Countdown aka Serial Bomber has Lori Petty as an FBI agent in Seattle trying to take down serial bomber extraordinaire Jason London. When his Japanese national girlfriend is arrested, Petty and co. think they have the key to bringing him down, but when Yoko, an officer from Tokyo PD (Yuki Amami) shows up to escort the girlfriend back to Japan, London gets antsy and starts to up the game with his fancy bombs placed around the city. Now it's up to Petty and Amami to bring this guy to justice, while a soundtrack of late 90s alternative music plays in the background.
This wasn't bad. Yes, by the end the whole cat and mouse thing had gotten tired, it may have worked better as an episode of a late 90s syndicated TV show; and there were a few incidents that were a little off, like Jason London beating up Petty's mom, or when a bomb squad expert seems to have solved the wiring London put together for him bomb, only to have him get blown up anyway--London was plenty diabolical without any of that. The biggest key for me is Lori Petty, who is fantastic in the lead; and then we have a great supporting cast, including London and Amani, plus James Le Gros as the FBI chief, which was sweet to see, but made me wish we also had BoJesse Christopher hanging around too. The music was fantastic as well, 90s alternative, none of which were hits, but they sounded like songs that were hits, which is nice enough. For a late 90s free streamer, this does what you need it to do, and sometimes that's all you need.
For his yeoman's work on Seagal films alone, Waxman was deserving of a slot here in the Hall of Fame, but now that he's joining other Hall of Fame directors with his tag count--this is 13 for him, which is a three-way tie for third--it was really overdue. This is the earliest of his films we've reviewed, coming out two years before Sweepers, which we know he had some friction making with Dolph. I liked this better than Sweepers, telling me that he probably didn't have those same issues with Lori Petty, but he also said he learned from his experience on Sweepers, which probably made him more amenable to an even more demanding star like Seagal, leading to him directing Seagal in nine films between 2009 and 2017, plus all the True Justice episodes. One thing Scott Murphy from All 90s Action, All the Time and I have noticed as we've been going through all of Seagal's DTV flicks fpr the DTVC podcast, is Seagal often works with a director two or three times, and then that's it, meaning Seagal's people probably sign them on for more than one film, knowing how bad Seagal is to work with. I can't imagine Waxman signed a nine-picture deal, meaning he had to have re-upped at some point, or that there were line producers like Ben Sacks who were like "hey Keoni, we need you again," like that friend with a pick-up truck who's always getting called when someone is moving. He's had five films since his run with Seagal was over, one of which we've done here, The Hard Way, but according to IMDb he doesn't have anything in development right now. Even if he's taking a break, he's put together a Hall of Fame resume, and is truly deserving of his induction. Here's to you Mr. Waxman, you're one of the greats.
This is our third Lori Petty film on the site, but the first real DTV one, because the other two were Point Break and Tank Girl. 1996, when this came out, was only one year removed from Tank Girl, and when I looked at her IMDb bio, that looks like her last big screen big budget production. From there she's bounced around between television appearances, voice work on Batman and Superman cartoons, and now microbudget horror films that could use her face on the tin to sell streams. On the one hand I don't get it, because she's great here, like she was great in Tank Girl and great in Point Break; but on the other I do, because I think for as great as the 90s were, they weren't ready for a Lori Petty. Now in the 2020s it feels like we have too many Lori Pettys, but none as great as she is, it's almost like the idea of being like a Lori Petty is enough now. Back in the 90s, other actors cut their hair short and did a Lori Petty-like performance to show their range, but no one made a career of being a Lori Petty the way they do now. Had Lori Petty been born in 1993 instead of 1963, every prestige TV show, indie movie, and blockbuster would have her in it. Instead, she was born in 1963, ahead of her time, but still able to shine in roles like this. I saw that she had a PM flick in 2001, Firetrap, so you know we'll make that one happen soon, meaning this won't be the last time we see her here.
Was Jason London Eminem a few years before Eminem was Eminem? It looks like it in that shot there, doesn't it? 24 when this movie came out, he's every bit the young Gen Xer with his hair, and his beanie, and his big coats. You could've seen him hanging out with Ian on The Grind with Eric when they did the alternative song. "Oh, they're playing Sabotage, where's Ian? There he is, with his messy hair and post office jacket!" There's also a little Eric Nies in this performance too, London is both alternative Gen Xer and pretty boy Gen Xer. But then we have to throw in the 90s baddie who's good at everything and has everything figured out. He knows how to wire the bombs, find out information on the FBI agents after him, break into places and leave tapes everywhere, and is pretty handy with a gun if you need him. All at 24. I was looking at his IMDb bio to see how his career arc got him here too, and he doesn't have the big screen hits Petty had. In '93 he was the star of the indie hit Dazed and Confused, then appeared in a couple Aerosmith videos, but it was mostly DTV and TV appearances from there, meaning this film may have been a step down from those things, but par for the course for what he was being offered. This is now 7 films for him on the site, and while we don't specifically seek his films out, with the volume he does, we'll no doubt see him again.
Finally, I usually save my "where you can find this" for the eight paragraph, but this was an interesting one that required a longer space to vent. IMDb said this was on Tubi, but when I searched it didn't show up, and when I clicked the link on IMDb it didn't show up either. Letterboxd said the same, but same lack of result. Letterboxd also said Freevee had it, but when I checked Amazon the same thing happened. So I checked Plex, because sometimes they have things that others don't, especially 90s actioners like this. They told me they didn't have it, but gave me links to Tubi and Freevee too. And that's how I got it, I clicked the link in Plex that took me to Tubi, and that's where it worked. How does any of that happen? I mean, searching for "Countdown" didn't reveal it on Tubi, and looking up Keoni Waxman didn't reveal it, but clicking through the Plex link? I'm not sure how it works, but at least I was able to watch the movie and get screens for the review.
And with that, let's wrap this up. As I said above, you can get this on Tubi here in the States, but if you don't see it when you search, try clicking through the link on Plex. This isn't horrible, despite its flaws, it's a fun time with the all names and the nostalgia for the late 90s. And congratulations to Keoni Waxman on your Hall of Fame induction! It was truly yeoman's work directing all those Seagal DTV actioners, but someone needed to do it.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115953
Looking for more action? Check out my short action novel, Bainbridge, and all my other novels, over at my author's page! Click on the image below, go to https://www.matthewpoirierauthor.com/
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