In New York, a Vietnam vet takes over Central Park after one of his fellow veterans commits suicide. The dead man left him a note detailing caches of weaponry he has hidden throughout the park, which he explains he intended to use to hijack the area in an attempt to make the city denizens aware of the plight of the veterans and downtrodden generally.
This made for cable movie stars Tommy Lee Jones. It's sort of like a collision between Taxi Driver (1976) and First Blood (1982), with a side helping of The Prince of Central Park (1977) thrown in for good measure. It sort of begins quite well with a set-up which suggests that things could get quite interesting but unfortunately in the second half it essentially turns into a tedious action movie with exploding helicopters. The basic premise behind Jones's plan also made little sense to me, yet his fellow New York citizens were clearly right behind the concept of an armed madman taking over their beloved park with automatic guns and hidden bombs as a means of socking it to The Man. The villains were one dimensional corporate types and Yaphet Kotto similarly played a predictably clichéd sympathetic policeman. It's not a total write-off by any means, as there is some entertainment here but it is strictly mid-level thrills and spills at best. It also is notable I guess for having a soundtrack by electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream, although I can't say I honestly noticed the score being especially memorable either.
This made for cable movie stars Tommy Lee Jones. It's sort of like a collision between Taxi Driver (1976) and First Blood (1982), with a side helping of The Prince of Central Park (1977) thrown in for good measure. It sort of begins quite well with a set-up which suggests that things could get quite interesting but unfortunately in the second half it essentially turns into a tedious action movie with exploding helicopters. The basic premise behind Jones's plan also made little sense to me, yet his fellow New York citizens were clearly right behind the concept of an armed madman taking over their beloved park with automatic guns and hidden bombs as a means of socking it to The Man. The villains were one dimensional corporate types and Yaphet Kotto similarly played a predictably clichéd sympathetic policeman. It's not a total write-off by any means, as there is some entertainment here but it is strictly mid-level thrills and spills at best. It also is notable I guess for having a soundtrack by electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream, although I can't say I honestly noticed the score being especially memorable either.