Supreme Sanction (1999)

Directed and Written by John Terlesky
Details at the IMDB, US.IMDB

Confession time: A gunplay movie is not usually my time waster of choice.  Most of them seem to me to be unimaginative variations of two stories -- "The Ethnic Urban Mob Story" and "The Government Conspiracy Story."  But sometimes, one of these movies will be a unique, must-see representative of the genre, like Three Days of the Condor or Luc Besson's Nikita. 

This movie is neither of those two movies, but it goes through the motions.
  

The Plot

After some opening credits with artsy shots of firearms, we open with a daring helicopter duel with high-grade military ordinance, explosions, and characters that have nothing to do with the rest of the story.  In a humble movie, this is a bad sign; you've probably just seen ninety-five percent of the movie's energy and budget in the first five percent of the running time, and the leftover five percent of the energy and budget will be a thin spread over the remaining ninety-five percent of the movie.

We now enter our movie proper with the introduction of reporter Jordan McNamara (David Dukes) and his daughter at the beach.  While they're having a cutesy time, an obscure figure in coveralls moves menacingly into position.  (We can tell this is menacing because of the music.  For all we know, it could be someone from the cable company coming to hookup a digital receiver, which can be pretty menacing in it's own right.)  McNamara is being watched by Dalton (Michael Madsen), and the mysterious figure turns out to be Jenna (Kristy Swanson).  Dalton talks to Jenna over a concealed radio.  She sets up shop in an unoccupied section of a building and unpacks a rifle.  Dalton indicates her target.  Well, gee, what an amazing surprise, it's McNamara.  She recognizes him as a reporter, sees the daughter, and tends her verbal resignation.  Several job-related coincidences (like just happening to be in the right place at the right time) go to waste.

Following her abrupt resignation, four other agents try to punch her ticket as she makes her escape.  (They had four other loyal agents on site?  They needed her and her alone to complete this overly elaborate hit?)  She makes it back to her hideout and her contract gadget man Marcus (Donald Adeosun Faison).  She knows her now former employers are going to try for McNamara again, so she decides to rescue him.  Marcus hooks her up with some power tools of the trade.

Over at chez McNamara, a car arrives and out pop two men who look like they were pressed from the Federal cookie cutter (conservative suit and tie, haircut).  They identify themselves as FBI agents and ask McNamara to come along for questioning, and (of course) they turn out to be hitters for Dalton.  (This sounds like a more elegant plan than the sniper; maybe they should've gone with that one.  Ah, shoot, maybe they just should've just popped him without any silly pretense and called it a productive day.)  Jenna arrives in the nick of time, rescues the confused McNamara, and vacates a few positions on the way out.

Back at the Marcus hideout, Jenna and Marcus explain to McNamara our story so far.  That seemingly unrelated helicopter fight at the beginning of this movie was part of an elaborate scheme by a shadowy Federal group called The Alpha Section (or something bogus like that), who, uh, lessee, plan to take over the world!  Yeah, that's it.  That's the ticket.  They're led by two lab mice…ok, I'll be good.  It was all a scam to fake a crisis to get more funding for their counter-terrorist activities, and the reporter knows a loose end.

Elsewhere, Dalton and the leader of Alpha, known only as The Director (Ron Perlman), plan their next set of moves.  They kidnap McNamara's daughter to force a meeting with McNamara.  Jenna and Marcus saw this coming (as should the audience) and plan a final confrontation with Alpha.
  

The Good Stuff

The production crew is competent enough to put out a slick looking feature.  As with most features today, the cinematography is good to excellent, scenes are well lit, the editing is sharp, and the director had a good hand on picture composition.

The Marcus character is interesting, and Faison plays him with a lot of wit.  I wish the movie had more of him.  Or was about him instead of the characters they had.
  

The Bad Stuff

Some of the dialog is very hard to hear, particularly when characters are discussing the reasons for their actions.  Although it seems to have been recorded cleanly, the volume is too low to make out some of the words.  We couldn't tell if this was because of the actors, the sound mix, or a poor mix when it went to tape.  There's also the possibility that nobody in production really cared what the characters had to say; they just wanted them to look good.

This movie has no real surprises, from plot to action in individual scenes.  The script follows formula with few to no risks, and the story has as many twists as a yardstick.  Its style looks like a retread of elements from the La Femme Nikita (1997-2001) TV series, which retreads The Point of No Return (1993) which retreads the previously mentioned Nikita (1990).  A retread of a retread of a retread; how's that for driving comfort?

Individual scenes are signposted more than exit signs on a good freeway.  For example, when Marcus is hooking up Jenna with a few tools, he gives her a carbon fiber knife (known in our household as a CIA letter opener).  Cut to a clear shot of her tucking it into her boot.  Later, when she's grabbed by a heavy from Alpha and held for a moment of suspense, cut to her hand drawing the knife from her boot.  It might've worked better, for example, to show the knife when Marcus gives it to her but not show her tuck it in her boot.  It wouldn't be a real surprise twist when she draws it later, but at least you have something so predictable with the audience mumbling, "Oh, yah, they showed a close-up of her putting a knife in her boot.  They'll probably show a close up of her drawing it in this next shot..."
  

The Who Cares Stuff

John Terlesky (director and writer) has done more credited work as a bit part actor than as a director.  He got some better parts in movies like Chopping Mall (1986) and The Allnighter (1987) and the lead in Deathstalker II (1987)  Despite the bad things said about this movie in this article, let's say he's done a better job here as a director and writer than some of those he's acted for, and we can call it even.

Kristy Swanson (Jenna) started out playing youthful parts, like the nice girl turned android in Deadly Friend (1986) and the nice girl turned action adventure figure in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992).  Along with those those two questionable achievements, her resume includes playing a prisoner statue in Mannequin 2 (1991) and the prisoner teen girl in Flowers in the Attic (1987).   Has her career improved?  Let's see.  Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag (1997), Big Daddy (1999), and Dude, Where's My Car? (2000).  You decide.  Her presentation here falls in line with the rest of the movie; she looks good but sounds like she's mumbling her dialog.

Michael Madsen (Dalton) has done some good stuff in several better movies.  He's probably best remembered for his leisure work as Jimmy in Thelma & Louise (1991), his torturous work as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs (1992), and his family work as Sonny in Donnie Brasco (1997).  Here, he puts in the effort of a man working for a couple of bucks.  Given what he's got around him, who can blame him?

Ron Perlman (The Director) made a name and voice for himself as Vincent (and another kind of director) in the Beauty and the Beast (1987-90) series and does regular work as a voice talent and bit player, but he's never really hit anything memorable beyond that old series.  For example, I doubt most trekkies remember him in Insurrection (1998) like they do Ricardo Montalban in Wrath of Khan (1982).  At least Mr. Perlman is still working.
  

The Bottom Line

Three Days of the Condor meets La Femme Nikita and sires the Made for Cable cinematic equivalent of processed cheese product.  It looks good, sounds terrible, and is too, too predictable.  Recommended as a neutral background filler as opposed to a conscious time waster.

Originally submitted to the B-Movie Mailing List on 18 July 1999.
Published and updated in B-Notes on 10 May 2003.