Sabotage has Dacascos as a special forces soldier who almost dies when a hostage extraction goes wrong. It goes wrong because international assassin Tony Todd makes it go wrong. However many years later, Dacascos is doing private security for a senator, and Todd strikes again, but this time, because Dacascos survives, people think he might be in on it, including FBI agent Carrie-Anne Moss. When it seems like her work is being ignored, she starts to think Dacascos is on to something--the problem is, this thing may go all the way to the top! In addition to these players, Graham Greene and John Neville are lurking about, so their involvement spells more trouble too. Can Dacascos and Moss figure it all out?
I really liked this. It could have had more action, and does slow down a bit in the middle, but what it does that I really like, is it leans on its talent to get through those non-action scenes. Tony Todd is a fantastic villain, giving a masterclass on how a role like his should be played. That's huge, because he makes even "villain planning things" scenes work. Graham Greene is another who's great. He takes the usual banal jerky higher-up probably in on the conspiracy guy, and elevates him beyond the material. Finally, Moss and Dacascos have great chemistry, and with these great villains, it's easy to root for them and want to see them succeed. I think I could have used more Dacascos martial arts, but again, that's a qualm that's mitigated by the other factors above.
As I said, I wanted to have a redemption post for Dacascos, and it's interesting when you compare his career with Carrie-Anne Moss, who only a few years after this is in The Matrix. For Dacascos, this is two years after Double Dragon, and one year after Crying Freeman, the first of which looked like it could be a multiple-film franchise and ended up being a dud; and the second of which wasn't released in the US, meaning the bulk of American film audiences didn't get to see what he could do. This isn't to say Dacascos hasn't had a fantastic career, it's just too bad for someone with his skills and screen presence that he didn't get those big screen leading parts that he deserved. The most recent thing I saw him in was Netflix's Wu Assassin TV show, and the two things I took away from it were, one, it needed more Dacascos, especially in fight scenes with Byron Mann; and two, he was referred to as "an old, bald chef." Bald I can't argue with, but old I can't get behind--50 is the new 40. If I'm that young when I'm old, I'll be very lucky.
As good as Dacascos is in this, Tony Todd really makes it. While this kind of villain can often be a lot of fun, Todd takes it to another level completely. It really is a masterclass, and I feel like anyone playing a similar part in future DTV movies should be forced to watch this to see how it's done. I also think of previous films where Todd played a baddie, like The Debt Collector, and can't believe how this Tony Todd wasn't tapped into to enhance those films. This also underscores how important a good baddie is to make a movie like this work. Had Todd mailed it in, or the part been played by someone that didn't do as great a job, Dacascos still would have been good, but I would've been complaining about the lack of action with this paragraph. Instead I'm saying how great it is, and giving another reason why you should see it.
This though brings up a good point, and that is, with these conspiracy movies, it's hard to balance unraveling the conspiracy with good action, and keep the whole thing around 90 minutes. The problem with modern DTV, is if you get a Tony Todd, you may not have him for a lot of shooting days and a lot of locations, so you have to mitigate that by limiting the screentime and focusing on other aspects of the movie--and that's where you need a bunch of good Dacascos fights to make up the difference. Part of me wants to say, "how do we get modern DTV out of the rut it's in?" but how many DTV movies that were made around the same time this one was did I make the same complaints about? It's the age old issue for DTV--you have to cut corners, the question is, are you able to cut the right ones.
For Carrie-Anne Moss, she was making this not knowing that The Matrix was around the corner. I think the outfits she had to wear in this were probably easier to work in, but beyond that, The Matrix was that explosion that sent her career next level. It's crazy now to think that was 20 years ago, and there was a bit of a dip after, but she was still part of one of the most influential action movie phenomenons ever. Like Dacascos, the most recent thing I saw her in was a Netflix show, in her case she played a cut-throat lawyer on the Jessica Jones show, which I abandoned after the second season due to Netflix Fatigue Syndrome, where I can't handle the ten-hour movie format of their series.
Before I change what is an otherwise positive post into a negative rant, it's probably good that I wrap this up. As of the time I'm writing this, you can watch it for free on Tubi, which is a great deal. This is not an all-out actioner, but the great performances get us over the top.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117533
No comments:
Post a Comment