If you're looking for a Saturday night action flick with a lot of stuff blowing up, martial arts and a bunch of one-liners you're in the wrong place. However if you came seeking a slow burn thriller with slightly more story and good performances, 'Sabotage' delivers.
Michael Bishop (Mark Dacascos) a disgraced former Navy Seal finds himself doing private bodyguard work three years after a failed mission in Bosnia. When Sherwood (Tony Todd) an assassin from his past targets his clients, Bishop gets thrust back into a world he thought he had left behind. Louise Castle (Carrie-Anne Moss) the local FBI agent in charge gets swept up in the dark proceedings of murder & lies.
The proceedings have a down to earth feel and generally satisfy. It never goes over the top, gets overly complicated or goes off the rails. There's the standard bit of investigating and getting to the bottom of things with a chess angle played out both literally and figuratively.
Dacascos is in top form as a level headed ex-military man with skills and smarts. Willing and able to use a gun, but more than apt to use his brain first. Carrie-Anne Moss is tough, but vulnerable. Happily there's no cliché romance subplot. Tony Todd is effective in his sparse appearances as a mercenary for hire who relishes his job, dislikes amateurs. Supporting players in Graham Greene & John Neville have interesting angles to play and are just great all around actors who've appeared in a bunch of fine films. With great screen presence they elevate the somewhat pedestrian dialog given to them.
I'll acknowledge the contrived nature of the story. The sequence of events, how all the same players came together past and present, but this was a hidden gem for me in the 90's. Much like another Dacascos title - 'Drive' - but for different reasons. This Canadian filmed action trip won't appeal to everyone and didn't make a blimp when it was originally released, but I enjoyed it.
