LIVE WIRE: HUMAN TIMEBOMB is a lightning-paced thrill-ride that suffers from an addiction to stunts and a nose-thumbing attitude toward plot.
Having busted druglord Pablo Arnaz (Frantz Dobrowsky), maverick FBI officer Parker (Bryan Genesse) gets ticked off when he's employed in a prisoner-swap for Arnaz in Cuba. While the US government preps Parker for retrieving military biochips that could transform ordinary soldiers into incredible
hulks, his temporary superior, Treasury Agent Gina (J. Cynthia Brooks) accepts the Cuban mission, so she can free her POW brother Mike (Gavin Hood). Outsmarted by Pablo's uncle, General Arnaz (Anthony Fridjohn), Parker and Gina--who are hiding a biochip--become the guests of Arnaz and US traitor
Price (Joe Lara) at Arnaz's scientific/military compound. Scrambling to build a super army, Arnaz has the chip implanted in Parker. Arnaz then unleashes his ultra-warriors at a wedding feast, where Parker kills a weak-willed government minister and Price slaughters the minister's daughter. During
a subsequent fracas, Parker's chip is knocked loose and he's freed from the control device. Therefore, Price replaces Parker with Mike for use as a human time bomb to sabotage a peace summit.
Duped into believing Price is the kamikaze messenger, Parker breaks loose, pursues Price, navigates his way through unfriendly US agents, and ultimately uses Price as a human shield until Price is gunned down. As they battle their way out onto a window ledge, Parker can't prevent Mike from falling
and exploding on the street below. After Gen. Arnaz is arrested, the peace conference proceeds without further interruption.
First the biochip is in one man, then it's transplanted into another; first Gina blames Parker for her brother's original capture, then she gets lovey-dovey. Yet, for a movie that seems to improvise its story line as it goes along, LIVE WIRE is surprisingly entertaining--implausible and hard to
follow, but fun. A lot of its devil-may-care attitude can be attributed to Genesse, who proves to be a self-deprecating comic in addition to being a good actor. What makes Genesse's comic savoir-faire so essential here is that his love interest is a real wet blanket and the high-tech surgical
scheme is a tiresome sci-fi retread. The real live wire here is the star, who performs acrobatic, athletic self-defense moves with killer instincts. (Graphic violence, extreme profanity, adult situations, substance abuse.) leave a comment
