Spoiler
(1998)
Director: Cameron Van
Daacke
Cast: Gary Daniels, Meg Foster, Bryan Genesse
Spoiler is one of the most depressing
movies I've ever
seen. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad movie - there are many
good
movies that happen to be given that label. One of my favorite movies is
Seconds,
a drama with science fiction overtones starring Rock Hudson, that has
been
called one of the most depressing movies ever made. Spoiler,
however, is different from almost all depressing movies by it not
really
being a drama, but more of a science fiction tale with action/adventure
overtones. Plus, the star of the movie is B movie martial arts star
Gary
Daniels - not exactly the kind of person you'd expect to be in a
downbeat
movie such as this. Especially since his martial art talents are pretty
much ignored here.
The plot: In the distant future, Roger Mason (Daniels),
an innocent
man, is unjustly imprisoned in the super prison fortress "The Icebox",
and subjected to enormous mental abuse. He escapes from prison, and is
involved in one or two vignettes along the way. He is recaptured, and
subjected
to more abuse. If you repeat the preceding several times, you've sort
of
described the plot of Spoiler, and essentially why Spoiler
is so depressing. Mason gets so close to his goal so many times, yet
cannot
seem to succeed. Nowhere in this movie is there the least bit of hope,
or any light at the end of the tunnel. Mason lives in one of the
cruelest,
most harsh fantasy worlds in science fiction. And he is not just being
sent back to prison, but occasionally he is frozen for a length of
time,
so his beloved daughter (who he is trying to get to) is getting older
while
he stays the same age, which contributes to the feeling of isolation
and
abandonment prevalent in the movie.
Knowledgeable film buffs will see a connection between Spoiler
and
the earlier Demolition Man around both these movies
freezing
their prisoners. And like Demolition Man, there's even
rehabilitation
of the frozen prisoners by teaching them to knit. There's a lot of
derivative
material in Spoiler; the most obvious one
is Total
Recall, where the lighting and the sets here heavily echo that
earlier movie. Unfortunately, the movie is hampered with a ludicrously
low budget; though the set designer obviously squeezed every last penny
out of the few dollars he had, the sets still have a malnourished look
to them. As a result, director Van Daake darkens these sets
considerably
- or else try to recreate the future in existing locations, which
doesn't
quite work. We see what is obviously a back alley in present day L.A.,
a modern subway car, and other quite familiar locations. This movie is
so painfully cheap, it hurts the movie considerably. But surprisingly,
a couple of spots in the movie have computer-drawn cityscapes with
futuristic
flying cars. The graphics in these scenes are outstanding, and could
have
been placed in a big budget movie. Why did the movie spend all that
money
on these quick shots, instead of devoting more money to the rest of the
movie? If more of the budget had gone to the other scenes, the movie on
a whole would have been better.
The movie may be cheap and derivative, but in fairness,
it does have
some interesting material. There's occasionally a memorable scene - one
scene has some escaping prisoners must run down a freezing cold 30 foot
long corridor. It's so cold, they must run that distance with their
eyes
closed and while holding their breath. Scenes like
this are
novel, and they do add some tension or interest. There are also some
in-jokes,
as when a helpful person tells our hero to, "Go across 110th Street."
Though
in-jokes like this do seem strange being in such a downbeat movie -
perhaps
they were placed there so the movie wouldn't be totally depressing.
Scattered
throughout the movie are several cameos, among them Meg Foster, Timothy
Bottoms, and Jeffrey Combs. Combs wisely was given the best and longest
cameo, as "Captain", a policeman hunting down the hero near the end.
Which
brings up the question of Gary Daniels' performance. The best thing to
say is that he does the best with what he's given. Keep in mind that in
previous movies, he worked best by staying quiet and martial-arting
people.
So he is very miscast in a movie such as this, where there is mostly
talking
and running, instead of real action. There are two fight scenes in the
movie, but they are so ineptly choreographed and directed, no
self-respecting
B movie fan would call them martial arts fights. Daniels' character is
also very poorly written; we learn in the movie that he was originally
sentenced to only one year in prison. So why did he escape, with such
little
time to go? The movie never gives us a satisfactory answer to this
question. Seconds told
us a lot about the central character's life, so we emphasized with him,
and felt his sorrow. In Spoiler, though most of the
blame
falls on the system, one can't but help wonder if Daniels must share a
good part of the blame. And that reduces the sympathy we have for him.
Though I earlier said that Spoiler was a
depressing movie,
I didn't say if it was either a "good" downer or a "bad" downer. It's
actually
a rare movie for me - a movie that falls smack in the very middle
between
"good" and "bad". The movie is cheap, derivative, and depressing, yes.
But it's a movie that I don't think I'll ever forget; it's gutsy
downbeat
nature is actually a breath of fresh air in the made for video genre,
it
has some unforgettable moments, and it's never boring. So it's not a
terrible
movie, but it's not a movie that most B movie addicts will find
attractive.
I'm confident there will be some people who will really enjoy this
movie,
but you won't find me listed among them.
Also reviewed by: Cold Fusion Video
UPDATE: I received this letter from director
Jeff Burr:
"Just a note to say how much I enjoyed reading the
review of Spoiler.
I agree with almost everything you said, esp. the casting of Gary
Daniels.
He is a great guy, a good action actor, but completely wrong for this
role.
He was cast literally at the last second, and I met him for the first
time
on the set on the first day of shooting. But thank you for
noticing
the effort that was put in the film. The budget was
ridiculous...around a
half-million or so, shot in 18 days. But we really tried to give
it maximum atmosphere...all of it had to be shot in a warehouse in
Burbank,
using cannibalized sets from two other movies. (Spoiler
was
the third of three movies shot back to back. The others were Convict
782 and Absolution.) I was more or less removed from
the
film right after shooting...hence the pseudonym. I never really
got
to put together a cut of the movie. The producer had wanted to
direct
the movie, but couldn't due to schedule...so he ending up trying to
direct
in post. He did pay attention to an editing memo I sent him (ala
Welles' Touch of Evil) Anyway, thanks for writing about
it,
and if you want another unknown film to check out, see The Offspring,
with Vincent Price. My first movie, made for about
$350,000 but with a lotta love."
Check
for availability on Amazon (DVD)
See also: Cross Mission, A*P*E, Dark Planet
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