Body Armor (1998), AKA The Protector or Conway is an action film starring
stunt man Matt McColm. He plays a personal protection expert, supposedly the
best there is. As the film opens, someone tries to attack the man he is
protecting. He catches the intruder easily, but his boss kills him. McColm, it
seems, has a conscience, and quits.
McColm's accountant (Clint Howard) advises him that he needs to take another
job, as he needs the money. He agrees to help his old girlfriend find a
missing scientist. This pits him against Ron Perlman, the owner of a hugely
profitable pharmaceutical company, who always seems to be the first to market
with vaccine for a new virus. Ron has a trick. He develops the virus and the
vaccine together, releases the virus, then markets the vaccine when the demand
is high enough. Taking down Perlman and his hundreds of guards wouldn't be
enough of a challenge, so he gets infected with the latest virus, thus giving him 48
hours to live unless he gets the vaccine.
McColm should stick to
stunt work, because his character was lame when not doing stunts. The supporting
cast could act, but director/writer/producer Jack Gill didn't make the best
use of them. The film was technically competent, but the story was somewhat
lacking. I never believed for a second that they would kill McColm, so I never
felt any real suspense, and a little suspense would have helped the film a lot.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
C-
Barely passable actioner.
