the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I started watching this film, and I stared at it in disbelief, The acting was terrible, and the plot was outrageous. After another ten minutes, I was saying to myself "They can't possibly be serious." Then it finally began to dawn on me that they weren't. (I've recently started reading reviews and commentaries after watching a film rather than before. I highly recommend this approach for a film you haven't seen and don't know much about) The filmmakers took aim at camp and scored a direct hit. Gymnastics champion Kristie Phillips may or may not be able to act, but it isn't apparent here, and it doesn't matter, because no one is really trying. This must have been a lot of fun to make. And Miss Phillips is very pretty, which also helps. This movie scores if you can stand campy films. If you can't, then run away screaming.

This movie would make a great double-feature with "Gymkata." Indeed, there are so many similarities between both films, I wonder if "Spitfire" was intended as a sequel. Could be...In "Gymkata," gorgeous Kurt Thomas played a champion gymnast recruited by the U.S. Government as a Double 0-type agent; he flick-flaked and fought his way through a fictional European country, where he tripped over his missing-and-presumed-dead father. In "Spitfire," gorgeous Kristie Phillips plays a champion gymnast who becomes a Double 0-type agent by accident; she flick-flaks and fights her way through several non-fictional countries, where she keeps tripping over numerous half-brothers and half-sisters (all secret-service types in their own right) she never knew she had. If only "Spitfire" had done more along the lines of this charming homage to James Bond! Unfortunately, the nifty martial-arts sequences are negated by too many likable characters getting killed off. Even worse, poor Kristie is repeatedly upstaged by morally slack super-spy Lance Henriksen and obnoxious sports-reporter Tim Thomerson...even though she packs more charisma than the two of them put together! Nevertheless, Phillips makes for a sensational gymnast/martial artist AND a pretty good actress...oh, and she looks great in a leotard to boot. Too bad the script doesn't do nearly as much for her as she does for it! That is, unless you count seeing her dodge bullets. (Where was she when they cast "The Matrix"!?) Of course, they DO leave the door open for a sequel; better luck next time, Kristie...

Low-grade Bondian imitation, although the focus is not on the Bond figure (played in a take-the-money-and-run style by the usually dependable Lance Henriksen) but on his daughter, a champion gymnast / martial artist played by the extremely flexible and athletic Kristie Phillips (she's clearly the best thing the film has to offer). It features lots of international locations, but they're so flatly photographed that they're practically indistinguishable from one another. (*1/2)

The acting in this action movie was minimal, the action perfunctory, but gymnast Kristie Phillips is very easy on the eyes and spends much of the film in a bikini or shorts. Plus she kicks a lot of butt. Combine that with the cheesy dialogue, and it's a harmless way of passing a Sunday afternoon.