Just what I expected

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film's shoestring budget is glaringly apparent throughout. Bad sound. Bad lighting. Cheap, washed out film stock. Atrocious direction. Over-the-top acting. Gordon Thomson is painfully wooden as the central character, Alan Evans, who flees to Canada to avoid the draft. Don Stroud provides the film's only believable performance as Richie Kovacs, Evans' fellow draft dodger and hippie sidekick.Underscoring The Blast's flaws is its syrupy, melodramatic music score, which smacks of the earliest days of soap opera. Criticism aside, the film's most redeeming features are a surprisingly interesting storyline, as well the use of a variety of stunning British Columbia locations.