Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Concept of blowback – unintended and extremely harmful consequences of US government doing some shady deals with nefarious characters in certain parts of the world – wasn’t as popular in 1990s as in the years following 9/11. Despite that, it occasionally manage to slip into content of Hollywood productions, like in the case of Live Wire, 1992 action film directed by Christian Duguayy, one of the more obscure genre pieces of its time.

Protagonist, played by Pierce Brosnan, is Danny O’Neill, FBI bomb expert working in Washington D.C. He is recently called to investigate series of horrifying and unexplainable bombings where the victims happened to be US senators. The incidents apparently featured victims exploding from within and O’Neill gradually concludes that the solution of the mystery is liquid explosive that was ingested by unsuspecting targets and detonated by stomach acid. The victims were connected due to their apparent opposition to Middle East arms deal, which made their former partner and terrorist leader Mikhail Rashid (played by Ben Cross) very angry and willing to go to extreme lengths to prove his point. The remaining senator, Frank Traveres (played by Ron Silver), is very reluctant to co-operate with investigation that could expose some of his corrupt dealings. O’Neill has additional problem with ex wife Terry (played by Lisa Eilbacher) working as Traveres’ aide and apparently having an affair with her employer.

Made with mid level budget (which is something quite rare these days), Live Wire was originally intended for theatrical distribution. It failed to get it, except in non-US markets, but it had more decent success at home video. This could be attributed to Christian Duguay, one of the rare Canadian film makers specialised in genre films. Live Wire happens to be among the better, if not the best film in his filmography. The reason is his great sense of style, careful and effective handling of limited resources (especially in explosion scenes that feature some spectacular pyrotcehnics) and the quick pace that keeps the film under an hour of half of running time. The cast is also good, including Pierce Brosnan that shows how he could play characters that are more than simply charming and suave; Danny O’Neill is deeply affected by family tragedy that wrecked his marriage, acts towards his wife with jealousy and hates Traveres with all of his being, but he is in the end of the day professional that would try to save his life. Danny O’Neill is also presented as somewhat unusual action hero that prefers brains to brawn, especially during the final showdown when he defeats terrorist horde with improvised MacGyver-like contraptions. Ron Silver as shady and dislikable senator doesn’t have much to work on, mostly due to poor script by Bart Baker which never bothers to properly explain the arms-dealing scheme. Lisa Eilbacher, for whom this was the last feature film, mostly serves as eye candy and also has to deal with obligatory sex scene. Ben Cross, playing villain with East European first name and Muslim last name, goes over the top, which is actually a good thing because Live Wire can’t be taken seriously. This allows it to be taken as a guilty pleasure, like in the scene where protagonist fights clown (played by Tony Plana) or the opening where he rescues attractive woman (played by Tracy Tweed, sister of Shannon Tweed) in a way that allows insight into her private parts. Craig Safan’s music score is at times annoying, but, despite it and despite missed opportunity to deal with serious issues that would become very relevant a decade later, Live Wire can be recommended as mostly entertaining and easily digestible piece of action cinema.

RATING: 6/10 (++)