There were a few things that were constantly running through my head as I was watching Backlash. The fact that star Danielle Burgio (a stunt woman by trade making her starring debut) is no Cynthia Rothrock, that even low-budget action flicks from the 80's that were cranked out by companies like Cannon are better than this, and I also kept saying to myself, "I'd rather be watching an Andy Sidaris flick".

Burgio plays CIA agent Skye, who we see in the opening scene in the middle of a standoff with foreign baddie Grazer (Bas Rutten) that leads to a bunch of poorly done gunfights and a karate showdown between Skye and Grazer. Instantly, you know what you're in for as debuting director Dave Chameides shows off his past resume as a steadi-cam operator by packing this sequence with sped-up camera movements, blurry pans and all the typical attempts low-budget actioners of this type use to try and hide their budget restraints. I literally groaned when I saw the camera whip around (with movement blur) as our heroine and baddie held guns under each other's chins.

Skye and partner Derek (Robert Merrill) end-up bringing down Grazer but not before she accidentally shoots his son dead. Worried about repercussions for this action, the two are soon sent to hideout in Trinidad where they enjoy the sun and surf (and we get to see plenty of tourist-like filler and reggae dancing). But the vacation is soon to be over for them when the house they're staying in is stormed by rappelling baddies (which leads to another low-scale action scene involving weak CGI explosions and bullets).

After barely escaping from these masked killers (who they suspect have been hired by Grazer), Skye and Derek find themselves on the run from a duo of relentless hit men (one of which is a scantily clad Asian girl - more attempts to try and appeal to the predominantly male viewers) and have to try and track down who's behind the attacks - while their bosses back in the States do the same using satellite and tracking technology.

Playing like the kind of really bad syndicated shows you're apt to see on a Sunday afternoon (think V.I.P. without the eye candy), Backlash is almost too lame for words. The gunfight and karate moments are so poorly done it's pathetic with weaker than normal fight choreography, a overactive (and hopefully purposely so) score by Marcello De Francisi, and Chameides' attempts to even make a simple thing like a traffic jam exciting not helping matters any.

Burgios might just be an okay martial artist/fighter in real life, but it's hard to tell when every damn brawl in the movie is sped-up like you're watching a Steven Segal movie made after 1996. As for the rest of the cast, everyone's pretty wooden with a bald-headed Rutten (and his five minute appearance) being most memorable.

Now, about that Andy Sidaris movie... (Chris Hartley, 12/15/06)

Directed By: Dave Chameides.
Written By: Caitlin McKenna.

Starring: Danielle Burgio, Bas Rutten, Kevin Levrone, Lauren Kim.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: Given that a lot of this movie was shot in Trinidad, it's a pretty bright picture and while it does look a bit soft as times it's still a pretty decent transfer we get here as it's clean and quite watchable.

Extras: The disc I received only contained a trailer, but the retail version will also have a making of featurette, a music video by reggae artist Machel (as well as a featurette on him) and biographies.

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