ecl@hocsj.UUCP (10/01/84)
THE FINAL OPTION
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Somewhere way back somebody must have made a really good British film
about a police siege on a building held by criminals. Now they take all
kinds of films on all sorts of premises and turn them into remakes. A few
seasons back a British film, VENOM, got a wide release. It was supposed to
be a horror film about a very dangerous snake. In fact, the snake was only
a minor part of the story. It was really about a kidnapping and a police
siege.
THE FINAL OPTION is supposed to be a film about an anti-nuclear group
in Britain that turns to terrorism. The film builds up tension in the first
half as the terrorists plan their act and the military tries to counter it.
The military fails to find out what the act is until it is too late.
American officials are held and will be killed if the British government
doesn't explode a nuclear device on the plains of Scotland. As soon as the
terrorists' plans are clear, the film becomes just another police siege
film. This is an entertaining film and has some good suspense, but it fails
to live up to the originality of its premise. Look in small roles for
Edward Woodward of WICKER MAN and BREAKER MORANT, Ingrid Pitt of Wicker Man
and COUNTESS DRACULA, Robert Webber of many films going back to TWELVE ANGRY
MEN, and a more obvious Richard Widmark.
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
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