THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409280649
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
THERE'S A GREAT deal of falling but surprisingly little stumbling in ``Terminal Velocity,'' the new action flick that saves itself by not taking itself seriously. By moving fast, it persuades us to speed along with it, overlooking the constant implausibilities.
``Speed,'' the best action film yet this year, revealed that audiences, as well as critics, will put up with plot absurdities as long as we get an adrenalin charge as the payoff.
Only serious movies have to actually make sense. ``Terminal Velocity'' (which I'm not putting in the same category with ``Speed'') has a fun-drenched script by David Twohy, who penned the hit ``The Fugitive.'' If nothing else, it reveals that the Cold War must really be over. Now we have movies in which the KGB are the good guys.
Charlie Sheen, as inert as ever and even more puffy, plays Ditch, a devil-may-care skydiver who specializes in irresponsible stunts - like landing on ball fields or boxing rings. He's not liked by the FAA and is in danger of losing his license. This may be why Nastassja Kinski, as an ex-KGB agent who wants to save Russia from another dictatorship, chooses him as her fall guy. She's apparently all giggly about getting lessons. He sees her as an easy target for his macho pretensions, but before you know it, she's falling through the air with a chute that never opens.
He has every right to presume she's dead but, because she has star billing, the audience knows better. Before long, poor Charlie (still refusing to even try to act) is caught in the middle between good Russians and bad Russians.
Sure, it doesn't make any sense, but it's unlikely you'll care. Any movie with a finale this fast is worth the money. In the finale, the bad guys are trying to get away with $600 in gold bullion. They're flying back to Moscow, where they plan to set up a Stalin-like dictatorship. They like capitalism a bit, too. They're taking along a jazzy red Cadillac convertible, just as a souvenir. Sheen free falls through space in the convertible with hapless Kinski locked in the trunk while he fights the villain and hangs onto the hood. Whoa! And these theater chairs don't even have seat belts!
Whew! We're glad to get out of that one. We even stopped gulping popcorn during that scene.
The skydiving scenes are not nearly as well photographed as you'd expect. For the most part, these people look like they're falling through studio space rather than real air. Scriptwriter Twohy has obviously watched Hitchcock thrillers - the ones in which the average, everyday guy gets trapped in situations beyond his control. Ditch could be a kind of gauche form of the character Cary Grant played in ``North by Northwest.'' Don't expect to get ``Vertigo'' from these shallow heights, though. Ditch doesn't give a hoot about all this political stuff. He just likes the girl and would like to get out alive.
The likable premise is even enough to allow a non-actor like Sheen to get away with his usual deadpan stare. At times, he tries to make mischievous cracks about it all, but Bruce Willis is better at that type of thing.
Kinski, too, is no acting heavyweight. At one time, she was hailed, in ``Tess,'' as the new Ingrid Bergman. But in a mess of empty-headed, giggling roles, Kinski faded. She seems a bit more level-headed after three years off the screen, but she is no less gorgeous. She makes an effective mystery woman.
``Terminal Velocity'' is an old-fashioned cliffhanger and effective movie fun. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BOB MARSHAK/
Buena Vista Pictures
Charlie Sheen is caught up in suspense and high-flying acrobatics in
``Terminal Velocity.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Terminal Velocity''
Cast: Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, James Gandolfini, Melvin
Van Peebles
Director: Deran Sarafian
Screenplay: David Twohy
Music: Joel McNeely
MPAA rating: PG-13 (language, simulated violence)
Mal's rating: Three stars
Locations: Greenbrier and Movies 10 in Chesapeake; Janaf and Main
Gate in Norfolk; Lynnhaven 8 and Pembroke in Virginia Beach
by CNB