Extreme Limits (2001)

[+]

Crash Point Zero
Final Crash

Tagline(s):

The struggle for survival starts now...

Nomination Year: 2023

SYNOPSIS:

This movie is ALL over the place. I'll try to summarize.

An archaeologist--scratch that, "antiques collector"--discovers Tesla's Death Ray in Siberia. Where it caused the Tanguska blast. And is controlled with the mind. But I digress. This mcguffin sparks international espionage on a charter plane while it's being transported to the States. The terrorists are barely thwarted, but the plane goes down on a mountainside in Canada. Most of the passengers survive, but are menaced by the cold, a ravenous bear, and the threat of the terrorists returning in force to kill them all.

The collector's daughter Nadia strikes out to seek help (carrying the Death Ray), and seemingly within 10 minutes finds a well-appointed abandonded vacation mansion/cabin. She calls the CIA from the working phones. And probably enjoys a soak in the hot tub while eating the caviar the owners left behind.

That's where Treat Williams comes in. Remember him, the alleged star? He isn't in the action until about halfway. But he gets to the mansion/cabin, only to be attacked by the terrorists and his partner killed! How did they know?

Of course, there was a mole in the CIA working for the terrorists. As all but the main-cast plane survivors meet grisly ends--well, one gets mauled by a guy-in-a-bear-suit, the others head out like the girl but somehow get lost for a full day and are killed in a stupid avalanche--Treat and Nadia try to get the Death Ray over the border into the States, but the main baddie catches up with them!

Treat sets Tesla's Self Destruct and blows him up. And the Death Ray. And (seemingly) half of Canada.

They kiss. And by "they" I mean the secondary characters Barbara and Maurice (who were kinda really the main characters in the nearly-entirely-separate B-story). Treat and Nadia do not kiss. The End.

Oh, and is this the part where I mention that nearly ALL the big-action sequences are literally stolen from other movies? The plane crash from Cliffhanger, the crazy car chase through the Christmas parade from Narrow Margin, and the bridge/border/truck explosion from The Long Kiss Goodnight. Not "similar"--THE ACTUAL FOOTAGE. Yeesh.

Bryan Cassidy

Smithee Award Nominations

"Wanna Run That By Me Again?"
Radiation Zone Wisdom: The Child Is Father to the Woman After deciding to camp in the high-radiation zone, one of the guides tells our heroine: "The child is father to the woman." Uh...what? They tried to be pithy--but ended up Smithee...

Worst Science
Tesla's Mind-Powered Death Ray Caused Tanguska "Tesla's Folly" uses electrical impulses from his brain to cause enough destruction to obliterate cities, because thoughts are energy. Suuuurrre.

"Cutting Butter With A Chainsaw"
Burning Your Bridges Behind You Nadia rescues Ross from the bad guy, but not before Ross has set the Death Ray to self-destruct. Boy, that Nick Tesla sure knew how to make 'em. BOOOOOOOOOOOM! Bridge blows up! Cars fly everywhere! Flames! Wreckage! There goes Canada! It's even funnier to note that most of this is the literal same footage from The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Inane Dialogue
Will They Be Safe? Some of the survivors opt to leave the plane. "Will they be safe?" asks the girl? "Oh, yeah, they'll be fine." Bear.

Acting Appropriately Stupid
Dumb TV Bitch Starts Avalanche They're lost on the mountain, but here comes a rescue helicopter! To make sure she's seen (by both the copter and her TV fans), Jessica takes up the gun and starts shooting into the air...starting an avalanche that does a Total Party Wipe.	Sorry, this clip has not yet been made available!

Directors

Director	Claim to Fame
Jim Wynorski	Director of such films as Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade, and the Bare Wench Project series, he also finds time to direct more mainstream fare...such as Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Fire Down Below, and Camel Spiders. Oh, and this.

Cast

Actor	Character	Claim to Fame
Treat Williams	Agent Jason Ross	Rugged, big-nosed action star B-lister in many, many B-list action flicks. You've seen him. He's been in Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead (Critical Bill), Hair (Berger), The Phantom (Xander Drax), and Deep Rising (John Finnegan).
John Beck	Dr. Maurice Hunter	He's been in a lot--from TV parts in the '60s through 2000s to parts in movies like Audrey Rose, Moonpie in Rollerball, and Timecop 2.
Hannes Jaenicke	Julian Beck	Prolific German actor. Makes a good bad guy (not because he's German--I think that needs to be said). Was Agent Hartmann in Half Past Dead and Bert Myers on "Highlander: The Raven."
Gary Hudson	Captain Ed Lorenzo	Bargain basement Canadian martial artist. Steve in Road House; Nick Sharkey in Indecent Behavior; Elena's Ex-Husband in Fifty Shades Freed.
Julie St. Claire	Nadia Hunter	Maria on "A.J.'s Time Travelers." Tawny Richards on "Santa Barbara." Sacca in Ballistic.
Steve Franken	Stuart Elliott	Played kinda goofy characters in sci-fi flicks when younger; a mish-mosh of TV later. Was on 30 episodes of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." And was in Westworld as a technician.
Susan Blakely	Barbara Esmond	Been in lots, from Patty in The Towering Inferno to Vivian Ashe in Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Was Julie Prescott on the "Rich Man, Poor Man" series.
Richard Riehle	Alan Douglas	Portly and walrus-mustachioed, he has a vast Hollywood resume--you've seen him. Still best- known as the "Jump to Conclusions" guy from Office Space and the "Would You Like To Change Your Bullshit Story" sheriff in The Fugitive.


[Smithee Film Gallery]		[Return to Lobby]