Dead Fire (1997)

Nice effects though.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

DEAD FIRE is a lot like UNDER SIEGE, only DEAD FIRE takes place on a space station with an evil madman played by Matt Frewer that takes control of the station and plots to take over the world but there is only one man that stands in his way.Basically if you watch this film today you'll forget about it tomorrow, it doesn't really have much going for it in terms of originality, if you've seen UNDER SIEGE you'll be able to predict how this film plays out, the only original part is that it plays off in space.In terms of the acting leading man Colin Cunningham plays a typical action hero (nothing special there) Matt Frewer plays a typical villain thats hellbent on world domination and you can see he has fun doing it, and C. Thomas Howell is actually a good comedy relief.In short its nothing special, see it once and after wards you won't really care to much about it.

"Come on, we have places to go and people to kill", the villain says once. A bad guy has got to do what a bad guy has got to do. The movie would have been better if it didn't have a simple good vs bad situation, but maybe scientists with different theories on how to save the world and we wouldn't know who's right. Regrettably, "Dead Fire" has no shades of gray, it gives us a very simple plot a la Seagal's "Under Siege": bad guys take command over a space station, but overlook one guy who was in the Cryo Section. He gets a gun and hunts down the enemies one by one. Yawn? Not quite, it actually was fast enough to keep me awake.Effects weren't bad, except that the falling d-o-w-n scene in the elevator shaft looked silly. Lots of audible explosions in airless space as usual, and you needn't be a scientist to find loads of rubbish, from the deeply frozen people you can wake up within a minute to the guy who screams and waves for 10 seconds in outer space without a suit. Why can't they ever get a few technical facts right? The cast: Colin Cunningham (went on to "Stargate") plays the hero, Monika Schnarre is his charming girlfriend. Matt Frewer must have watched Marlon Brando too often, he tries to play the villain in a rather exotic style that is bewildering sometimes, the director should have slowed him down a bit. C Thomas Howell as Tucker is good fun - after Tucker is unfrozen, he becomes the wrong man in the wrong place, but at the right time. Rachel Hayward and Lucie Zednícková play the bad girls perfectly and make the whole story more interesting. In the end, I didn't regret I watched "Dead Fire", but it's not like I feel the need to recommend it.

If you enjoy B-movie action and sci-fi flicks, this one is not bad. It's got some decent villains, and it certainly doesn't take itself too seriously. Importantly, I was not distracted by any overtly ridiculous plot-lines (other than our hero spending two or three screen minutes under supposedly deathly cold water).This review is principally provided to spotlight a tidy performance by the heretofore unknown Rachel Hayward, as Col. Alexa M. Stant. She plays the role of a colonel with an agenda with suitable campiness, and just the right edge. She was by far the most watchable character on-screen. She managed with aplomb the caraciture role of the sexy villain who simmered and barked most of the film, with occasional emotional swings. Without question, she was the most charismatic female in the film.With Hayward's entertaining performance, and other over-the-top campiness by C. Thomas Howell, it's an enjoyable romp--presupposing, of course, an appreciation for B-movies and not over-thinking the movie.

At least that's how I answered my sister when she walked into the room.I watched this movie because my brother-in-law is a sci-fi buff and that's what he was playing the night I was over. I enjoy good sci-fi. This is not good sci-fi.Movies like this would explain why we should go to war against Canada; ala "South Park". Predictable plot and dialog, acting that alternates between sad and laughable. Don't waste your time.