Crash Point Zero (2001) starring Treat Williams, Hannes Jaenicke, Gary Hudson, John Beck, Julie St. Claire, Ava Fabian, Steve Franken, Susan Blakely directed by Jim Wynorski Movie Review

Crash Point Zero (2001)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Treat Williams in Crash Point Zero (2001) (aka: Extreme Limits)

A Little Above Zero

Maurice Hunter (John Beck) and his daughter Nadia (Julie St. Claire) are on a mission in Russia to recover the legendary Tesla ray which is said to have been behind the destruction of a vast wooded area in Siberia during the 1950s. But having found it buried in a cave Hunter finds himself having to use it when his guides turn out to be terrorists who try to take the powerful ray from them. Having defeated one lot of bad guys Hunter and his daughter board a plane back to America with a bunch of never will be celebrities with the intention of handing it over to the CIA. But the plane is hijacked by terrorists and ends up crashing in the mountains of Canada. With the terrorists still after the Tesla ray CIA agent Jason Ross (Treat Williams) arrives to escort Hunter.

What do you do if you are making a movie and don't have the funds to dramatize all of it? What you do is have characters talk to each other and say things which explain things just so that the audience can be spoon-fed the information which is needed to be known. That is one of the things which makes "Crash Point Zero" also known as "Extreme Limits" a poor movie which right from the opening scenes of Hunter and his daughter looking for the Tesla Ray is hard work and uninteresting.

John Beck in Crash Point Zero (2001) (aka: Extreme Limits)

Those opening scenes also set your expectations really low when we learn that this Tesla ray is not only small enough to be carried as hand luggage despite having the power to destroy the world it is, wait for it, controlled by the power of the mind. Yes we have a weapon of mass destruction which you slap on a pair of headphones, think hard and then zap things. It is terrible, almost as terrible as the bunch of generic terrorists who we meet who I can only presume were hired from the rent a terrorist department.

What else is there to say, well I will save the blushes of the actors involved as some of them are certainly better than this. But there is the use of footage from other movies including "Cliffhanger", "Narrow Margin" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight". I guess it is a case than not only did the limited budget mean we have to be spoon-fed the story but it didn't extend to covering some of the big action sequences.

What this all boils down to is that "Crash Point Zero" whilst more than a zero is not much more and is generally a low budget movie with nothing special about it or in fact anything which would make it worth watching other than maybe a fondness for some of its cast.


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