all. You need to accept a lot of facts. One of the harder ones is a fireman who in the end turns out to be a near superman! I also have to admit.. the whole plot really doesn't get me worried about who wins! I really didn't care enough! Or any of my friends.

Its a nice no brainer, but don't spoil too much money on it!

This movie was simply awful. Very poorly acted, generic plot-line, and I wonder what Oil company paid the director of this movie (much like the 'Sector 6' Cigarettes in 'Thank you for Smoking') to produce this crap and put a political 'pro-oil' spin on it. The comments about Iraq (like "we did find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq") were just downright insulting. I think this movie started off the same way as that scene I just mentioned in 'Thank you for Smoking.' Good to know that big corporations are still trying to mold our opinion with subtle physiological conditioning in our movies, television and magazines. The people who made this movie should be ashamed, I would never recommend this title to anyone. Don't waste your time unless you have a need to hear some pro-oil propaganda.

I liked "Blast". You don't take an action film seriously with Eddie Griffin and Vinnie Jones. The plot is about Lamont Dixon (Griffin) who is an ex-fireman\tugboat captain. He is working on an oil rig at Christmas time when terrorists led by Michael Kittredge (Jones)hijack the crew. Kittredge has a electronic device that can destroy California. Now it's up to Dixon to save the day. Eddie Griffin was a pretty good action hero. Vivica A.Fox goes through the motions as the head FBI agent. Vinnie Jones plays the evil villain role well. No one should care that "Blast" is going direct-to-video. If you want an exciting and funny action\comedy, this is it.

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Of course Eddie Griffin is funny but no, not worth to rent and see this one, we did do that mistake.. mistake of the year, we did watch it, like 4-5 friends, and one of us was so bored that he did go sleep..and the kid actor.. his "Ow ow" was so bad.. and he was the worst actor i've ever seen, but it's just what i think.. maybe you like it, maybe not, that's just my opinion ;) Hope to see more better movies from Eddie Griffin.. he is a very funny guy, but an action "hero"? no way, he is an comedian, and that's what he only can do.. not action.. no way. the best way to watch this movie is not to watch it, just my opinion.

bye.

Having recently seen the fourth chapter of the "Die Hard" series and being somewhat disappointed by it (because it felt more inspired by the James Bond movies rather than by its predecessors), I watched "Blast!" looking for a more genuine "Die Hard"-like experience - and indeed I got it! What's almost uncanny is how closely this 2004 straight-to-DVD movie resembles the 2007 blockbuster: a technology-heavy villainous plan, a hacker/nerd as the hero's sidekick, a female martial arts expert as the villain's right-hand woman, a kid (OK, not a 20-something daughter, but still....) that needs to be rescued, etc. However, unlike "DH 4", "Blast!" stays faithful to the formula of the first 2 "Die Hard" movies (trivia note: they were written by the same man, Steven De Souza), and keeps the action mostly confined to a single space (an oil rig). "Blast!"'s climax is also much better, with TWO simultaneous fights AND a race against time going on! Eddie Griffin is actually quite credible as an action hero, Vinnie Jones has his moments as the villain (when Griffin tells him what a disaster his actions will cause, he responds "if you look closely, you can see a tear forming under my eye" - that made me laugh out loud) and (unlike Timothy Olyphant) he can fight too, and Nadine Velazquez is awesome and sexy as his henchwoman - I hope her appearance in Jet Li's upcoming "War" helps her gain more recognition, she deserves it. Overall, I enjoyed "Blast!" more than "DH 4", more proof that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. (**1/2)

i just have seen this fiasco on cable, and i need to trash it, is by far one of the worst movies i have ever seen.

Eddie griffin an action hero?. my god!. the "clever" lines before and after kick some terrorist ass without even being touch were a joke, but the kind of funny stuff that doesn't supposed to be laughable. and what about griffin "im a bad-ass" faces when he does a karate posses or is spotting the bad guys?... damn, i always get the feeling that some undercover brother dumb joke was soon to occur. this is one of the most awkward movies i have ever seen, is awful. i have to change the channel in a lot of scenes... and Vivica A. Fox... my god... Vinnie Jones!!... damn... terrible career move. what and horrible movie.

I thought i was going to be watching a comedy when i saw this, BUT...... OH NO! This is one serious hardcore movie. A tour de force. Stretching all my emotional muscles.

Its easy to cast this film off as another under siege or,if you like, passenger 58 (i missed the first 56 films) I laughed - I cried (mainly from laughing so hard) In the end a B+ Eddie griffin is cool.

ALSO That scene where he thinks back - classic - you just have to watch it.

Quite high budget as well.

Vinnie jones is quite funny.

(2005) Blast ACTION

A straight to rental low budget "Die Hard" movie on an oil rig. The movie stars Eddie Griffin as Lamont Dixon, who has been left guardianship to a young kid as a result of losing his actual father as a fireman. He brings this kid to his new job which is part of a crew to drag an oil rig to the coast of California with a tug boat. And while people are celebrating Christmas lunch on the lunchroom convoy, it is then the whole rig gets hijacked by what was supposedly by some eco-terrorists headed by Michael Kittredge (Vinnie Jones). Dixon then takes it upon himself to save the crew since the hijackers didn't know he was on board. Co-written by Steven E. De Souza of many memorable action movies including "Die Hard" 1 and 2, "Commando" and "48 Hours" to name a few. This is probably a minor effort for the writer, since his script was probably taken over by the studio that has financed, and it ends up to be a waste of time to the viewers and a cash grab for the studio. One of the major problems is that I was never sucked in to understanding about oil rigs in the first place and the film sort of assumes that when that is not the case at all. What "Unstoppable" did right what this film did wrong was it shows viewers something about working in trains before the catastrophe start to happen. The other problem are the fights which are unconvincingly bad since you're talking about a small puny man beating guys who're a lot taller and heavier than Dixon- it's almost like seeing the land of make belief. I mean, I'll give thumbs up on any action movie with mediocre acting and an unmemorable script just as long as those action sequences are imaginative and convincing but this movie has neither. They might as well film this on their back yard.

OK, so in my opinion this is either the most brilliant satire on the action genre done by those who write and direct in it, or it is the worst possible action piece of crap since Segal's Into the Sun.

Either way you should be laughing your ass off.

The plot is so obvious in the way action films are. All the actors appear to have taken acting lessons from Van Damme for this one (wooden as chopsticks). People have the BEST\worst lines ever with such gems as "They're using flares!" in a fearful way.

I am surprised nobody else thinks this was a straight satire where the best way to make fun of the genre is to do it without smiling. I mean, they used stock footage of Backdraft and Top Gun. This from the director of Segal's Submerged and the script writer from Street Fighter! I think people should have seen Eddie Griffin and not expect him to be a Lorenzo Lamas. His acting is as dumb and overdone as any of the greats in the action drama.

So please, consider laughing at this one instead of pissing about it being a poor action movie. ALL action moves are poor displays of cinema anyway (minus Bruce Willis films). They are great because they are cheesy, and this my friends takes the cake and kicks a grenade into it.

This movie was very good. I'm surprised that the discussion board is so dead, along with the votes. It deserves a lot more publicity. It had fantastic acting, special effects, action...basically everything you want from a movie. When I saw this movie, I thought that IMDb would be full of users discussing it, but I realized that it wasn't as well-known as I thought. Well, that was a shocker for me. The movie was great, way better than I had expected when I saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster. Buy it, or at least give it a chance and rent it. You wont regret it.

Go see the movie, it rocks!

It's like a pretty well written action movie, but ruined by miscasting and baaad music. I watched it to the end and I wasn't bored a bit; the writing and production value are the best you could have if you're not Renny Harlin & Shane Black. It has helicopters being smashed with rams, pretty good plot twists etc. The bad guys are stereotypes based on Die Hard etc., but Vinnie Jones is always believable as a tough guy. But come on, Eddie Griffin in a role written for Bruce Willis or Jason Statham?! I like Griffin, he is funny as hell, but as a macho fighter... no, I don't buy it. Breckin Meyer, same thing. Good, good actor, but he laughed too much here. I understand he was supposed to be the comic relief - but wait, wasn't Eddie Griffin the comic relief?! See what I mean? Confusing miscasting. But all in all, beyond the casting and the absurd music, it was surprisingly enjoyable. A decent effort the kind that Steven Seagal never managed to pull.

I read the script for this thing while I was an intern at the agency that helped cast it, and it sounded great to me. It was originally intended for LL Cool J, rewritten by Steven DeSouza as ULTIMATUM at one point, but I'm glad to see the BLAST version, which I'm told was predicated on Eddie Griffen taking an interest, saw the light of day. I'm glad they added Vivica A. Fox to the cast - we haven't seen her do a full lead (KILL BILL VOL. 1 was kind of a cameo, I thought) in a long time, and I miss her. MPCA could use a big hit, too, and if executed well, this might do it. We'll see.

-Khan http://rottentomatoes.com/vine/j/akhan41

If you have watched a lot of B movies as I have, you have probably watched your share of "Die Hard" rip-offs. So you might be wondering how the "Die Hard" rip-off "Blast" differentiates itself from others. Well, for one thing, it's the rare rip-off to cast a minority in the hero role. And the screenplay was written by Steven E. de Souza, the screenwriter of "Die Hard"! Maybe de Souza thought that since everyone was ripping him off, he might as well rip himself off.

However, this rip-off falls far short of de Souza's previous glory. For one thing, parts of the script are really inadequately written. Both the heroic lead and the prime villain are pretty thin. The actors don't get enough to aid them, so their characters end up being very uninteresting.

Actually, most of the faults found in "Blast" are not due to de Souza. The movie has one of the most grossly miscast leads I have seen in a movie for a long time. While Eddie Griffin can be funny in comedic roles, seeing him trying to act like an ex Navy SEAL is ludicrous. Another problem is with the look of the movie. While this movie had a budget much higher than many rip-offs of "Die Hard", only a few brief moments look slick and expensive; most of the movie looks like it was done with a television budget. As for action, the action goes wrong in every way you can think of, from its editing to its direction. There's absolutely no excitement to be experienced. The entire movie has a ho- hum feeling to it.

If you want to see a *good* rip-off of "Die Hard", I suggest you watch the Dolph Lundgren movie "Command Performance".