Bullet Points: Disaster (2003)

In this edition of Bullet Points, I return to the Nu Image library for a review of 2003’s Disaster.

In the past I have mentioned how Nu Image’s roots could be traced back to The Cannon Group. Using established Cannon stars like David Bradley and Chuck Norris and the directorial talents of Sam Firstenberg for various Nu Image projects didn’t hurt the Nu Image/Cannon comparison. With all that said, Disaster actually felt more like a PM Entertainment movie than it did a Cannon movie thanks to location, location, location…

• Cult of Personality Disorder: Somewhere in Southern California, cult leader Maxwell (Sonny Surowiec, Black Thunder) is conducting a worship ceremony where he denounces school violence (no complaints there), suggestive lyrics in music (turn the radio off dude) and half naked women on magazine covers (prude). At the end Maxwell announces to his flock that he has chosen a bride, the lovely Tracy (Marnie Alton, Replicant). We then get some less than good green screen imagery of the couple to be out on the dock with a cruise ship in the background… Maxwell tells Tracy he has a present for her. Foolishly she thinks she is going to go on a cruise… instead Maxwell starts setting off bombs on the cruise ship, resulting in CGI explosions and fire and scenes of panic on the ship. It took killing innocent people on a cruise ship for Tracy to realize the man she is about to marry is crazy, she takes off running into a near by parking lot (and more importantly takes off her engagement ring). She hides in a mini-van, while Maxwell slowly stalks the parking lot, telling her she can never escape him… but with first responders on the way to deal with the cruise ship, Maxwell has to retreat… maybe Tracy can escape after all?!!?

• Viva Las Vegas: Two years later and Tracy is now a performer at the Sands of Time Casino in Las Vegas… and this is where the movie started feeling like a PM Entertainment and that feeling was about to get stronger. Tracy is spotted by a member of Maxwell’s cult who immediately calls this revelation into his cult leader. At the same time our hero cop Roger (Jim Davidson, Pacific Blue) is at the casino looking for his alcoholic brother/partner Kenny (John Simon Jones, Merchant of Death). After a heart to heart with Kenny, Roger notices the gun that the cult member is carrying and when he stops to question him, things escalate quickly with the cult member opening fire and chaos ensuing… during the chaos, Roger bumps into Tracy and gives her his phone and tells her to call 911. Meanwhile the cult member has stolen a convertible that was a prize on display at the casino and starts driving THROUGH the casino in order to escape the police. HOLY SHIT was this a scene!!! After plenty of destruction the cult members drives out of the casino and finds a sea of cop cars as the authorities are out in full force… so what does the cult member do? He steals a cop car! Right on his tail are Roger and Kenny, and they hop in another cop car and the chase is now out on the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria Las Vegas! The chase ends in spectacular fashion with the cult member’s stolen cop car flipping and going airborne before blowing up in spectacular fashion. This sequence of events made up for the iffy green screen and CGI effects from the opening minutes and I questioned why Disaster had a disastrous 2.4 rating on IMDb.
• Die Hard in a Casino: The next day, Maxwell and the cult show up in Vegas so Maxwell can reclaim his bride. Fortunately for Tracy, Roger has returned to get his phone back so he is there when Maxwell and the cult turn Disaster into “Die Hard in a Casino”… and this is where that 2.4 rating started making more and more sense. It seems like with the numbers advantage that Maxwell had, it would be relatively easy to have every possible exit covered and when Tracy was done performing for the night, she could either be scooped on her way out or followed home, where she could then be abducted and returned to the flock. Instead, Maxwell has bombs planted all over the casino and hotel and decides that it would somehow be easier to get Tracy with hundreds of people running around in a panic and a casino filled with smoke and fire. It really is almost an insult to throw Disaster in the Die Hard rip offs category. Usually in a Die Hard rip off there is a well thought out plan that probably took months to conceive with every possible scenario covered (with the exception of the one fly in the ointment that they didn’t think of), not something that Maxwell thought up on the drive from SoCal to Vegas. Plus there isn’t just one fly in the ointment, you have Roger, you have Kenny and you have Kenny’s daughter who is sick of not getting to spend any time with her delinquent dad. The whole thing was muddied and again, did not need to happen for what Maxwell was hoping to accomplish.

• Are There Any Dam Questions?: Who am I to question Maxwell’s methods? He ends up getting his hands on Tracy (after losing every member of his flock in the casino chaos) and the two are now headed to Hoover Dam… Tracy had hoped surrendering to Maxwell would prevent and further disaster. But once again she is wrong and Maxwell decides he is going to cleanse Sin City by blowing up Hoover Dam… because apparently Maxwell has endless bombs and he can blow up anything he wants (there was a scene earlier, where he blew up an overpass, although I am not sure how or when his team got over there to plant the bombs undetected). Kenny organizes an evacuation plan while Roger heads to Hoover Dam to stop Maxwell, including a scene where he repels down Hoover Dam, UniSol style. Roger manages to catch up with Maxwell and send him falling to his death and rescue Tracy… although apparently the fall wasn’t enough to immediately kill Maxwell since he is still able to hit his detonator and blow up Hoover Dam… WTF!?!? Roger you suck as a hero… I know the reason the movie was called Disaster is because Roger has the reputation of being a “walking disaster” but this ending just made him look stupid and ineffective. We get a bunch of disaster stock footage and then the “happy ending” with Tracy giving Roger her phone number.

Disaster was not a complete disaster, but it was not among Nu Image’s best efforts either. The movie felt about as well thought out as Maxwell’s Tracy recovery plan and some of the best scenes seem to have been lifted from 1997’s Top of the World.

Now for the bottom of this review and some Bonus Bullet Points…

• AKA: Disaster is also known as Cult of Fury and Sudden Damage.
• Familiar Face: Roger’s boss, Chief Hackett, was played by none other than Marshall R. Teague from U.S. Seals II and Fists of Iron fame. The movie could have benefitted from more Teague if you ask me.
• Directed By: Yossi Wein was the director of Disaster. Wein directed other Nu Image films including Lethal Ninja and Never Say Die.