BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

akingofcomedy This is fun bad. Too many laughs to enjoy.There's a forensic lab robot that grabs Bronson's ass, and it looks like a reject from the old Dr. Who. They seem to avoid ever telling you why these people are being killed - just hash it up to beltway politics. And they never hint at just how this amazing new explosive could ever possibly work. That's why Jurassic Park gave us the maple-covered mosquitoes. Just give us some kind of something to hang our hat on, even if it does strain disbelief.And not only is our hero recovering from a deep personal tragedy, but his wife is also sleeping with the villain. And there's a recurring panty-less victim who keeps getting rigged to blow.The best thing you can say about movies like this is that they never took themselves seriously. Well, for the most part that is.Check out Roy Scheider in Chain of Command, or Lou Diamond Phillips in Alien Express for similar projects. Even harder to swallow then their plots, believing they were ever sold in the first place.

arcticcarrot Let me start off by saying there were several scenes that I enjoyed in this film. And I think Pierce Brosnan did a good job. What I had trouble with was the fact that in the courtroom scene, Brosnan notices the criminal make eye contact with a suspicious-looking man, who then gets up and leaves. Brosnan figures out that there is a bomb in the courtroom and gets everyone out (well, almost everyone) - and he's figured this out by the look exchanged by those two men. He got a very good look at the other guy. Yet, they never follow up on that lead. It's a courtroom in D.C. Surely there is surveillance footage they could be going through to identify this man. They never do that. They forget about him entirely. In fact, Brosnan never mentions this guy to anyone. Also, when they figure out that the terrorists will next target Ron Silver (because of a certain bill that he sponsored), Brosnan goes over to his house - but instead of questioning Silver about who might be against this bill, who might want him dead, he just yells at him to stay away from his wife. And then later when they figure out that what the bomb is, and how it's detonated, they also figure out a very easy way to defuse it. I won't give it away here. But suffice it to say that in later scenes with a bomb, they never bother to try this method of defusing it. It's sloppy writing. A bad script, with some good actors, some poor direction, and a terrible score.

Randall Cameron Another film with several good elements that manages to fail, chiefly because of weaknesses in the story.Good cast in Pierce Brosnan and Ben Cross -- they must have needed the money to take the job.A key "science fiction" element is not really believable, but this is a Hollywood thriller, so if you accept it, you could enjoy the story.There are many good one-liners, and the interactions between the protagonists and various minor characters are believable and entertaining. The pace is reasonable, and some degree of suspense is maintained, with some stock "thriller" elements.Brosnan's character and his personal problems are well developed and make him sympathetic, and he plays his part well.The film is also mercifully short.BUT -- two major holes in the story killed it for me: 1. A political background (the reason the story is happening) is mentioned, but not really explained in terms of motives. Two minutes dialog could have filled in the holes and added a lot in terms of believability.2. The villain's character is not developed at all. What motivates him (other than money?) Ben Cross does what he can with a lousy script (not much). And his name, Mikhail Rashid (I think never actually mentioned in the film - a Tatar father and Russian mother) seems intended to exploit negative racist stereotypes (Russian = corrupt mafiosi; Arabic name = terrorist). He seems like a cartoon, Bond-esquire villain without the glitz. With Ben Cross, they could have written a complex, nuanced, even sympathetic villain, and this would have improved the story immensely.I gave this 5 out of 10 -- not painfully repulsive, but there are better ways to spend your time.

Greg There was a simple recipe in the late 1980's early 1990's for the common action film:Take one part flawed hero (preferably divorced, a heavy smoker and drinker), Mix in their defiance for authority figures, Add one part tragic family history (the loss of a child works best), Add corrupt politicians, Stir with mix of gratuitous violence set to a heavy electric guitar musical score, And serve with plenty of one-liners preferably after a death or tense moment has passed.1992's Live Wire follows this recipe to the exact measurements. Pierce Bronson plays Danny O'Neill, a member of the FBI bomb squad that stumbles on a plot consisting of corrupt Senators and a new form of explosive that is in the form of drinking water - when mixed with acidity of the human stomach, one becomes a walking time bomb that even the strongest Alka-Seltzer wouldn't cure. Danny has had a rough year. His only daughter died in a swimming pool accident, his wife left him (for a Senator no less – didn't see that coming!), and now he works his job uttering such unique catchphrases as ‘Man, I love Mondays'. But when Danny is assigned to a job of investigating a rash of murdered politicians where no triggering device is evident in the debris, Danny soon fears for his wife's safety, and thus his extra incentive to bring the bad guys to justice. Yawn.Live Wire is helmed by perennial television director Christian Duguay (Million Dollar Babies, Joan of Arc), and it is the advice of this reviewer that he stick to that forum. And its not that the premise of this movie is so awful, its actually the opposite. I was intrigued of the notion of bodies being used as bombers, but Duguay does not seem to know where to take the story or characters outside of the normal formulaic routine. He doesn't even try. Thrown into the mix are Ron Silver (Timecop, Blue Steel), and Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire) who just waste time and are less interesting than the robot they use to assess bomb threats. It would have been interesting to see what the movie could have been in the hands of a more seasoned or focused director. As bad as Live Wire was, it was still better than other films released in the same decade like Tango & Cash or Raw Deal. I would tell you how the film ends, but I would not want to ruin the surprise. I will leave you wondering if our hero will get back with his wife once he exposes the Senator, whether anyone will fall from a great height onto a sharp object or…wait for it…if the final bomb will be defused in the nick of time!Finally, one postscript. At the beginning of the film, we read that last decade 3,600 lives were taken due to terrorist acts around the world, but due to American's stable political system, the U.S. has been safe…until now. Somehow in this post 9/11 world, I bet Christian Duguay would want that one back for a re-write.