Should Have Been Called Hot Shots Part Trois
"Terminal Velocity" feels like a movie with 3 different people calling the shots, telling people to do things their way and never agreeing on anything. So firstly you have director Deran Sarafian who seems intent on making a movie full of big crowd pleasing action scenes. Then actress Nastassja Kinski seems to be playing the movie as if it was an audition for a James Bond movie, basically sexy action chick. And then there is Charlie Sheen who seems to think he is in "Hot Shots Part Trois" and plays everything for laughs. The end result is a movie which is bad but yet like so many bad movies still entertains.
Daredevil sky diver Ditch Brodie (Charlie Sheen - The Three Musketeers) finds himself taking up a beautiful sky diving virgin called Chris (Nastassja Kinski - The Day the World Ended) for her first jump, but things go wrong when he takes his eyes off her for one moment and she falls to her death. Yet something makes Ditch suspicious and as he snoops around he discovers Chris is not dead at all and is being hunted down by the Russian Mafia.
So let's take director Deran Sarafian's contribution to "Terminal Velocity" and what he has done is deliver a movie which is full of action. There is traditional action such as Ditch getting jumped by some heavies, usually from behind for no apparent reason, and then there is the spectacular which often involves falling through the air in some way or another including a memorable car scene. The action is in truth very good when it stays clear of just being cliche and some of it is spectacularly memorable. whilst doing a good job of distracting you from the story, what story there is because there isn't much at all.
Then there is Nastassja Kinski who as Chris/ Krista plays it serious as if she was a former Russian agent on the run in the midst of some great plot. And to be honest Kinski plays it well, she manages to restrain from giggling even when it all gets incredibly silly and if she was using this movie as a way to highlight her talent to be in a James Bond movie she deserved a shot.
But it is Charlie Sheen who dominates "Terminal Velocity" and seems to be playing the movie as if it was a third movie in the "Hot Shots" series. When ever he can he delivers a line in a Topper Harley manner, intentionally making it amusing and when the movie features his bare buttocks after parachuting into a party in a city you know he was having fun. And in truth "Terminal Velocity" could have been a great spoof movie even a great 3rd movie in the "Hot Shot" franchise. But in the end it becomes messy because of these 3 different elements fighting each other and whilst entertaining it is also bad.
What this all boils down to is that "Terminal Velocity" is a lot of nonsense, a really dumb movie. But if all you want is Charlie Sheen having a laugh, Nastassja Kinski being sexy and a lot of over the top action then "Terminal Velocity" works.
