R4 DVD
Icon Film Distribution
DVD Rental December 10th
2008
Termination
Point is a solid sci-fi action film which has an intriguing plot somewhat
reminiscent of “The Philadelphia Experiment” though a little marred by low
budget special effects. Science Fiction has always explored the nature of time
and some of the more interesting plots have used this theme to their advantage.
Termination Point uses the idea of time travel and latest advances to science
to create a suspense filled tale of government conspiracy.
Caleb
Smith (Jason Priestly) works for a top-secret government organization called
SDC, his role is to protect the development of the latest scientific and military
technology. He is on leave, taking his wife and teenage daughter on a trip to
Mexico. Unbeknown to Smith, also on board is Dr.Daniel Winter (Lou Diamond
Phillips), who has stolen a teleportation device he has been working on to keep
it safe from military exploitation. Winter is temperamental and more than a
little paranoid and yet some of his fears may have a ring of truth to them.
Smith
receives an emergency call and must leave his family onboard to investigate the
threat, he promises to meet them lately. After investigating Winter he realizes
he is on the same plane as his family but sadly it is way too late to stop the
plane taking off with the device onboard. The SDC takes a heavy handed approach
and tries to force the plane to turn back and then, on presidential orders,
decides to blow it up mid air. Winter feels cornered and uses his device to try
and save the passengers. The device moves the plane to Null Space, a dimension beyond
ours, but is only able to save a small number of passengers, including two
crooks who are after the device. As the device is largely untested it has an unexpected
side effects, it opens a vortex between our world and Null Space which begins
to tear the fabric of the world apart, it begins to grow larger and larger by the
hour, swallowing towns and cities as it expands.
As
Smith searches for a second controller so he can regain control of the device
and save his family (and the earth), he has to deal with a team of assassins
hot on his heels which are working for a traitor in the SDC who plans to sell
the device to the highest bidder.
This
is a an interesting and action packed Sci-Fi tale, it has all the ingredients of
a damn good yarn including time travel, other dimensions, spies and
conspiracies and government secret operations. The acting is reasonable,
Priestly isn’t too bad as Smith, though nothing to write home about, but
Phillip’s as Dr.Daniel Winter offers a credible performance.
The
major problem is the special effects which range from passable to problematic.
The vortex looks great as does the jet, however, the opening scene when the
plane crashes and many of the scenes where buildings are being blasted apart leave
a lot to be desired.
Still,
Termination Point is enjoyable. I like Science Fiction and there isn’t enough
of it on the market today. While Termination Points has its problems, it is
still good entertainment and has more than enough to offer to make it
definitely worth seeing.