Galvanized by slick special effects and some suspenseful stalking sequences, ZERO TOLERANCE is an authoritatively directed potboiler. Although the revenge plotline is just an excuse to play shooting gallery with an assortment of well-deserved targets, this mortality-rate booster boasts
enough verve to satiate action fans.
After surviving a sneak attack on him and fellow feds as they transport druglord Raymond Manta (Titus Welliver) out of a Mexican jail, Jeff Douglas (Robert Patrick) becomes an uwitting pawn of the White Hand drug cartel. Erroneously informed that his already slain family is being held hostage,
Jeff turns one-time courier for this illegal-substance conglomerate whose CEOs include Kowlaski (Miles O'Keeffe), Vitch (Mick Fleetwood), La Fleur (Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter), and Lee (Gustav Vintas). After surviving a car-bombing in Las Vegas, Jeff learns the truth about his family and becomes a
renegade avenger, crusading to exterminate the five narcotics masterminds.
Officially censured but unofficially aided by concerned agent Megan (Kristen Meadows), the loose cannon steals FBI files and kicks off his one-man clean-up campaign with Mr. Vitch in Las Vegas. In New Orleans, Jeff sabotages La Fleur's liquid-heroin deal with a factory fire before finishing him
off in full view of a satellite hook-up watched by Manta and Kowalski at their hide-out. Finally, despite the consequences, the now-outlaw Jeff polishes off Lee in his heavily guarded mansion. After Megan fortuitously arrives to speed up his getaway, the couple is apprehended by local cops and
then ambushed by Manta's men.
Although Megan is captured and taken away in a helicopter, Jeff momentarily flees. Tired of the whining Kowalski, edgy Manta snuffs his partner out at his complex but endures a savage beating from Jeff, who rescues Megan. Under arrest at FBI headquaters, Manta grabs a gun and takes a spectacular
skyscraper-high fall to his death after a final tussle with ex-federal agent Jeff.
Connoisseurs of revenge sagas will lap up this expertly produced but thoroughly run-of-the-mill exercise in pre-emptive crime prevention. Flashily photographed and snappily edited, this actioner benefits from bone-crunching mano a mano combat, supple staging of careening car chases, and enough TNT
explosions to keep demolition devotees purring. Among the movie's missteps are its cartoonish depiction of villains whose depravity is advertised in twinkling neon, and badly-timed flashbacks that scuttle suspense while failing to humanize Patrick's performance. And while Patrick bristles with a
no-nonsense sangfroid demeanor, he emerges as a contemporary taffy-pull on Alan Ladd's persona--minus the charisma.
ZERO TOLERANCE keeps the cheap thrills zooming so fast and furious that you occasionally stop questioning the occasional downside of this revenge roller-coaster. Two suspense sequences are superbly realized--the pre-credit Cartel ambush and the sequence where Jeff realizes that his limo's about to
blow. These and other interesting elements, including a villainous performance by rocker Mick Fleetwood, make the film a proficient, if unexceptional, viewing experience.(Graphic violence, extreme profanity, substance abuse.) leave a comment
