Bullet Points: Terminal Rush

The holidays are right around the corner and in action movie terms that means Die Hard season is almost upon us!

There really is no better way to get in the Die Hard mood than by watching one of the countless Die Hard clones that were released following the success of the 1988 Bruce Willis film.

I decided to revisit 1996’s Terminal Rush starring the greatest kickboxing champion of all-time, Don “The Dragon” Wilson…

• What Happens In Vegas: Nellis Air Force Base in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada has some game changing tech within their walls. It is the type of advanced military technology that the United States would not want to fall into the wrong hands. When the Governor of “The Silver State” brings up the question of security, the Pentagon bigwigs the Governor is conversing with basically laugh it off… who the hell is going to break into an Air Force Base!?!?
• Ask All the Dam Questions You Want: The answer to that question is Harrison Dekker (Michael Anderson Jr, Logan’s Run) and his crew that includes Dekker’s muscle and right hand man, the face painted Bartel (Roddy Piper, They Live). Dekker has devised a master plan where he and his team will take control of Hoover Dam and threaten to blow it up if the United States government doesn’t fork over $25 million dollars. This is all a smokescreen however to keep the FBI and local law enforcement busy… Dekker really has no intention of blowing up Hoover Dam, but being able to cut the power at Nellis Air Force Base (along with paying off the MPs that guard the front gate) opens the door for their true objective… the game changing military technology!

• Fly in the Ointment: We’ve met our bad guys. We know the location that they plan on taking over. We know what they are after. All we need now is the fly in the ointment to complete this Die Hard scenario and that fly is none other than Deputy Sheriff Jacob Harper (Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Bloodfist). We learn quickly that Harper is a man of action when he stops by a local watering hole and has to dispatch of some drunk and disorderly types. We also learn that Harper is separated from his wife (very much like John McClane). And we learn that Harper’s father is a security guard at Hoover Dam… so when Dekker and company take Hoover Dam by force, Harper REALLY wants to know what the hell is being done to stop the bad guys, but when he tries to get the attention of FBI Agent Collins, the man in charge of the operation he can’t even get a “hey” or a “how are you?” from Collins. All Harper gets is thrown out of the police station… which opens the door for Harper to do his own thing.
• You Don’t Know How Local He Is: Jacob Harper grew up in and around Hoover Dam… in fact, he knows about an old construction tunnel at the base of the dam that his is confident Dekker and the rest of the bad guys know nothing about. So Harper uses that tunnel to gain entry to Hoover Dam and starts putting his Special Forces training (a factoid we learn from Harper’s dad) to work taking out bad guys left and right, he manages to get a radio so he can listen in… but Harper’s main priority getting his dad and the rest of hostages out of there. Dekker naturally believes the intruder they are dealing with was sent in by the FBI, which amps up the phone rivalry Dekker and Collins have through out the film… but the rivalry I really wanted to see amped up was Harper and Bartel… “The Dragon” vs. “Hot Rod”!?!?! Sign me up!

Terminal Rush does not hide from the fact that it is “Die Hard at Hoover Dam”. It leans all the way in (or almost all of the way in), as any “Die Hard Clone” worth its salt should. One important Die Hard aspect that Terminal Rush is sorely missing is “assistant to the fly”. There is no Al Powell or Marvin the Janitor type to help Harper and I think that missing piece hurt the movie and made it drag at times.

I’ll drag this review out a little longer with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• If You Ever: …wanted to see Don “The Dragon” Wilson play a character of Native American descent, then Terminal Rush is the movie for you.
• Familiar Face: Michael Bernardo from the Shootfighter movies, plays one of Dekker’s men. We even get to see a little martial arts action between Bernardo and Wilson at one point… although it could have been better given the participants.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see “Rowdy” Roddy Piper blow a police helicopter up with a rocket launcher, then Terminal Rush is the movie for you.