Bullet Points: Fallout
Here at Bulletproof Action we strive to cover the world of action entertainment from A to Z. Or to put it in action terms… from Arnold to Zagarino.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Zagarino aren’t just on opposite ends of the alphabet, they are also on opposite ends of the action movie world… Arnold has been a part of some of the most iconic and financially successful films in action movie history. Zags, on the other hand, was in a lot of low budget movies that you probably never heard of… like 1999’s Fallout.
- Fallout Boys: Daniel Baldwin plays NASA pilot J.J. Hendricks… Hendricks desperately wants to be a flight commander but he finds himself stuck in the simulator for a new experimental spacecraft after an incident where he was piloting his own personal aircraft and was forced to make an emergency crash landing in a residential area… 300 miles off course. This incident is something that Hendricks does not like talking about and it his lack of explanation to his superiors that is preventing him from getting a flight commander spot… Frank Zagarino plays Captain Previ Federov. Federov is the flight commander of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on an international mission to the almost 100% operational Gateway Space Station. The crew is made up of two Russian cosmonauts (Federov being one of the two) and one American astronaut (who from the moment he was on screen had expendable written all over him).
- International Incident: At the press conference announcing the Gateway Space Station mission, reporters ask Federov for his opinion on current events from back home… it seems that the Russian military has occupied the country of Tajikistan aka Federov’s native land. So Federov finds himself in a bad spot… as the country that allowed him to live his dream of going to space is now screwing with his homeland. Federov gets a little fired up, but tries to be optimistic that both sides will solve their issues without bloodshed.
- Room For One More: NASA computer system specialist, Amanda (Teri Ann Linn), is a late addition to the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Amanda’s boss, Pete Colegrove (David Leisure), wants Amanda to help eliminate some of the nagging computer bugs that Gateway has been dealing with… Speaking of Colgrove, this is about the the time that J.J. Hendricks goes to Colegrove’s office once again requesting his own command and once again refusing to answer questions about his accident. When Colegrove doesn’t budge, Hendricks resigns.
- True Colors: Once the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis arrives on the Gateway Space Station, Federov’s true colors shine through. He and two of his fellow Tajikistan natives already on the space station, take control. Locking Amanda and the rest of the Gateway crew in a cargo hold… oh yeah, and that expendable American astronaut that was part of the Atlantis crew is shot dead. Federov is threatening to use the power of the Gateway Space Station to drop satellites from the sky and blow them up over major cities in the United States, unless the President can convince the Russians to withdraw from Tajikistan in the next 8 hours.
- Just When He Thinks He’s Out: With the nation being threatened, J.J. Hendricks is called back in less than a day after he resigned… Hendricks is about to get to be flight commander for the experimental X-33 spacecraft. His mission will be to fly three Army Rangers up to the Gateway Space Station where they will eliminate the Federov threat. Only problem is, all three Rangers are shot before they can even enter the space station… that means there’s only one man who can save the day and go toe to toe with Previ Federov… J.J. Hendricks!
If you ever wanted to see a final battle between Daniel Baldwin and Frank Zagarino, then Fallout is most definitely the movie for you. But if you never wanted to see that or the mere thought of that combination does not intrigue you, you are probably going to want to skip Fallout.
Having Zagarino play a character with a Russian accent was a bold move and it had been some time since I saw Zags in a villainous role, but Fallout was clearly not Zags’ finest hour… but I can also say it was not his worst (Airboss, you still get that honor).
Daniel Baldwin was passable, but if I was calling the shots, I doubt that I’d cast Baldwin to be the main protagonist in an action movie. Actually there’s no doubt about it. I wouldn’t… but I would end this review with some Bonus Bullet Points.
- An Album Cover: Is it me or does the Fallout poster look like Daniel and Frank are posing for the cover of a Wham! album?
- Words of Wisdom: “If you can’t control your wings, don’t reach for the sky.”
- Familiar Face: Scott Valentine of Family Ties fame, played Tanner, the captain of the Gateway Space Station. Action fans may remember Scott from his roles in the Black Scorpion TV series or Carnosaur 3: Primal Species.
- Missed Opportunity: The producers of Fallout did not shell out the cash to have Dave Matthews Band’s “Satellite” as their end credits song.
- Opening Monologue Material: “Your football confuses me, nobody uses their feet!” – Captain Previ Federov
