Bullet Points: Blast (1997)

There has to be an unwritten rule in Hollywood that anyone with any sort of action star experience is entitled to star in their own personal Die Hard style movie… even a guy like Linden Ashby. 

Linden Ashby’s biggest claim to fame in the action game was/is his portrayal of Johnny Cage in 1995’s Mortal Kombat. Ashby wasted no time cashing in his Die Hard card, when he played the very John McClane-esque Jack Bryant in 1997’s Blast, directed by Albert Pyun.

• Not So Hot-lanta: Jack Bryant is a former Tae Kwon-Do Olympic medalist who has fallen on rough times. A leg injury forced Jack out of competition and started a downward spiral in his life that would ruin his marriage and transform Jack into an alcoholic. As the movie opens we find out that Jack is going back to the Olympics that are being held in Atlanta (actually the movie never comes out and says the Olympics as I am sure the producers did not want to pay to use the name or the iconic Olympic Rings logo), but instead of competing in the games, Jack will be cleaning up during the games. Jack is on the janitorial staff and he has been assigned to work at the aquatic center along with his friend Bena (played by Rebecca DeMornay… well not the actual Rebecca DeMornay, but the actress Sonya Eddy, who famously played a woman named Rebecca DeMornay on two episodes of Seinfeld). To make things worse, Jack’s estranged wife Diane is the assistant coach of the United States Women’s Swim Team. Jack is dreading running into her and her new boyfriend, the head coach of the swim team, played by an uncredited Thom Mathews (Bloodmatch).

• A Turn for the Worse: Jack would soon find that running into Diane (Kimberly Warren, Mean Guns) and her new beau was going to be the least of his problems on this day… a group of terrorists led by a mad man named Omodo (Andrew Divoff, Interceptor) have infiltrated the aquatic center and have taken the swim team hostage… but it is all a smoke screen for Omodo’s real plan… blow up the President of the United States. It is explained that Omodo has lost his credibility in the terrorist world after a series of botched acts of terrorism… I assume one of them was his failure in the movie Toy Soldiers… unfortunately for Omodo he didn’t factor Jack Bryant into his evil plans.

• Standard Operating Procedure: From here things follow the Die Hard SOP. Jack, who at this point in his life really has nothing to lose, uses his Tae Kwon-Do skills to start eliminating the terrorists one by one, eventually arming himself to give Jack more of a fighting chance. Jack doesn’t have a walkie talkie, but he does manage to find a cellular phone and gets some help from the outside with it. On the other end of the line is and eccentric Interpol agent named Leo (Rutger Hauer, Blind Fury), whose last run in with Omodo cost Leo his legs. This all builds up to the eventual finale that includes Jack and Leo racing against time to save Diane from the clutches of Omodo.

Blast felt like it borrowed more from the Die Hard formula than most of the Die Hard clones I have seen, but it really needed to borrow just a little more to make this “Die Hard in an aquatic center” work.

One of the most memorable moments in Die Hard is the satisfying and epic demise of Hans Gruber, but *SPOILER ALERT* the demise of Omodo is anything but satisfying… you would think blowing up the main villain would be cause for celebration, but when you can’t do it up right and that explosion is a “computer generated explosion on a budget” you are left with a finale that falls flat and one that really left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I have no intentions of leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth, that is why I am wrapping up this review with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Albert Pyun Family Reunion: Blast is filled with familiar faces that have appeared in other Albert Pyun directed movies like Tim Thomerson, who plays the Atlanta Chief of Police in Blast and previously worked with Pyun on Spitfire and Hong Kong 97… Tina Cote and Norbert Weisser, from Heatseeker, play the mayor’s aide and Interpol commander respectively… And Vincent Klyn of Cyborg fame plays one of Omodo’s terrorists.
• Fun Facts: None of the swimmers in the movie are actually shown swimming… only one of the swimmers actually gets in the water and that is after she is shot in the head. Also noteworthy is one of the swimmers was portrayed by a young Shannon Elizabeth, pre-American Pie fame.
• One Question: Who wears short shorts? Thom Mathews wears short shorts. Mathews’ character, Head Coach Bill, ends up being Blast’s answer to Hart Bochner’s obnoxious coked up Harry Ellis character from Die Hard, when Bill spills the beans on the identity of the janitor and about the relationship between Jack and Diane. I feel like I should say something about a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze now…
• The Name Game: Albert Pyun’s Blast should not be confused with the Blast released in 2000 starring Ed Lauter or the Blast released in 2004 starring Eddie Griffin.