Rating of
3/4
Surprisingly good
The M.O.W. - wrote on 09/07/08
"Lamont Dixon" (Eddie Griffin) is a former firefighter now taking care of a fallen comrade's son (Nicky Andrews) and now works as a tugboat captain.
It's Christmas, and "Dixon" has been assigned to push an oil rig into place. For safety, the rig has to be pushed very slowly to the point that it will take 20 hours until they reach the spot that is planned for the rig. However, a group of environmental activists are at the dock where the rig is to launch, headed by a vocal man (Vinnie Jones).
As a group of activists try to block the tugboat and rig with their own boat, a fire breaks out and the tugboat crew scrambles to help.
When on board, the group of activists turn out to be something more sinister -- a group of terrorists lead by a known British terrorist (Jones).
Now, "Dixon", along with a computer expert (Brekin Meyer) working undercover for the Feds as a snitch, has to try to stop the the terrorists to complete their mission -- to detonate an electromagnetic bomb over California.
Griffin is best known for his comedic roles that he has done in movies and on television. In this movie, he proves that he is actually a pretty good actor in a non-comedic role. He does crack a few one-liners throughout the movie, none of which is as memorable as in the fairly similar first "Die Hard".
Another good performance is by Vivica A. Fox as FBI agent "Reed". Sadly, her interaction with those trying to stop the terrorists is extremely limited so there really isn't a shot of any attraction between her and either lead actor on board the rig.
Meyer and Griffin are only OK as the on-screen duo trying to stop the villains. They had some chemistry, but not too much. When they were the only two in the scene, I didn't feel as if they really worked well together.
Like other movies I've seen with a group of villains, a few of them are focused on. And, just like the other movies, their characters are not developed a lot. In fact, the lead villain has the most development, but not by much really.
There is some good gunplay in this movie. The blood is kept to a minimum though. There is also some good explosions, but nothing spectacular.
Some of the things presented are pretty predictable. I could pretty much predict who would be "dead" by the end of the movie. I also pretty much knew who would make it to the final scene.
This could be a pretty good rental, but I wouldn't make it a first choice. I would even say check it out when you come across it on HBO or another movie network.
