Bullet Points: Traitor’s Heart
Picture this. A movie opens to a slow motion shot of a helicopter rising over the horizon while soldiers are escaping on foot and dramatic operatic music is setting the mood. Explain to me how you would not be interested in watching the rest of the movie. Next, throw in that it is a Nu Image production and stars Bryan Genesse and Kimberly Kates and there is no way not to watch. Traitor’s Heart is a movie from 1999 that opens with all these elements but does it hold up for the entire viewing? Luckily for you, I happen to have some Bullet Points for Traitor’s Heart where we can find out if the movie betrays the epic opening.
- Slow Starter – I loved the opening slow motion shot, but I didn’t know that the slow motion would last for the first five minutes of the movie. Five minutes doesn’t sound like a long time but watching people move in half time seems like twice as long. Traitor’s Heart makes up for it by showing explosions with stuntmen-a-flying and a boat going over an extremely tall waterfall. Both are appropriate uses of slow motion so I will allow it.
- Family Man – Nick Brody (Bryan Genesse, Cold Harvest) is a helicopter engineer with a loving family that includes his wife Maggie (Kimberly Kates, Armstrong) and his son Sean. As an aside, I don’t like to talk bad about actors and especially child actors but Sean, played by Michael Stark in his one and only role, has moved to the top of my least favorite child actors in action movies ahead of Rocky Jr. in Rocky IV. Nick suffers from amnesia and only has memories from the past five years, but he has unexplained flashbacks when he hears certain voices and meets certain people.
- Forgotten Friends – Nick gets a mysterious call from someone that claims to know him and also lost his memory five years ago. When Nick meets the caller he learns he was part of a special forces team that specialized in murders and assassinations. Nick just happens to have a file with incriminating evidence, although he can’t remember it, so the powers that be have a vested interest in Nick not getting his memory back. This means that it is easier for the hitmen to become the hunted instead of the hunters. This also means we get some shootouts, car chases and explosions. As another aside, I love a fuel truck parked on the side of a runway. How often do you actually see a fuel truck next to a runway in real life? In the movies they are always so close to the runways and you are guaranteed something will crash into it.
- Nebraska Project – Nick finds out that his hitmen work was known as the Nebraska Project and the conspiracy to cover it up goes a lot deeper than he could have imagined. People close to him and supposedly helping him are not who they seem. In fact, many are trying to kill Nick and when he gets in a car chase, Traitor’s Heart makes the bold decision of showing an up close inside view of Nick as the car flips to see just how cattywampus Nick ends up without his seat belt on. Of course, I am sure the reason to show Nick up close is because the far shots are from another movie, but more on that later.
- Naturally More Refreshing – Bryan Genesse is not the first name that comes to mind for action stars but he never disappoints and really knocks it out of the park in Traitor’s Heart. Nick suffers from amnesia and Genesse plays Nick with a constant look of confusion on his face and some of the best crazy eyes I’ve seen. You can feel the anguish as he tries to find out what happened in his past and the shock when he discovers that Maggie knew about his past and hasn’t told him and that his father was just an actor hired to keep him in the dark about his past. Bryan Genesse was a definite plus for Traitor’s Heart.
- Slow Ending – Traitor’s Heart has what you think is an action packed ending with more helicopters and Nick jumping from said helicopters. Ignore the fact that the helicopter he is jumping from is completely different from the one shown from a distance. You would think that Nick escaping from his captors would be a satisfying ending, but Traitor’s Heart decides to end with the last ten minutes playing out as a legal drama. While it is still riveting in its own right, it kind of feels like a wet blanket on the action packed rest of the film.
Traitor’s Heart starts with riveting action and ends with whimper, albeit a satisfying resolution for Nick. There is enough good to keep you interested during the 95 minute runtime and I didn’t let the ending spoil my Traitor’s Heart experience. Bryan Genesse is the star of the film and he does yeoman’s work to make the film a good time. The South African filming location gave way to several South African actors who either had shaky American accent or were dubbed with poor performances which made Bryan Genesse’s work even more impressive. However the most impressive thing is that I have some Traitor’s Heart Bonus Bullet Points for you.
- Recycling – Traitor’s Heart recycles footage from other movies, as Nu Image is wont to do, like Cyborg Cop II and Blood Run. Those are just a couple I recognized but when the close up shots do not match the far away shots you can guarantee it is from a different movie.
- Best Scene – My favorite scene is when Nick hijacks a car from an old lady. While that is funny enough on its own, I was impressed by the old lady driving a second-generation Camaro.
- Favorite Quote – “Let’s get this dog and pony show on the road.”
- Best Exclamation for the Most Mundane Thing – “Sandwiches!!! We are going to have a great day, boy!”
