Touches You

Let's be realistic.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Nick Travis (Lamas) is an FBI "Mind Hunter" on the trail of a serial killer named Dacy (Busey) (the changing of a "G" to a "D" in the name was pretty inspired). Naturally, Travis' ways are unorthodox, so the bureau teams him up with a new recruit, the pretty Kelly McCord (Cloke), a gung-ho agent who wants Dacy and his gang as much as anyone. Second-guessing them every step of the way is Taggart (Scheider), an FBI higher-up. But Travis has just too much integrity to bend to his ways. While the deranged Dacy is putting his team of psychopathic yokels into high gear, Travis and McCord must race against time to prevent any new victims before becoming victims themselves. Not just of the killers, but of federal bureaucracy and corruption. Will their relationship survive against all odds?In terms of technical qualities, this DTV effort stands above some of its contemporaries. It has a fairly glossy, high-quality look and feel that is just a hair away from being theater-ready. The cinematography is quite good, and the picturesque locales in Utah help that along nicely. The score is also big and booming. Lamas puts in a personable performance as the FBI agent on the edge (not to be confused with his roles as a CIA agent on the edge in the CIA films). He has as many cool one-liners as he does snappy ties in his wardrobe. Cloke, as his partner, puts in a good amount of effort and you've got to love those bedroom eyes. Roy Scheider could presumably do better (as he clearly demonstrated by being in Executive Target, 1997) in his career, but at least you get to see a fight scene between him and Lorenzo Lamas. You truly haven't lived until you've witnessed Roy Scheider-Fu.As far as Gary Busey...if he's trying to live down his reputation as a raving psycho, movies such as The Rage aren't helping him too much. We think the filmmakers renamed the film from Word of Honor to The Rage in honor of Busey and his performance. There are plenty of classic Buseyisms on display as he rants and raves with wild abandon.Also David Carradine is literally wasted in a nothing role that's almost as senseless as Klaus Kinski's in The Soldier (1982).Director Furie has had a long and accomplished career, so that probably accounts for why this film is well-made. There are some good stunts and chases, despite the fact that the plot is pretty by-the-numbers. But it paved the way for TV shows like Criminal Minds, which are just hour-long plots very, very similar to The Rage. Too bad Lamas, in the TV world, is known for Renegade - he should have been a Criminal Minds cast member. But Wings Hauser was on an episode recently. But we digress...The Rage might be a good movie to see if you want to break someone into the world of DTV movies. Its "not quite ready for the movie theater" feel should help gradually wean a newbie in.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

RAGE is one of those movies I stop to watch whenever it pops up on TV. Why, I have no idea. Perhaps it is because of the frequent action sequences and the thousands of expended bullets. Perhaps it is to watch Busey playing an absolute lunatic, shouting into the camera and looking like he just took a hit of fun juice. Lamas is rather subdued and cleaned up for this one, as he plays a stiff necked FBI agent hot on serial killer Busey's trail. The boat chase at the end is a hoot, if a little long, and you just know Busey won't be coming back. He goes out with a decided bang. This is actually one of Lamas' better efforts, although Busey and Scheider are clearly slumming here.

Some of my comments might be seen as spoilers, you have been warned.The Hero heads out to fight the Villain and his Villainess. On his quest the Hero is assigned to the Heroine. From here on the plot has no twists and almost everything is underlined with heavy semi automatic fire.The Hero is burdened with guilt and he has an Enemy within the bureau. The Enemy turns out to be angry enough to want to shoot the Hero and the Heroine in the end after the Villain has been burned to cinders. My my, what a surprise.The Heroine is a desk rat that has longed for "the field" and everything that happens, no matter if it's close to rape or getting her head blown off, it's handled as a new interesting experience. The only time she shows that this first time on the field touches her in any way is when she thinks she might have killed two bystanders in a moving car. (She didn't.)The Villain leads a gang of ex-Vietnam soldiers and their goal is to get even with the people that, in the gangs view, abandoned them after and during the war. On their way to revenge they kill, rape and mutilate to their hearts content. Needless to say, the shots from the coroner's operating theatre are gruesome to try to keep the viewers at least mildly interested. The Villainess wears ludicrous wigs throughout the movie and in the end she has to fight the Heroine amidst the flames aboard the flaming boats.The special effects are average in quality but I couldn't keep myself from laughing when one of the pads laid on the ground to ease a fall was visible.As in so many other "the police against military trained bad people" movies, the police, in this case the FBI and the locals, arrive in badly ordered groups that even I could take out with a few grenades and a heavy machine gun.The movie goes on and on while they fire round after round, gasoline bombs go off as to simulate ... something going off and everything ends with a boat chase and the Enemy getting shot and that kiss that says that everything will be fine.

The first in a new style of films for Lamas- no tattoo's, motorcycles or karate. I, for one, miss them. But this is a serious movie. He plays a FBI profiler who has lived so long with the bad guys in his head that he no longer trusts anyone, including himself. Gary Busey is either a great actor or somebody I wouldn't want to meet in broad daylight on a crowded street. Kristen Cloke pursues Lamas as doggedly as she pursues the serial killer. There is one surprise after another as the story unfolds not the least of which is the ending. It seems to never come - there is always one more layer to the story. Cloke and Lamas start out as the good guys, turn into the bad guys and somehow end up the heroes. But it's definitely worth the rental price. For maximum enjoyment throw in a candy bar,a bag of popcorn and a soft drink. You're going to the MOVIES!