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danieldpj
Reviews
Traitor's Heart (1999)
Low Budget "Clear And Present Danger"
I've often wondered whether low budget movie producers actually take the time to research their work or ensure at least some level of quality in their work. "Traitor's Heart" is just one of those films where you have to ask this question.
The plot is simple: solider goes to war, gets sold out (and hit with a TLAM cruise missile, for that matter), suffers from psychological problems, then embarks on a quest for truth.
The dialog in "Traitor's Heart" and the scenes are very poorly scripted, not to mention close to insulting to the intelligence at times. The ending courtroom scene is basically a poor man's "A Few Good Men" where you already know before watching the scene that something stupid and pithy is going to happen that will vindicate the hero in just the span of a few minutes.
All in all, "Traitor's Heart" is tough movie to tolerate watching, and it doesn't even have the accidental, 'comedy of errors' humor of most low-budget films.
If you absolutely must watch a low-budget popcorn movie to get your quota for cheese in, you might want to consider films such as "Escape Under High Pressure", "Storm Catcher", and "Interceptor".
Defense Play (1988)
80s Teenage Fun
Like most 1980s action/suspense movies, "Defense Play" is standard issue in nature: the bad guys are Russians, the good guys are average Americans (living in a California style backdrop) who love racing their cars and playing rock & roll. In good 80s fashion, the plot revolves around a secret weapon which cannot fall into enemy hands.
In the Reagan-esque "Defense Play" storyline, we see the United States Air Force attempting to launch a top secret satellite into orbit (on a Saturn V rocket of all things). To foil the US satellite launch, the KGB plans to steal a top-secret, remotely piloted stealth helicopter (codenamed 'DART') being produced at a local university. Because DART is so small, it cannot be easily detected, and therefore would be optimal for use in attacking the well defended USAF Saturn V at Vandenburg AFB.
The hero and heroine of "Defense Play" are your classic all-American teenagers who get 'tangled' in the nefarious plot and decide to take down the bad guys.
All in all, "Defense Play" is a good, half-decent low budget film which might appeal particularly to the teens, and follows in the fashion and style of such 80s films as Iron Eagle, My Science Project, Real Genius, The Rescue, and many others. It serves as a good flashback to the days when low budget producers didn't have an F-117 (and tons of F-117 stock footage) to make as the centerpiece of all the action (the official 'blow up plane' of the 80s was desert camoflauged F-16s).
"Defense Play" is an obscure film, but well worth watching if you just want to kick back and have a few laughs.