Bullet Points: Project Shadowchaser II
Frank Zagarino (or Zags as he is known around the Bulletproof Action office) was born on December 19, 1959 in Los Angeles, California.
Looking at my calendar, I see that today is December 19th and that means we need to celebrate Zags Day! And I can not think of a better way to celebrate Zags Day 2022 than by going back and reviewing 1994’s Project Shadowchaser II starring Frank Zagarino and Bryan Genesse…
- Cobra Fa La La La La: It is three weeks until Christmas and the President of the United States has made the controversial decision to scrap a multi-billion dollar military project known as Cobra. Cobra was being designed to be the ultimate weapon and many of the President’s advisors think scrapping it is a bad move, especially with the growing nuclear threats in China and North Korea. But the POTUS does not care and soon Cobra is being packed up and shipped off to Raikon Industries to be decommissioned.
- Christmas Eve: Three weeks later and it is Christmas Eve and we see Laurie Webber (Beth Toussaint) in the midst of another long day at Raikon, a government facility that houses nuclear weapons for the United States. Laurie is dealing with co-workers who are overworked and exhausted, her asshole boss Mr. Reitman, a new creepy tech guy named Joe Hutton (Todd Jensen, Cyborg Cop) but the worst is yet to come and I am not talking about these next two characters…
- Two Wrongs Make a Right Turn: Laurie’s young son Ricky never gets to see his mom anymore thanks to the 16 hour shifts she’s been pulling at Raikon. So he’s going to go to Raikon to be with her and he does this by hitchhiking, a dangerous proposition for anybody but even more so for a teenager. It just so happens that Frank Meade (Bryan Genesse, Street Justice) is drunk driving to his job at Raikon, where he is the
janitorhead of maintenance, when he spots Ricky and gives him a lift. When they arrive Laurie is surprised to see her son and upset that he would do something so dangerous like hitchhike. Then Laurie turns her anger towards Frank Meade. She can’t help but smell the booze on Meade, she makes her displeasure known and tells him to get his ass down to the basement and get to work… and that’s about the time Meade takes notice of her nice ass and is then told that today will be his last day of work at Raikon. - Enter the Zagon: To recap, we have a multi-billion dollar weapon on site, we have a
janitorhead of maintenance in the basement, what we are missing at this stage of the movie are some bad guys to try to steal the multi-billion dollar weapon with a well orchestrated plan that did not account for a kickboxingjanitorhead of maintenance. With some help of the new creepy tech guy Joe Hutton doing his best Clarence Gilyard Jr. impersonation (R.I.P.) a group of mercenaries enter the Raikon facility and wipe out everyone in the control room. But the main baddie, The Android (Frank Zagarino, Striker) is about to make one of the most impressive entrances in action movie history as he crashes the Raikon Christmas party, backlit like a badass, sans shirt, hair as white as Christmas snow and just shooting up everything and everyone… then delivering a dry slo-mo “Merry Christmas”. Young Ricky, who was waiting for his mom to get the file she needed for “homework” hid under the security desk and is the only one who survives the Christmas Party massacre… meanwhile Laurie finds her slaughtered co-workers in the control room and one of the mercenaries finds Frank Meade in the basement and nearly kills him, instead he got Meade’s flask.
- The Last Piece of the Puzzle: There was one more Die Hard element needed to really go full Die Hard and we get it as the authorities surround Raikon Industries and await to hear the demands of the terrorists inside. They speak to The Android and he demands that two of his fellow “freedom fighters” be released from prison and put on a plane to Iraq. Also, he wants a military helicopter at the ready to transport he and his team out of Raikon… if these demands are not a 50 megaton warhead will be dropped on Washington D.C. These demands are bull crap and only meant to buy the mercenaries time to get to Cobra and get it out of the facility through underground tunnels…. The Android and Hutton then focus their attention on getting into the vault that houses the nuclear codes, while the rest of the mercenaries search the facility for intruders. The first intruder discovered is young Ricky who is about to get got by Prine (Robin Smith, Never Say Die) until Frank Meade comes to the rescue and has a knock down drag out with Prine that results in Prine being set on fire! Meade gets to repeat his heroics when he happens upon Laurie who is being terrorized in the dark by a night vision wearing merc, but Meade makes sure it is lights on and then lights out for him!
- This Time It’s Personal: If John McClane has taught us anything it is that a “fly in the ointment” can unravel even the most well planned schemes, so when you consider there are basically three flies in the ointment with Meade, Laurie and Ricky and you might be foolish enough to believe that give the good guys the advantage you’d be wrong… because it isn’t long before The Android gets ahold of Ricky and more importantly the “key” to get into the vault! …now things have become extremely personal for Laurie as she needs to get her son back along with stopping the bad guys from launching any nukes and she needs to do it with the help of a guy she fired hours earlier! The Android and his team now have momentum on their side and when they learn of a pending airstrike against the facility, they strike first by blowing the shit out of the cop cars and military vehicles that have surrounded Raikon… it is one explosion after another and it really is a thing of beauty and also the first sign that The Android may be going off the planned mission… which won’t be good for anyone, most of all Frank Meade and Laurie Weber!
- Main Event Time: As you may expect things eventually boil down to The Android vs. The Janitor (Zags’ words not mine) and as you may expect, there’s really no way a mortal man, even one as tough as Frank Meade, is going to be able to take out a killer Android on his own… which certainly puts a twist on the Die Hard formula. Frank gets plenty of help from Laurie, the Sheriff on the outside (this movie’s Al Powell) and a military air strike and when you consider there was another Shadowchaser movie after this, I am thinking whatever they managed to do was temporary.
Add another movie to my annual Christmas Action Movie rotation! Project Shadowchaser II was a ton of fun. This may be peak Zags. Zagarino looked menacing, he was able to ham it up at times and the movie established the hell out of just how evil and out of control The Android was… the dude shoots down a passenger airplane after getting on the radio with them, exchanging pleasantries and wishing them a Merry Christmas… cold hearted and over the top. And everything it took to stop him… The Android is a legit badass.
Then you have Bryan Genesse’s Frank Meade, like all of Genesse’s characters, Frank Meade has a charm and charisma to him. And in this case the Meade character has a redemption arc to make him even more appealing. And then there’s the whole team up aspect with Meade’s brawn complimenting Laurie Webber’s brains… she knows the facility and Frank knows how to fight and together they worked well together.
Bonus Bullet Points always work well …
- AKA: Project Shadowchaser II is also known as Night Siege: Project Shadowchaser II.
- If You Ever: …wanted to hear someone compliment Bryan Genesse’s ass, then Project Shadowchaser II is the movie for you.
- July in Christmas Quote: “I just love the Fourth of July!” – The Android
- Christmas Wish: I wish there was a sequel where a now married Frank and Laurie take a Christmas vacation with Ricky and the three once again find themselves in the midst of a shitstorm.
- End Credits: “Rockin’ J-Bells” by Little Bobby Rey play the movie out in festive holiday fashion.
