Bullet Points: Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a holiday that many people in the United States get confused about the true meaning. Memorial Day is about the remembrance of the men and women who died while serving in the military. Many get this confused with the United States holiday of Veterans Day which is meant to honor all military veterans. In the spirit of Memorial Day, I want to take a look at a forgotten piece of 1998 cinematic history, Memorial Day. Now you might be thinking that I want to take a look at Memorial Day because it has the same title as the holiday Memorial Day, and while that is a pleasant coincidence, I want to look at the movie because Memorial Day stars Jeff Speakman, a kenpo master whose acting career has sadly passed away. I understand that it is presumably Mr. Speakman’s choice not to be in more films, but selfishly I wish the man was still kicking ass on celluloid (or more likely today digital media.) Join me in the remembrance of Jeff Speakman kicking fools in the face in the action thriller Memorial Day.

• Memorial Day is a real deal action thriller with a story that would have been right at home with the political thrillers of the 1970s like The Day of the Jackal, Three Days of the Condor, and The Parallax View. In Memorial Day, an intelligence agency know just as the Agency is upset with fact that military and intelligence budgets are being cut due to the lack of terrorism. What better way to keep their jobs than by fabricating a new threat, the fake terrorist group Red 5. The Agency uses a powerful satellite equipped with a space laser to destroy the space shuttle Atlantis docking at the Luna space station, the US submarine Neptune and the defense contractor who designed the satellite. The Agency is led by the shadowy pipe smoking #1 who we don’t find out who he is until the big reveal. Second in command is General Willard (Paul Mantee) and the Agency is backing presidential candidate Senator Lancaster (Frederick Coffin) and he in return acts as their public face leaking the fake Red 5 information. What Lancaster doesn’t know is that the Agency plans on assassinating him to further get the populace in a lather over the Red 5 terrorist.  Who does the Agency plan on assassinating Lancaster, none other than brainwashed Marine, intelligence analyst, and big Shakespeare fan Edward Downey (Jeff Speakman, Street Knight.)

• Seven years ago Downey was working for the Agency, but when he found out about the satellite he told newswoman Robin Conners (Stephanie Niznik.) The Agency quickly decided to discredit Downey by having him committed to a nuthouse and brainwashed to believe he was captured and tortured in Iraq. Fast forward to today and Downey believes he is serving his country by killing Lancaster during a live television interview, but he doesn’t know that the Agency plans on killing him right after, you know the classic double play. The Agency thought they had the perfect weapon, but little did they know that during the attempted assassination of Lancaster that he was being interviewed by one Robin Conners. Downey starts to get his memory back at the sight of the news anchor, escapes without shooting Lancaster and eventually meets up with Robin to try and take down the conspirators.

• Downey is on the run with Robin and he contacts the only man he believes he can trust, his former handler Jules (Bruce Weitz, Mach 2.) Jules appears to have all the answers and is helping Downey, but then we see him light a pipe. Uh oh! Downey and Robin, with the help of Lancaster who has seen the light, eventually make it to Area 10, the California headquarters of the Agency. While there was some decent fight scenes earlier, especially the one in Downey’s apartment, when he makes it to Area 10 it is pretty much one vs. everybody and totally awesome. There is an added time crunch as the Agency is set to blow up another space shuttle (on Memorial Day, natch) with our heroes trying to blow up Area 10 instead. The ending packs a punch, both with the fights and with the tension and not everybody makes it out alive.

Memorial Day is an entertaining actioner that combines the top-notch fight skills of Jeff Speakman with the political thriller story lines from yesteryear. It is far from perfect, with Jeff Speakman excelling at the fight field but lacking in the overall charisma field and the budget causes a lot of footage to be recycled from other films, noticeably with the submarine and space shuttle shots. However, the twists and turns and guys kicked and punched by Speakman were enough for me to be entertained for 95 minutes. Whenever Memorial Day comes around, I suggest you give it a watch and whenever Memorial Day comes around, I suggest you remember the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country, but don’t forget that the honor is in the deed, not in the ground.

It looks like this Memorial Day is more like Christmas because you are about to get the gift of Bonus Bullet Points:

• Question for a 9th Degree Black Belt – Do they teach the nut grab and nut punch in American Kenpo Karate?
• If You Ever – … wanted to see Jeff Speakman be the subject of electroshock therapy then Memorial Day is for you.
• Disturbing Quote – “I am up to my ass in rogue agents…”
• Quasi Futuristic Building – I couldn’t help but experience a moment of deja vu when I saw the building used as the World News Network studios. The Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant has been used in many movies and TV shows, most notably as the Starfleet Academy as part of the Star Trek films, and in favorites Bio-Dome, Cyber Tracker, and Dead Heat (but not this Dead Heat.)
• Lost its Sheen – Memorial Day starts strong with Joe Estevez making an uncredited appearance as an Agency man at the beginning only to never appear again.
• If You Ever – …wanted to see Jeff Speakman drive a 15 passenger van, then Memorial Day is for you.
• Factual Quote – “Dead heroes make lousy presidents.” See, you have to be alive to be president of the United States. What did all those men and the women in the military die for?