Cold Vengeance (2000)

Just another below average direct to TV movie

Josh Barker plays Jimmy Coy, a criminal who is thinking of going straight. He starts becoming very cautious about the jobs he takes, and this causes problems with his crew and the people who hire him. His newest mission is to blow up an ice skating facility so the owner can get the insurance money. The other reason the owner wants to blow it up is because his daughter hasn't produced a top skater. So obviously this is where the movie starts to go south. The skating rink becomes the main location of the movie now, and nobody seems to notice all these odd looking people roaming around everyday. Bryan Genesse plays one of Jimmy's 2 best friends. He is hungry for some action, and can't understand why Jimmy doesn't want to finish this job. He turns into a traitor and just like every scene of the movie, it becomes a total bore. It's not that the director doesn't set it up, it's just that when Genesse finally does go to the other side, nothing really happens. He doesn't establish any sort of relationship with the new thugs he is hanging with, and the director just seems to go through every scene with no real idea of where the movie is headed.

This movie is completely pointless. Jimmy shows up at the skating rink every day and when asked why he is there, he basically just says he likes to watch skating. To me, that sounds a little weird for a 25 year old guy. Then you have Darren Shahlavi who puts on the worst acting performance possible. Part of the reason Bloodmoon was so good was because Shahlavi was trying his hardest to be a good actor and it fit into the cheesiness of the movie. His acting doesn't work whatsoever in a serious movie. The way he delivers his lines would probably cause most people to turn the movie off right away and give it a 1 star rating. I would give this movie a 1 star rating if Josh Barker and Bryan Genesse weren't in it. Genesse has been solid in the few movies I have seen him in, and Josh Barker I had never seen before. His acting did not blow me away, but he looks like he has serious potential. I wouldn't mind seeing him in some better movies.

The only reason to wath this is for the final fight (also the only fight). I wish I would have just fast forwarded to the last 10 minutes. This fight surprised me big time. It's kinda done Cradle 2 the Grave (Widescreen Edition) style where they cut in and out of 3 different fights. The fight between the women isn't very good, Josh Barker vs. Darren Shahlavi is a bit above average, and Bryan Genesse vs. some Asian guy is outstanding. The action director tried to make the 2 male fights very real and hard hitting, and the Bryan Genesse fight succeeds.

I would only recommend this to fans of Josh Barker and Bryan Genesse, but I can't imagine those fan clubs being too big.

2/5 July 1, 2007

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