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Powerful

Better Late Then Never

A Disappointing Continuation

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Backflash (2002) could have been a decent little movie, but it tries too hard to be unique and original. By the time the loop-sided ending comes around, it's such a mess that it isn't even clever or worthy. Jennifer Esposito is ridiculous as an ex-con "tough broad". She doesn't even look like she could harm a flea.Robert Patrick is pretty much boring as a video store owner who gets stuck into trouble when picking up hitchhiker Jennifer Esposito. The film has a nice desert setting where it is desolate. The acting is made up of TV character actors who aren't that good or strong. Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation) does his best to imitate a hard as nails gangster, with weak results.

To make a great movie sometimes all you need is a good director;not big stars, or huge special effects.The problem of this movie is this;the lack of a good direction.The idea and the story is good and Robert Patrick is enough for this one.But there is no one behind the camera to put it all into an order,to shoot memorable scenes or to create strong characters.In the screenplay there are a lot of logical mistakes but they could be put into a right way with someone who knows what to do. Director wants to make a movie about crime,lie,people who can not be trusted or can not trust each other.And also he wants to add some kind of romance.We all see how this type of film-noir can be done perfectly by Tarantino,Coen Brothers and absolutely 'Red Rock West' by John Dahl.Besides all the mistakes in the script,lack of character analyzes this movie needs memorable dialogs,quotes,and a song.Sometimes a dialog or a song makes you remember a movie.But this one misses all of them;script,dialogs,music,characters.Speaking of characters am I the only one who is looking for a strong femme-fatale character? I think this movie is more like to be watched to learn the things not to do in a film-noir.A good idea is not always enough and this one shows everything to turn this good idea upside down.

I'm barely ten minutes into this movie when I start thinking, "This is one of those movies where some naive bulb (Patrick) shacks up with the wrong person (Esposito) and gets burned in the process". Well after twenty minutes that's definitely the road this movie was heading down with Patrick playing the everyday joe who's fearful of being a failure and the sexy ex-con Esposito who tries to twist him around her little finger to fulfill her plans.Patrick and Esposito's chemistry works fine enough and the film features a couple of funny bits, but the story gets pretty convoluted as it reaches into the third act and by the end it has only gotten worse. So when it's all said and done, Backflash has played out like any number of typical straight to video quickies. There's adequate atmosphere and it features some recognizable faces in the supporting cast, but there's little freshness in the story department. As a movie on it's own merits, it's average, but Robert Patrick fans will probably want to check it out.

In this film, Melissa Joan Hart leaves Sabrina behind and gives a hilariously sarcastic and sexy performance as a wise-ass, hard-drinking, prostitute-turned-back room mortician. Unfortunately, Melissa's screen time is limited and the viewer is left with a film that mostly comes across as an edited-for-television version of itself. Think Wild Things with all the sex removed and Bill Murray's screen time cut dramatically. My recommendation is to use scene select to watch Melissa prove she can really deliver as an actress, then go watch Body Heat.