REEL ACTION: Deadly Impact, starring Sean Patrick Flannery

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

DEADLY IMPACT (2010)
Rating: 2.5 out of 4 /Buy the DVD Here

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Directed by Robert Kurtzman
Starring: Sean Patrick Flannery, Joe Pantoliano, Carmen Serano, Amanda Wyss

THE PLAN: Retired cop Tom Armstrong lives an isolated existence, carrying around a tragic past: He was forced to kill his wife in order to save the lives of a hundred others. Now, years after that incident, he’s confronted with the crafty terrorist who made him pull the trigger. But now the situation has gotten even deadlier… impact!

THE KILL: For what it is, DEADLY IMPACT is a perfectly acceptable straight-to-DVD product. Directed with a steady, competent hand by make-up artist Robert Kurtzman (WISHMASTER), the film tells a fairly standard tale of a cop on the edge hunting the man who ruined his life. For this to work, you need two actors who bring the necessary determination, anger and perhaps above all, acting chops to fill out their characters (or is that “caricatures”?). DEADLY IMPACT benefits from having two actors up to the task.

“Where’s Norman Reedus when I need him?

Sean Patrick Flannery (recently of BOONDOCK SAINTS fame) is Tom Armstrong, who is a cocksure cop when we meet him. Naturally, the opening of the film puts him in a soul-shattering predicament, one that ends with his wife dead – at his own hands, no less. “The Lion” is the villain responsible, an assassin and thief who takes particular enjoyment out of mentally torturing our hero because… well, because he’s just sick of being pursued, I guess. The Lion initially gets his wish, when Armstrong’s tragedy sends him into an early retirement, but like most greedy maniacs, he can’t stay out of the game himself. So when he begins wreaking havoc once again, the FBI is forced to bring Armstrong, who is rather busy drinking his sorrows away, into the fold. Lots of thrilling chatting on the phone ensues!

Joe Pantoliano, who could have slummed it here, does decent work as the arrogant, condescending mad bomber who takes Albuquerque – and Armstrong – hostage. He’s a creep who is not only after money, but after providing misery and pain. Yeah, a pretty evil dude. One fun twist is that he’s a “master” of disguise, which allows Pantoliano to put on a few ridiculous latex noses and talk with fake voices. The illusion is negligible, but it makes the performance that much more amusing. The flick gets a big boost whenever Pantoliano is on screen.

Flannery is gruff and humorless, which of course are the requirements for a role like this. Like a B-grade Jack Bauer, Armstrong spends a lot of the time yelling into the phone, stomping around an office and, once in a while, springing into action. Action is, I’m sorry to say, something this movie could use a little more of. It’s more of a cat and mouse thriller, with tense phone conversations and a ticking clock in lieu of solid action (again, not unlike “24”). Still, thanks to Pantoliano’s menacing (and frankly jerky) character and some things going BOOM real good, DEADLY IMPACT is a cut above. Just barely.

Joe considers life without a toupee…

TOP DEATH: A blown-up car will have to do; there’s not a whole lot of blood shed here.

TOP ACTION: An action scene involving a high-tech assassination inside of a nightclub is pretty bangin’.

FEMALE EXPLOITATION: Carmen Serano is around to provide some feminine charm, but we don’t get much titillation on that level. A really lame impromptu sex scene in an office doesn’t really count.)

HOMOEROTIC MOMENT: Nothing of that nature here to speak of.

TOP DIALOGUE: “Do not scream into the phone, do not call me motherf*cker and tell me that you’ll hunt me down and kill me. Honestly, that will do no good.” – The Lion

DRINKING GAME: Drink every time someone talks into a cell phone. You’ll be making terrorists threats to the FBI your own self soon enough!

TRIVIA: Kurtzman’s directorial debut was THE DEMOLITIONIST, starring Nicole Eggert and Heather Langenkamp!

BUY THE DVD HERE!