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Fourteen men and women kick,
shoot, dive, punch, and literally fall for the chance to work
with one of the legends of American action cinema, Joel
Silver, for a made-for to be aired later.
Recaps by Gordon Pepper, GSNN |
FACT FILE:
Host: Tina Malave
Casting Directors: Victoria Burrows, Scot Boland, Josh
Einsohn, Marki Costello
Creators: Gary R. Benz, Michael Branton
EP: Joel Silver, Gary R. Benz, Cris Abrego, Rick Telles,
Packager: Warner Bros. TV, Silver Pictures TV, GRB Entertainment,
NBC Studios
Airs: Wedesdays at 8:00pm ET on NBC (replays Fridays
at 11:00pm ET on GSN) |
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"Bet Your Life" - August 4
We recap the TV shows that you happen to miss. You all
know this. Tonight, however, we give you a new slogan -
we cover the movie, so you don't have to watch it.
What am I talking about? The movie "Bet Your Life",
which is the vehicle for the winners of The Next Action
Star. This could be decent - or it could royally suck.
It does have Billy Zane as a lead role, so it's not
going to be too horrible - but you have to wonder what
the heck he has been up to and why this is the best
thing that he can get.
Anyway, Sean's character is Sonny Briggs, an ex-NFL
player who owes $20,000 to the Vegas Mob. He picks up
Carmine Flowers (Corinne, who looks like she's Caucasian
- Michael Jackson, anyone?) who is working for Salvatore
- the guy who is looking for Sean's money. After
ditching Carmine and avoiding a helicopter who shoots a
man right next to him, Sean doesn't find Salvatore, but
he finds a different type of gambler named Joseph
(Zane), who offers him a deal - if he can survive for 24
hours, the debt will be removed and he will earn $2.4
million - $100,000 for each hour survived. Sounds easy
enough - until Sonny realizes that the guy that took the
bullet for him took the same bet - and lost by ten
minutes. Sonny takes a set of rules that Joseph has
given him, and I realize that we are here for a
retelling of "The Most Dangerous Game" - Vegas-style.
After a 15 minute head start, the chase is on. Sonny
takes a limo ride by his best friend (Chuck) to the
airport. It doesn't take too long for Zane's character
to find Sonny - because Joseph put in tracers in Sonny's
jacket. Joseph breaks through the limo's windshield and
starts choking the life out of Sonny. Joseph almost
succeeds in ending it right there - until Carmine finds
both of them and starts shooting. Everyone gets out
unscathed, but Joseph wants to find out who the gun
woman is, as he doesn't like surprises.
Sonny gets to the airport and gets a ticket to
Cleveland. Right behind him is Carmine, and right behind
her is Joseph, who will take his own private flight. On
the plane, Sonny runs into a weapons enthusiast who has
his own shop. Carmine spots him - but she can't do much
in a plane. Sonny buys off the guns from the dealer in
exchange for his leather jacket - the jacket that Joseph
hid tracers in.
On the way out, Sonny runs into a new taxi driver, who
is played by JARED (the guy who came in the runner-up
position). Welcome to showbiz, kid. Corinne follows on a
freshly stolen Harley while Joseph takes to the air via
helicopter. Joseph blows up the taxi - with the guy who
took Sonny's jacket. Joseph blows up the taxi, but
spares the weapons guy's life, while taking the sensor
out of his jacket.
Sonny calls up Chuck in Vegas and has him get info on
the Tower Casino - the place where Joseph's group set up
shop and waited for him. Meanwhile, Carmine finds Sonny
and the cab that Jared is driving. Jared's cab fares
just as well as the other cab as it gets destroyed by a
train. Fortunately, Jared and Sonny both get out of the
taxi before the train hits, and Sonny gives Jared
$10,000 worth of consolation money. I wonder how much
that cost Jared in real life...
Sonny gets some new transportation as he buys a camper.
Carmine is quickly on his tail - and Sonny spots the
helicopter, making him wonder if there's anyone that
doesn't know that he's in Cleveland. The camper doesn't
survive Joseph and his mini-rocket launcher, but Sonny
does, and he gets out of there right before Carmine gets
to him.
Next method of transportation to destroy? A boat, as
Sonny tried to find one that works. He doesn't get a
boat - but he finds a water hose and uses it to flush
Joseph out of the copter and into the river.
He gets out of there - but runs right into Carmine. He
tries to talk his way out of it, but she isn't buying
what he's selling and she starts smacking him around
like her aunt Sally. At gunpoint, he comes clean to
Carmine - and shows her the 'rules of the game' sheet
that he still has. She says that she will protect him -
for 50%. He argues for 30%, but Joseph shows up (with a
truck that he bought by one of the fisherman at the
river) and there's no time to haggle.
The scene next goes to a drawbridge, as Sonny escapes
both Carmine and Joseph. Carmine speeds past Joseph, hot
on the trail, while Sonny finds the tracer in his pants
and destroys it. Joseph car jacks a juveniles car, pops
a few wheelies, and then spots Sonny, who now moves into
a waste-carrying truck. Joseph is too quick and gets on
the truck, then gets to the front and starts choking out
Sonny again. He shakes Joseph off - but Carmine is right
there and starts blasting holes in the truck. That stops
Sonny, who then gets dragged out of the truck and has
the stuffing knocked out of him. Joseph finds both of
them and threatens to kills them both, but Sonny shoots
the waste in the truck and makes a big explosion. He
then runs past a dazed Joseph and Carmine.
Joseph recollects his thoughts and sets the drawbridge
up to that Joseph can't escape. They then have a fight
on the bridge, and while that's happening, the police
show up and override the drawbridge to go down. The
sudden movement causes both Joseph and Sonny to fall on
the burnt out truck. - and right into the path of
Carmine, who has them pegged, until Sonny grabs her and
jumps into the river with her. Joseph escapes via
helicopter.
Joseph figures out that the river leads to the water
sewage plant. Joseph and Carmine argue - and while doing
that, Carmine reads the rules. The last rule says that
Sonny has to be back at the Tower Casino before the 24
hours are up - or else the bet is forfeit. Joseph
interrupts their tea party and the chase is on yet
again.
This time, Joseph gets ambushed, and they take him at
gunpoint to his private airplane, leaving his goons at
the water treatment plant. Meanwhile, on t he plain,
Sonny tells Chuck to meet him at the airport, saying
that it's the last thing that he'll ever ask. Well, he
may be right, as Joseph's goons find Chuck and surround
him in the limo.
The limo is there to pick Carmine, Joseph and Sonny up,
but Sonny sees that there are goons in the limo and we
get another fire fight where no one gets hit. The limo
does get Sonny and Carmine, but they now are down to 58
minutes. Sonny makes the introductions and fill Chuck in
as to what is going on.
They get to the hotel with 12 minutes to spare - but the
front is guarded. They decide to take the back route -
but instead of going the way that got the guy killed in
the beginning, they use a window washer set up. Four
minutes left - and they get to the top of the casino.
Joseph shows up in the helicopter, but they evade that
and break a window to get into the building.
Joseph is right on their tails, and it looks like he
catches them with 1:24 left, but he runs out of bullets
and Sonny and Joseph move into the first room where the
betting started. Joseph and Sonny get into one last
fight, and this time, Sonny is on the losing end. Joseph
holds Sonny at knife point when... time runs out. Sonny
wins. Joseph throws him over the side and into... a
movie theater? Apparently, this was all on
closed-circuit TV and the 'patrons' sitting down are all
gamblers, wagering on whether or not he'd survive the 24
hours.
Joseph gives Sonny and Carmine an offer to double their
money. Sonny says "Never in a million years" and despite
Joseph saying that they can't change who they are, Sonny
punches him out and tells him that as a hunter, he is a
lousy shot. They walk over Josephs dazed body on the way
out. End of movie.
My take? I like Billy Zane, and like his role in Demon
Knight, he plays a convincing charismatic sleazeball. I
like Corinne, and although Jared, who's much more
vulnerable, would have probably been the better choice
for the lead role, Sean was pretty good. The lighting
and editing, however, is awful, and you have to wonder
if Mr. Silver could have spend more money on a better
production company. IN addition to this, only one person
dies (at the beginning of the movie) and you have to
wonder if Joel wanted a kindler, gentler movie.
Ironically, the acting doesn't doom the film, the
so-called 'backers' do. This is not rotten movie, but
the surprisingly bad visuals and sloppy camera work drop
this to a run of the mill feature, which gets a run of
the mill C+ from me.
Though I won't bet my life that this is the last time we
will see this series, it looks very likely. Although it
is sad, they did themselves in, and I won't necessarily
be mourning the demise if the pay off is going to be a
movie that is budget-hampered. I'll be mourning the end
of the recaps, though, and I hope you enjoyed reading
them. |
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Previous Episodes
June 14 - Casting Special
June 15 - Hollywood
June 22 - Method Acting
June 29 - Special Ops
June 30 - Leap of Faith
July 7 - The Captives
July 14 - Watery Grave
July 21 - Next Kiss
July 28 - Score to Settle
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