Terminal Velocity (film)

Terminal Velocity
File:TerminalVelocity.jpg Film poster
Directed by	Deran Sarafian
Produced by	David Twohy Ted Field Robert W. Cort
Written by	David Twohy
Starring	Charlie Sheen Nastassja Kinski James Gandolfini Christopher McDonald
Music by	Joel McNeely
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Edited by	Frank J. Urioste
Production company	Hollywood Pictures Interscope Communications PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Nomura Babcock & Brown
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	September 23, 1994 (1994-09-23)
Running time	102 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50 million
Box office	$16,478,900 (USA)

Terminal Velocity is a 1994 action film starring Charlie Sheen as a daredevil skydiver and Nastassja Kinski as a tough KGB spy who team up to stop renegade spies who are trying to steal gold. It was written by David Twohy and directed by Deran Sarafian. The film co-stars James Gandolfini and Christopher McDonald.

Originally, Sheen's role was written for Tom Cruise, although Michael Douglas and William Baldwin were also considered. The script itself sold for US $500,000. The musical score was composed by Joel McNeely.

Synopsis

A Boeing 747 lands in the middle of a desert. A young Russian woman is tortured by getting dunked in the aquarium of her apartment until she drowns and is left by her two assailants in the shower stall. Skydiving instructor Richard 'Ditch' Brodie (Charlie Sheen) takes on a new client, Chris Morrow (Nastassja Kinski), who on her first jump does not open her parachute and apparently dies.

Brodie discovers that Morrow faked her death and that she is really a Russian spy trying to recover a shipment of gold. Brodie uses all of his skydiving skills to outwit the villains and to stay alive.

Cast

• Charlie Sheen – Richard "Ditch" Brodie
• Nastassja Kinski – Chris Morrow/Krista Moldova
• James Gandolfini – Ben Pinkwater
• Christopher McDonald – Kerr
• Melvin Van Peebles – Noble
• Cathryn de Prume – Karen
• Hans Howes - Sam

Production

The final stunt – with Sheen at the wheel of a Cadillac Allanté falling to earth – was a mixture of bluescreen and camera work, as a real car was suspended beneath a helicopter and then a reverse zoom made it seem as if it were in free-fall.

Portions of the film were shot in Palm Springs, California. Other filming locations were Alabama Hills (Lone Pine, California); a windfarm near Tehachapi, California; Douglas, Arizona; Flagstaff, Arizona; Little Colorado River Canyon, Arizona; Moscow, Russia; Phoenix, Arizona; San Bernardino, California and Tucson, Arizona, where a cameo appearance by Martha Vasquez of its station KVOA was filmed.

Reception

The film was panned by critics, and currently has a 17% positive scale on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews. Owen Gleiberman opined that "Terminal Velocity is the kind of movie in which the hero keeps sneaking into rooms to peek into some file and you wait, with glum certitude, for yet another ”surprise” thug to leap out of the shadows. It’s fun to hear Charlie Sheen deliver quips like, 'I’m not just a walking penis — I’m a flying penis!' But for most of the movie, Sheen, lowering his voice to a basso he-man growl, gives a boringly flat, square-jawed performance, as if he thought he were doing Hot Shots! Part Quatre." Roger Ebert opined that "Sheen's behavior in this and other scenes is so close to the self-parody of his work in the 'Hot Shots!' movies that he almost seems to be telling us something - such as, that he takes the movie with less than perfect seriousness. No wonder. It's based on such a goofy premise that with just a nudge here and a pun there it could easily have become "Hot Shots Part Cinq" and taken advantage of the franchise. It's not so much that Sheen can keep a straight face in any situation, as that he always seems to be testing himself with the situations he gets himself into."

The movie debuted at No. 2 at the box office behind Timecop. It eventually made $16.4 million in ticket sales, making it a box office flop compared to its $50 million budget.

External links

• Terminal Velocity at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Terminal Velocity at IMDb
• Terminal Velocity at Rotten Tomatoes
• Terminal Velocity at Box Office Mojo