Message no. 1

From:	"Fisher, Victor" <Victor-Fisher@******.COM>
Subject:	Movie Review [possible Shadowrun ideas!]
Date:	Mon, 7 Apr 1997 15:36:58 -0400

Hey! <gets out soap box, clears throat> I just went to [actually
was dragged to ;-] a showing of the new Jean Claude Van Dam-Dennis
Rodman film, Double Team.
I initially viewed it with much trepidation, but must admit it
surprised me.
Make no mistake, this is definitely a grade B- movie. The poor
director, Tsui Hark [famed in Hong Kong for such greats as Better
Tomorrow 1 & 2 (with John Woo), Chinese Ghost Story 1, 2, & 3 <comment
on those some other time>] didn't have a great script to work with in
the first place; and by the time the Hollywood editors got finished
hacking it's corpse, it was a lot worse. BUT, it did have quite a few
interresting gems an enterprising GM could plop down in his/her game to
make the players lives interresting.
SOPILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!
I you have not seen the movie, and don't wish to be privy to a few
scenes, do not read any further!!!!!!!!!
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Simply put, Jean Claude cannot act. (Hey, I've rented his films
just like everybody else, but let's face it; the MUSCLES FROM BRUSSELS
acting ability bridges the gap between live action and claymation!]
Even Dennis Rodman, with NO prior acting experience [except on court],
did a better job than Van Dam.
Worse, everyone's fight scenes were better than Van Dam's! Even
Rodman's [again, with no formal martial training] scenes looked a lot
better than Mr. Muscles. All of Van Dam's were so choppily edited, you
couldn't tell who was doing what.
And the guys he fought. One, a Hong Kong veteran whose name I can't
remember right now, was amazing. He was pulling moves that were
breathtaking! For every one blow Van Dam got off, this guys smacked him
several! Of course, Van Dam beat him [to which almost everyone in the
theater jeered, saying that fight was a gimmee!]
Anyway, the movie did have some good parts. There's an island
prison for 'retired' spies, terrorists, etc. that is VERY reminescent of
the Village in the old British tv show, THE PRISONER, but done up for
the nineties, that was cool. Here, these people, now dead to the world,
can still appy their skills to analyzing information from around the
world, and selling it to the highest bidder. Leaving, however, is NOT an
option.
And then there were the Cybermonks, I call them. A group of monks,
who combined ages of learning and information organizing skill, with
some of the most state of the art computers anywhere. These would make
an interresting group to hire out by a shadowrunner, instead of the
stereotypical 'geek' decker.
Dennis Rodman himself, plays a 'Company' Fixer, who runs a very
avant garde nightclub, who'd make a different kind of contact.
I already gave it a rating at the beginning of this rant. If you
can catch it at a matinee, then by all means do so. Otherwise, you might
want to wait till video.