Not Quite Deadly Boring
Stockholm syndrome is where a hostage starts to have feelings for their captor; I wonder if there are other variances on this theme where a robber falls for the woman he is trying to dupe. If there is then it would be the right term to use for "Deadly Isolation" a made for TV movie which tries to build drama as a jewellery robber falls for the woman he is trying to dupe leading to conflict when inevitably things turn nasty. Another term to use for "Deadly Isolation" is pretty poor because this made for TV movie isn't the most original, lacks decent writing and characters and fits into that category of background movies where you end up doing other little things whilst it is on.
10 months after fleeing into the woods following a highly publicized jewellery robbery Patrick (Nicholas Lea - Vertical Limit) and Kyle (Andreas Apergis) learn that one of their team and the man who held the diamonds has died with them suspecting that his widow Susan Mandaway (Sherilyn Fenn - Just One of the Guys) has the diamonds. Determined to get them Patrick stages an accident so that Susan spots him unconscious in his boat near her island home and comes to his rescue, taking pity on him and taking him in all in order so that Patrick can find the diamonds and make away with them. The trouble is that Patrick, using the alias of Jeff, starts to fall for Susan and she for him, so when the local sheriff Kirby Grantham (Marcel Jeannin) grows suspicious of Jeff and investigates him it forces Patrick to choose.
"Deadly Isolation" starts with its most dramatic scene as we watch Patrick and Kyle chased through the woods by Police, it is nicely shot and sort of raises your expectations. Unfortunately it very quickly goes down hill as we have the unbelievable idea of Patrick tricking his way into Susan's life with a fake head injury on his boat, I say unbelievable because his explanation can be ripped to shreds. From then on "Deadly Isolation" becomes about 3 things; the bond which forms between Susan and Patrick, Kirby finding out the truth forcing him to react and of course the big action finale as Susan's life is threatened. Everything about the story is so predictable that you end up switching off from the details because none of them are important.
That means that "Deadly Isolation" should become a movie all about the characters and acting but again the actual characters are so poorly written that they end up thin and inconsistent. It is this sort of writing, the predictable storyline with the weak characters which give TV movies a bad name because if you watched this you would think twice about watching another made for TV movie. Even the casting of recognizable faces such as Sherilyn Fenn and Nicholas Lea can't salvage things because as already mentioned the writing is poor.
What this all boils down to is that "Deadly Isolation" is by no means the worst made for TV movie I have sat through but it is far from being the best. It lacks creativity and originality meaning that the end result is predictable and ordinary with the outcome being obvious to see well before it ever gets there.
