Bullet Points: Con Express

Last month, the Switzerland based Fokus Media announced they had acquired the rights to release 30 classic PM Entertainment titles on Blu-ray beginning in 2024.

This is obviously good news for PM Entertainment fans in Region B. Currently there is no definitive word if these will also be available for Region A or if they’ll be on Region Free discs so PM fans all over the world can enjoy without having to invest in region free Blu-ray players. Whether these will be single releases, multi-packs or a series of box sets has also not been made clear at this point.

The only real details that have been shared are the 30 titles that Fokus Media has acquired the rights to and the fact that all 30 releases will be high quality transfers direct from the 35mm prints. As a public service, I will include the full list at the end of this review.

Of the 30 films announced only two have never been covered here on Bulletproof Action, one of which is the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 2002’s Con Express…

• Bad News Travels Fast: The opening credits of Con Express feature a news report about the possible theft of sarin gas, a deadly biological weapon, from a facility in Russia. If the sarin gas has in fact been stolen, it is of the utmost importance that it is recovered. The FBI is on it and as we will soon find out so is United States Customs and even a cop from Russia.

• Best Little Warehouse in Alaska: Customs agent Alex Brooks (Sean Patrick Flanery, Deadly Impact) leads his team to a warehouse based on a tip Alex received from an informant about some goods that came in from Russia. It’s at the warehouse where all hell breaks loose. There’s a fire fight that is not without casualties on all sides. When the smoke clears, the mastermind behind the sarin gas theft, Anton Simeonov (Arnold Vosloo, The Mummy), finds himself with three guns pointed at him… Alex Brooks, FBI Agent O’Shea and Russian cop Natalya (Ursula Karven), who is there to take Anton back to mother Russia, where he escaped a maximum security prison. After a jurisdictional argument, Brooks suggests they all go back to his office so they can figure out their next move.

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles: It is determined that both the sarin gas and Anton Simeonov will be transported to Washington D.C. where things will then be sorted out. Anton will travel in style in a private jet accompanied by Natalya, O’Shea and Alex. The sarin gas will travel by train with some United States Marines tasked with guarding the precious cargo. It doesn’t take long for these plans to fall apart and it starts in the sky… when members of the private jet’s crew turn out to be two of Anton’s men, including the cannibalistic Zednik (Joel West, The Elite). The pilot and O’Shea are taken out before Anton and his men parachute to freedom. That leaves Natalya and Alex in the plane, where we see Natalya make an emergency landing that the duo barely survive…. but will they survive their trek across the frozen tundra on foot!?!

• C’Mon Ride the Train: Now we have Anton and his crew looking to hijack the train with the sarin gas much to the surprise of the Marines on board, Natalya and Alex also trying to make their way to the train all while surviving in the wild and avoiding Anton’s kill squad when they find temporary shelter in a cabin. The questions how do you board a moving train and how do you stop a runaway train are answered. Plus, we get a bonus villain! A strong finish for Con Express to say the least!

If I didn’t know going in that Con Express was a PM Entertainment movie, I would have guessed it came from the Nu Image library. When PM Entertainment expanded beyond their Los Angeles and Las Vegas roots… the movies had a different feel than their OG flicks.

Different doesn’t mean bad however. Con Express had plenty of action, strong heroes and dastardly villains. I mean where else are you going to see former model Joel West chewing on human flesh!?!

Chew on these Bonus Bullet Points…

• One Question: Who did Sean Patrick Flanery piss off that his picture is not even on the cover of a movie he stars in?
• Familiar Faces: Tim Thomerson of Iron Eagle and Zone Troopers fame plays Alex’s boss, Bill Barnes… Rodney Eastman, who will always be Joey the Dream Warrior to me, played Alex’s informant Ricky.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Sean Patrick Flanery play show me yours and I’ll show you mine with Ursula Karven, then Con Express is the movie for you.

And now, as promised the complete list of 30 PM Entertainment movies that Fokus Media acquired the rights to…

• Con Express
• Cyber Tracker
• Cyber Tracker 2
• Dark Breed
• Deadly Target
• Direct Hit
• Epicenter
• Executive Target
• Final Impact
• Firepower
• Fist of Honor
• Guardian Angel
• Land of the Free
• Last Man Standing
• No Escape No Return
• No Tomorrow
• Out for Blood
• Pure Danger
• Recoil
• Ring of Fire
• Ring of Fire II: Blood and Steel
• Ring of Fire 3: Lionstrike
• Riot
• Running Red
• Silencers
• Skyscraper
• Steel Frontier
• The Sweeper
• To Be the Best
• To the Limit