Bullet Points: Zero Tolerance (1994)
After a career defining performance as T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it would have been easy for Robert Patrick to be forever typecast as a villain for the remainder of his career.
But to Patrick’s credit he avoided that pigeonholing and his post T2 contributions to the action genre had him play characters from both sides of the fence, like his heroic turn in 1994’s Zero Tolerance.
- South of the Border: The movie begins with FBI agent Jeff Douglas (Robert Patrick, Hong Kong 97) riding shotgun with two of his fellow agents as they head down to a Mexican jail to pick up a scumbag drug dealer Ray Manta (Titus Welliver, Bosch). They get Manta into the car and start making their way back to the States… but the lonely road home isn’t lonely for long, some guys on motorcycles and a pickup truck are in hot pursuit and it isn’t long before the bullets start flying… Douglas’ co-workers end up dead and Manta is whisked away in a jeep.
- The White Hand: Ray Manta may have escaped the FBI, but he has not escaped the wrath of his fellow drug lords in a group known as The White Hand. Manta’s business partners are comprised of four action movie all-stars… there’s Helmut Vitch (Mick Fleetwood, The Running Man), LaFleur (Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter, Marked for Death), Lee (Gustav Vintas, Lethal Weapon) and Milton Kowalski (Miles O’Keeffe, True Vengeance)… Manta’s White Hand partners are demanding that Manta deliver a shipment of liquid heroin that promises to make the group mucho dinero… but they are in the States and Manta is stuck in Mexico… but Manta is not the only one.
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Manta realizes that FBI Agent Jeff Douglas could escort Manta and his briefcase of liquid heroin over the border and the authorities would have to let him in. So Manta gets his Mexican based goons and they track down where Douglas is staying in Mexico, while simultaneously Manta has his American based goons pay Douglas’ wife and kids a visit. Conveniently this happens as Jeff is on the phone with his wife… Manta promises Jeff that he won’t harm his family if he helps him get back into the United States… Jeff has no choice but to comply.
- Deal Breaker: When Jeff and Manta land in Las Vegas, all Jeff wants to do is talk to his wife… but all Manta wants to do is have his buddy Omar (Bill Hufsey of Fame fame) blow up Jeff in a limousine. Fortunately for Jeff he narrowly escapes certain doom and finds a pay phone. Jeff calls home and a familiar voice answers, but it is not his wife… it is Megan, a fellow FBI agent. She breaks the horrible news to Jeff that his family had been killed… with this shocking development Jeff Douglas is about to go vigilante on The White Hand and take them out finger by finger.
The third act of the film is filled with casino chaos, a defenestration, a warehouse shootout, FBI bosses who seem content on letting Jeff go off the reservation and take out the bad guys, Megan trying to save Jeff from himself and since this was a film in the PM Entertainment library, we also get flipping and exploding cars.
We also get an entertaining revenge story and a fun performance from Robert Patrick… now for some fun and entertaining Bonus Bullet Points…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Robert Patrick drive a police cruiser THROUGH a helicopter, then this is the movie for you.
- Mexican Radio: At the beginning of the movie when Jeff Douglas and his fellow FBI agents are heading down Mexico way, they are listening to a hockey game on the radio, but eventually the signal weakens and the coverage of the game between the Wayne Gretzky led L.A. Kings and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim is replaced by a familiar Mexican ditty. Agent Gene Burbach (Michael Gregory, Robocop) is annoyed at first (he had $50 riding on the game) but he eventually rolls with it and starts singing along… Ay Yi Yi Yi!
- Familiar Face: PM Entertainment favorite Michael DeLano (Lopez from the Ring of Fire series) has a small part as a trucker that picks up a drifting Jeff Douglas.
- The Name Game: This movie should not be confused with the disappointing Zero Tolerance from 2015 that starred Dustin Nguyen and a shoehorned Scott Adkins.
