Armed Response: Wesley Snipes and Anne Heche Fight an A.I. Program

It is probably always a bad idea to give artificial intelligence programs nicknames with religious connotations. This immersive biometric truth-seeking “lie-detector” AI facility is often referred to as a “Temple.” Wesley Snipes and his team of commandos might just get some religion when they are trapped inside it in John Stockwell’s Armed Response (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

Gabe Arcona designed the Temple systems (too well), but he has been on a boozy extended leave after the horrible death of his daughter. He is not over it, but team leader Isaac needs to pull him back in anyway. A team guarding a Temple has gone dark, so Arcona will have to figure out what happened. Of course, they find the entire detachment has been murdered, under baffling circumstances.

The only survivor is a known terrorist discovered in the isolation chamber, but he is just as clueless as they are. Given he is driven more by opportunism than religion, freelance warlord might be a more apt description, but terrorism is the crime he is wanted for. Yet, for some reason, the Temple interfered with the TSA facial recognition programs, paving his way to the secret installation.

Before too long, strange goings-on start to rattle Isaac and his team. Arcona also begins to suspect something not so on the up-and-up transpired with the squad during his absence. His ill-concealed suspicions cause friction, particularly with the knuckle-dragging Brett, played by professional wrestler Seth Rollins, which gives you an idea of his persona.

John Stockwell is a slickly competent genre director who has helmed legitimately entertaining but not exactly prestigious films like Kid Cannabis, In the Blood, and the body-slamming reboot, Kickboxer: Vengeance. He most likely brought the film in on-time and under-budget, but even he has trouble balancing the films guns-and-brawn action with its uncanny elements, especially as the latter become increasingly illogical and nonsensical.

It is a good thing Snipes is on the one-sheet or else we might forget he is in this movie. Apparently, he is the Picard of swaggering, testosterone-charged commandos instead of a Kirk. For what it’s worth, Dave Annable is surprisingly grounded and convincing as the grief-stricken Arcona. That really is Anne Heche portraying Riley, the sensitive commando, but she plays it straight and fully committed. Snipes is in there someplace, while Rollins thugs it up, to the hilt.

Throughout the first two acts, Response is rather entertaining, in a meathead kind of way. Unfortunately, the big secret Isaac and company are hiding casts our courageous intelligence officers and military service personnel in a highly unflattering light, which is a disappointment, especially considering it was co-produced buy WWE Studios and Gene Simmons’ shingle. You would think if anyone would be sympathetic to the service and sacrifice of the CIA and U.S. military, it would be pro wrestling and the Israeli-American co-leader of KISS. Alas, the resulting film is no Kickboxer: Vengeance. Ultimately quite disappointing, Armed Response opens today (8/4) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

The Recall: Wesley Snipes, Alien Abductee

If aliens were abducting people, you’d think they would opt for the best possible specimens or at least the representatively average. Instead, they seem to have a preference for moronic teenagers. The aliens are back again and they are perfectly welcome to take the five bickering teens spending a weekend by the lake in Mauro Borrelli’s The Recall (trailer here), which is now playing in New York and on iTunes.

Rob dragged mopey Charlie along on this weekend getaway hoping his girlfriend Kara’s best pal Annie will help take his mind off the now deceased love of his life. If things go according to plan, the vaguely metrosexual Brendan will be the fifth wheel, but he is obsessed with taking Bigfoot photos. He’ll be able to take UFO pictures instead.

As it turns out, the aliens chose this weekend to reappear and they are making no secret of it. There is even a War of the Worlds-looking tentacle ship hovering above their lake. However, it is probably not there for them. The twitchy former astronaut-abductee squatting in a nearby hunting cabin is more likely the one they are after. However, “the Hunter” is ready to take the fight to them. He might even help the obnoxious kids survive, just to spite the aliens.

The only reason to watch Recall is to take a gander at the crazy act Wesley Snipes perfected, presumably to safely survive his stint in Federal prison. As the Hunter, he is quite an impressive anti-social mess, but he still has the action chops. If the film were told from his POV, it would have been exponentially more interesting. Instead, we get the tedious manipulation of Charlie’s dead girlfriend (you can already guess what happened to her, right?) and slimy Rob’s ridiculously misplaced alpha male aggression.

In some markets, Recall is screening in the Barco Escape format, which utilizes three-screen projection techniques, sort of like Cinerama or the “Triptych” finale in Abel Gance’s 1927 silent masterpiece, Napoleon. Yet, this is such a derivative narrative, featuring such blockheaded characters, you would hardly want to immerse yourself in its world. It is nice to know Snipes can still mix it up, but his efforts are wasted in this parade of alien abduction clichés Not recommended, The Recall is currently playing in New York at the Village East.