Cult Movie Challenge 2024 | 23/52 | PM Entertainment
The LA police are in a shootout with The World Revolution, a terrorist organization. Among the police is rookie cop Kurt Decoda. He goes over to Wes Strickland, who asks Kurt how he’s enjoying his first day on the job. As gunfire dies down, Wes finds a terrorist and learns about Slash’s plan to kill the governor.
Kurt and Wes meet Governor Hampton at the airport to warn him about a potential attack. They put him in a limo with them and surround themselves with cop cars. Slash, a white guy with a goatee and dreads, hijacks a city bus. It breaks through the blockade, starting another shootout. Yadda yadda yadda, Slash has Governor Hampton at gunpoint.
— Governor, it’s time to give the city back to the people! — What the hell does that mean? — It means it’s time for you to resign.
Slash kills Hampton and Wes. Kurt gets to him and disarms him as the other police cars arrive. The court sentences Slash to “holographic stasis” until his “bio-rectification program is complete.” His first hearing is in five years. Coincidentally, LA starts constructing a bio-dome to filter the city’s low-quality air. They will finish construction in five years.
Five Years Later A flying car sputters over the completed bio-dome. The news announces that California Corp, the company running the government, has ruled elections illegal. With crime rates at an all-time high, Corporate President Edward Jameson has increased police funding and issued a city-wide curfew.
The corporation restores Slash’s consciousness and projects him to his evaluation hearing. Though the corporation insists Slash is not up for release, Slash’s team hacks into the mainframe to set Slash free from the confines of the projector. With his indestructible holographic body, Slash reinstates the World Revolution. Can Kurt go into cyberspace and stop him?
— You’re sick. — Don’t you ever call me sick! I may be a little misunderstood, but I am not sick!
It takes nearly half of the film to get to this point. PM Entertainment is good at a few things: car stunts, explosions, and injecting sex scenes into as many nooks and crannies as they can. One thing they’re terrible at is action choreography. Half of this movie is shootouts. That is a lot of tedious, unmotivated action.
This movie starts hilarious — I was dying laughing. But the movie comes to a grinding halt as it tries to get through its plot.
The special effects are perfectly 90s and by far the best part of the movie. If they were more frequent throughout, I might like this more.
This sucks! I would love to do a super-cut of this to show to friends. But at an hour forty-seven, forget it.
— Oh Dakota, what are we gonna do now? — Vote.
Thoughts / Observations / Spoilers
- The version of the movie I found had a 3-minute trailer before it, which got me pretty hyped.
- Wes pulls out an illegal firearm and explosive bullets and blows up several cars.
- In case you forgot you were watching a PM Entertainment film, our introduction to Slash is him fucking someone we never see again.
- Immediately after stealing a bus, Slash crashes through a bus stop for funsies.
- One-Eye does so many costume changes. He pretends to be a vagrant, then immediately changes into a cop uniform to steal a cop car.
- A guitar wails as the bus goes under a too-low underpass and peels the top off the bus like a can opener.
- When the cops kill Slash’s girlfriend, he cries over her and makes out with her body before leaving her.
- After shooting Hampton, Slash empties his gun of bullets except for one, holding it to his head for Russian roulette. But the moment he holds the gun up, he changes his mind and says he doesn’t want to play.
- To signal Kurt’s hardened demeanor, he also has a goatee.
- William Sanderson shows up as a more annoying version of his character from Blade Runner
- Is it the World Liberation Movement or the World Revolution? They say both.
- Slash’s motivations are vague — he wants to “take back” the government, regardless of who is ruling. In the future, when a corporation runs a totalitarian regime, I’m pretty much on his side.
- Natalie has sex with holographic Kurt, and it causes all the appliances to go haywire and catch fire.
- Natalie forgot to ionize Kurt’s particles, so Slash could theoretically destroy him. At the very least, Slash is stronger than him.
- Kurt kills the Corporate President!