Bullet Points: Phase IV (2002)
Preconceived notions can be a curse for any movie… as a reviewer I do my best to try to go into a movie without any of those pesky preconceived notions, but sometimes they are just unavoidable.
I had some of those unavoidable preconceived notions going into 2002’s Phase IV but in this case they proved to be a blessing. Something about a direct to video movie I had never heard of starring Brian Bosworth and Dean Cain did not fill me with a great deal of confidence… but low and behold, Phase IV was pretty damn entertaining.
- Mild Mannered Reporter: Dean Cain plays thirty year old journalism student/college football hopeful at New England University, Simon Tate. Tate’s late start at NEU is attributed to him serving in the Navy (where he had the obligatory Navy SEAL training all action heroes receive), a steroid scandal while playing football at the Naval Academy and a knee injury. Fortunately for Simon, his old buddy from high school, Dr. Ben Roanic, was now teaching at NEU and pulled some strings to get Simon in. So it is no surprise that when Ben is framed for the murder of a Senate hopeful’s daughter, Simon is right there using his journalism and Navy SEALS skills to help Ben out.
- Stone Cold Operator: Brian Bosworth plays Detective Steven Birnam… at least I think he was a detective, he seemed to spend more time running security for Stroyker Piersen Pharmaceuticals and taking out those who oppose his big pharma bosses than doing any sort of police work. Birnam even has his own group of guys that help him carry out the bidding of Stroyker Piersen. This was a solid role for The Boz and he seemed to be having fun with it.
- Strange Bedfellows: Senatorial candidate Diana Holt (Mimi Kuzyk) is the grieving mother of the young lady who was actually killed by some of Birnam’s hired help. At first she buys into the story that Dr. Ben Roanic was the man responsible for her daughter Hallie’s death… but while going through some of Hallie’s things she finds that Hallie was receiving some mysterious shipments from Stroyker Piersen and she begins to question the Dr. Ben theory… Our intrepid reporter Simon Tate is also learning more about the truth behind Hallie’s death, including that the shipments Hallie was receiving were experimental drugs to treat HIV. With a common goal of getting to the bottom of who murdered Hallie Holt, Simon Tate finds himself teaming up with Diana Holt as they try to outrun the authorities, the powers that be at Stroyker Piersen and Detective Birnam.
- Motor Mayhem: Phase IV makes excellent use of motor mayhem moments and quite frankly without them, the movie would have fallen flat. The vehicular action starts off instantly with a car chase down some wet and snowy back roads with some bad guys in a muscle car chasing a student from nearby New England University. The bad guy are forcing the college student to smash into the snow banks on either side of the road, but the chase continues… that is until the college student finds himself stopped on a frozen lake… he decides to get out of his car to try to escape on foot, but the bad guys open fire… not trying to shoot the student, but instead shooting the ice around him so the student and his car plunge into the deadly cold water below…. A bit later there’s another car chase this time on the city streets ending with a big crash complete with casualties and carnage galore… Last but not least, the muscle car I mentioned earlier eventually ends up driving off the roof of a building!
Phase IV knew when to mash the gas and when to slow things down, both literally and figuratively. It was the pacing of Phase IV kept me engaged for the duration of the hour and forty-three minutes and that helped Phase IV rise above the average direct to video movie.
It is time to enter the final phase of this review with these Bonus Bullet Points…
- The Name Game: 2002’s Phase IV should not be confused with the 1974 horror film of the same name about desert ants on the attack starring Nigel Davenport.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Dean Cain and Brian Bosworth go toe to toe, then this is the movie for you.
- Conspiracy Theory: A major plot twist in the movie supports a popular theory that pharmaceutical companies have actually discovered the cures for diseases like HIV but because there is more money in treating the symptoms than there is in the cure, they keep “the cure” under wraps.
