The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 13, 1994 - 11 -, w L A .ter-"'.....rte Y 1110, ;.. ;, ,:' j, _, !_ ; - , d' _. ,.a - V So "Drop Zone" may not win any Oscars. Who cares? Wesley Snipes is still really hot. 'Drop Zone' fails into the void fI By JOSHUA RICH Early in "Drop Zone," Pete Nessip (Wesley Snipes) and his brother, Terry, played by "Cosby Show" alum- nus, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, take federal prisoner Earl Leedy (Michael Jeter) on a 747 airplane. They are escorting this computer geek to a maximum security prison where he will testify against his drug- dealing cocon- Drop Zone spirators. But Directed by the plane is hi- John Badham; jacked in midair by Ty Moncrief Wesley Snipes (Gary Busey) and Gary Busey and his band of rogue skydivers who moonlight as drug dealers and thieves. They kill 14 people, blow a hole in the side of the aircraft and dive 38 thousand feet in order for Leedy to escape. Amidst all this confusion Terry is shot twice and sucked out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane. OK. The makers of this movie have all the right to maim and murder innocent travelers on board this plane. But they have no right to humiliate and kill Malcolm- Jamal's character. When a film stoops this low, you know it is desperate for some thrills. After all, you just don't mess with the Cosby kids! That is basically the way Pete, a renegade U.S. mar- hal - our hero - sees it. For the rest of this mindless action movie, Pete tracks Moncrief's gang from one skydiving show, one murder and one burglary to the next - all in order to avenge the death of his little brother. Along the way he is joined by Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler), the country's wildest female skydiver, who also holds a grudge against Moncrief for killing her boyfriend. These forces battle it out while jumping from airplanes, skyscrapers and out of windows. All of this as they race to a Fourth of July skydiving exhibition in Washington, D.C. where Moncrief plans to Creak into a government building and steal the names of undercover cops. So are the bad guys nabbed in the end of this totally contrived movie? Well, what do you think? For those unfortunate movie-goers who had the oppor- tunity to see "Terminal Velocity" earlier this year, this film will come as nothing new. John Badham ("War Games"), usually respected for directing diverse and interesting motion pictures, has made an action-packed, thrilling, yet completely unoriginal film. "Drop Zone" combines all the standard shoot-em-up, cliche, mindless action movie motifs making it a true feast for the senses and drought for the mind. Like in "Terminal Velocity," this film capitalizes on the new-found skydiving craze (see also: "Point Break"), providing its audience with outstanding aerial cinematography and unique action se- quences. But if the movie's simple and boring premise doesn't immediately give the viewer a major case of deja vu, then the acting and characterization of the film's bad guys will. Busey's career has certainly deteriorated since his Academy Award nomination for "The Buddy Holly Story" (1978). He poorly performs a verbatim imitation of his "Lethal Weapon" persona; he is a sadistic criminal who enjoys torturing and killing inno- cent people. And the supporting cast of nameless vil- lains keeps all interest and focus of the film on the good guys - how boring. Saving "Drop Zone," however, is former "Evening Shade" costar, Jeter, who cleverly portrays the irritating Leedy as a pitiable, yet dangerous crook (much like his role as a confused homosexual homeless man in "The Fisher King"). And then there is Wesley. Once again, Snipes proves that he is the top action hero in all Hollywood. He hits harder than Van Damme, has more charisma and charm than Schwarzenegger, and is more fun to watch than Seagal. Moreover, he is a much better actor than all three. So while Snipes is in another weak action flick, he nevertheless makes the show interesting and always keeps his audience rooting for him. In the end "Drop Zone" may be entirely commonplace, but Wesley is cool. DROP ZONE is now pjaying at Briarwood andShow- case. F i k rga Il E y y Y AA P Y k p F z I a k 9 6 Get The Most Cold Cash For Your Textbooks! am1 0,0 promp I .__I ~, ' ' , _s F./ ... , - ' ' :{ .. .. _ .. STOMP! COMES TO THE FISHER THEATRE 9 ~ ; . ,:, r r 4 } r a I .._ - '" kt 4 -* i J 0 .. k ,;;. . Wolff STOMP, a team of two women and six men, will shake and rock your mind with an explosion of bin smashing, fire dancing with eight Zippo lighters, and boot stomping. This eight-member troupe from Britain creates a wild and imaginative rhythm-percussion spectacular that involves common household items such as trash cans, rubber gloves, brooms and buckets. The performance starts with brooms sweeping, and among the softer touches are thumb-clicking, and boxes of matches rattling, creating a cacophony of vocal chords, coughing and wheezing. With a flair entirely of their own, STOMP has sold out audiences in New York and London and were featured in a 1993 Coca Cola commercial besides profiling on Nickelodeon, David Letterman and Good Morning America. STOMP revolutionizes mundane household tasks, such as removing stains from a carpet, into a combination of hyponotic rhythms and pure stage magic. This invigorating 90 minutes of innovation will no doubt leave you rattling your keys and tapping along with any .Cas _ S I7