Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412220059
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"A.P.E.X." is definitely mainstream. It's another shoot-'em-up set in a desolate dystopian future. The plot has to do with time-travelling killer robots and serves mostly to show off special effects that range from fair to good. The best of them are reminiscent of "Predator" and "Robocop." True fans will note other similarities to "Damnation Alley" and "Mad Max."
Writer/director Phillip J. Roth's script doesn't follow through with all the tricky complications that the subject of time travel entails, but then these days, neither do such big-budget theatrical releases as "Time Cop." That's a shame because those details can raise so many interesting questions, and that's what the best science-fiction is all about. As director, Roth seems more comfortable with characters than either ideas or action. The pace is slow, and the big physical scenes tend to be stiffly staged.
At the same time, the acting is good throughout, and newcomer Lisa Ann Russell has the inside track for the lead if anyone decides to film "The Gabriella Sabatini Story."
The distributor calls "Love Is a Gun" a "psychological thriller," and that loose definition is probably as accurate as any. This curious little film is reminiscent of a good episode of the original "Twilight Zone." For almost an hour and a half, writer/director David Hartwell manages to maintain an eerie "what's going on?" atmosphere.
Amazingly, he manages to do it despite several moments of grand unintentional humor.
Jack Hart (Eric Roberts) has just moved to Los Angeles and landed a job as a police photographer. He suffers from vivid nightmares involving suicide. His live-in girlfriend Isabel (called Eliza Garrett in the press material and Eliza Roberts in the credits) has come with him, but she has her doubts about Jack. Not to put too fine a point on it, Jack is a rat, an immature rat, when it comes to his personal life. He dangles an official engagement in front of Isabel but refuses to take the final step.
On his first day at work, Jack finds some photographs in his locker at work - intense, violent images of a woman in a bride's dress. The pictures mysteriously fade away but Jack's interest in them does not. He manages to locate the model, Jean (Kelly Preston), and she agrees to work with him.
It doesn't take her long to make a move on Jack, and he, of course, succumbs without a fight. Then he learns that Jean is a complex and quite possibly insane young woman. For a time, he bounces between Jean and Isabel like a hormone-crazed pinball. All the while, his nightmares are getting worse.
The is-it-real-or-is-it-a-dream? gimmick has been overused in recent years but Hartwell gives it some refreshing twists. He also generates suspense by artfully intercutting between key scenes particularly at the end, which is too nutty for words. Those directorial touches elevate the film above the level of the genre - whatever genre it is.
The same cannot be said of the acting. Eliza Garrett-Roberts is fine, even when she really cuts loose. Kelly Preston is lackadaisical and unfocused, though her body double contributes enthusiastically to the love scenes.
Eric Roberts has built his career on unappealing characters, and this is one of his juiciest. In the big emotional moments he can appear so apoplectic that it looks like his face is about to fly off his head. At other times, when he's excited and confused, his resemblance to Jerry Lewis is pronounced.
In the end, "Love Is a Gun" somehow overcomes its excesses. I look forward to whatever Hartwell does next.
Riding the coattails of the theatrical success of "Star Trek Generations," several of the early episodes of the two television series have just been re-released on tape. For those who, like me, have missed "The Next Generation," the first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint," is a good introduction. It's every bit as likeable, imaginative and preachy as the original and doubtless will be as perennially popular in reruns and on tape.
To that end, several episodes of both Star Trek series and "Deep Space Nine" have been repackaged in new combinations. The Columbia House Video Library (1-800-638-2922) is selling "definitive collections" of the first two series at mail-order prices ranging from $4.95 to $19.95. Paramount, the theatrical and television producer, has put together similar packages, available in video stores at prices from $12.95 to $14.95.
Next week: Kid vids for Christmas!
New releases this week
Maverick **
Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner. Written by William Goldman. Directed by Richard Donner. Warner Home Video. 120 min. Rated PG for strong language, some violence.
This one's cute; both amusing-funny cute, and smirky-sticky cute. For most viewers, the balance will be determined by their reaction to the stars. Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner tap dance their way through set pieces - the runaway stage, the wagon train, the outlaws, the Indians, the lynching, the barroom brawl, the bank robbery, even Goldman's own bicycle scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - with apparently effortless ease for two full hours to an ending with several twists.
THE ESSENTIALS:
**A.P.E.X. Republic. 100 min. Rated R for violence, strong language.
Love Is a Gun *** Vidmark. 107 min. Rated R for violence, sexual content, brief nudity, strong language.
Star Trek The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint **1/2 Paramount. 96 min. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
by CNB