Too many threads weaving too many fractured scenes in a dissembled conglomerate of randomly disparate pieces of meaningless dialogue make this a muddled concoction of a cinema buffet of tasteless morsels more of a snack for a buffoon.
This mixture of Die Hard and Leave It to Beaver leaves much to be desired as action in one place seems so unnecessarily unrelated to the main action in the other. The threat of needing to kill an entire family by blowing up their home with them in it over a mere collection of gold coins does not equate with the need to blow up a building in Die Hard along with all the hostages for 700 million dollars in bearer bonds.
The bad guys at their best are exaggerations of futility and at their worst are unbelievable as weak-minded antagonists. Melinda Clark would have been better cast as Cat Woman and Derek Hamilton as a schizophrenic, psychotic misanthrope all mouth and no menace. Mel Harris does a credible job as a caring parent but does not show enough of the fear that would be more natural for a parent in that situation with pistols aimed at them in a continuous "I wanna shoot you but won't" series of idle threats.
Cameron Bowen as Nick is the MacGyver of the family with unique and fearless ingenuity despite his seemingly superfluous asthma while Michelle Jackson portrays one of more credibility had she been in Ferris Buhler's Day Off. As for Fred lane, he might as well have been MIA since he had no meaningfully significant role other than to be there as a reference.
The shift from scene to scene, house to house, set to set makes this more of a bad soap than a good action-less mystery. The title is a misnomer but it is certainly better than the original, Dynamite, because with either one, as a success, certainly all blows up in their collective faces.
This mixture of Die Hard and Leave It to Beaver leaves much to be desired as action in one place seems so unnecessarily unrelated to the main action in the other. The threat of needing to kill an entire family by blowing up their home with them in it over a mere collection of gold coins does not equate with the need to blow up a building in Die Hard along with all the hostages for 700 million dollars in bearer bonds.
The bad guys at their best are exaggerations of futility and at their worst are unbelievable as weak-minded antagonists. Melinda Clark would have been better cast as Cat Woman and Derek Hamilton as a schizophrenic, psychotic misanthrope all mouth and no menace. Mel Harris does a credible job as a caring parent but does not show enough of the fear that would be more natural for a parent in that situation with pistols aimed at them in a continuous "I wanna shoot you but won't" series of idle threats.
Cameron Bowen as Nick is the MacGyver of the family with unique and fearless ingenuity despite his seemingly superfluous asthma while Michelle Jackson portrays one of more credibility had she been in Ferris Buhler's Day Off. As for Fred lane, he might as well have been MIA since he had no meaningfully significant role other than to be there as a reference.
The shift from scene to scene, house to house, set to set makes this more of a bad soap than a good action-less mystery. The title is a misnomer but it is certainly better than the original, Dynamite, because with either one, as a success, certainly all blows up in their collective faces.