''Bombshell'' is a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

written and directed by Paul Wynne, and starring

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe ...

Mädchen Amick Mädchen Elaina Amick ( ; born December 12, 1970) is an American actress and television director. She is known for her starring role as Shelly Johnson on the television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991), its prequel film '' Twin Peaks: Fire ...

Frank Whaley Frank Joseph Whaley (born July 20, 1963) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and comedian. His roles include Brett in ''Pulp Fiction'', Robby Krieger in ''The Doors'', young Archie "Moonlight" Graham in ''Field of Dreams'', and Guy ...

Pamela Gidley Pamela Catherine Gidley (June 11, 1965 – April 16, 2018) was an American actress and model. She began her career as an actress in 1986, debuting in the film ''Thrashin, before appearing in a number of films, including '' Dudes'' (1987), '' C ...

, and

Brion James Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. He portrayed Leon Kowalski in ''Blade Runner'' and appeared in ''Southern Comfort'', ''48 Hrs.'', '' Another 48 Hrs.'', '' Silverado'', '' Tango & Cash'', ...

. It is produced by

Wyatt Knight Wyatt Knight (January 20, 1955 – October 25, 2011) was an American actor, best known for his role as Tommy Turner in the '' Porky's'' trilogy. Career In addition to his work in the ''Porky's'' films, Knight made guest appearances on numerous T ...

Steven Paul Steven Paul (born May 16, 1959) is an American independent filmmaker, actor, and talent manager. He is the chairman, founder and CEO of Crystal Sky Pictures. Life and career Paul was born in New York City. His mother, Dorothy Koster Paul, was ...

, Patrick Peach, Vicky Pike, Jeff Ritchie, and Paul Wynne (himself). The production company is Molecular Films and Wynne/Pike Productions.

Plot

In the year 2011, a sophisticated Los Angeles Company, Nanolabs, prepares to advertise a cancer cure in the form of nano-engines, microscopic molecular machines which mutate and restore organic tissue cell by cell. Genius Buck Hogan (Henry Thomas) starts to have serious doubts when lab animals start to die. Profit-greedy CEO Donald (Brion James) ignores him and devises human tests and news conferences. The same night, a strange-looking masked figure traps and anesthetizes Hogan. When Hogan awakens, he learns one of his

kidneys The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

has been expertly replaced with a biodegradable sac that according to later publications, holds corrosive acid. The masked man promises Hogan an antidote only if he complies in picking up and delivering three packages. When the departmental LAPD refuses to help, and Hogan's fiancee Angeline (Mädchen Amick) is abducted, Hogan rips open a package and discovers it is empty. Hogan realizes that the courier act was a

ruse Ruse may refer to: Places *Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria **Ruse Municipality ** Ruse Province ** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency *Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia * Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-ce ...

to cause him to touch boxes coated with nano-engines, which penetrate his skin and are reacting with the sac. Hogan traces the potential

culprit A culprit, under English law properly the prisoner at the bar, is one accused of a crime. The term is used, generally, of one guilty of an offence. In origin the word is a combination of two Anglo-French legal words, culpable: guilty, and prit or ...

, fellow employee and career rival Malcolm Garvey (Frank Whaley), who forces the couple into Nanolabs at gunpoint during Donald's big press tour. Revealing that the cancer cure is actually a

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

, Garvey also tells that the nano-engines inside Hogan have converted his implant into a destructive bomb. In the following panic, Garvey is shot dead and Angeline and Hogan remain in the building. Fortunately, Angeline happens to be a surgeon and executes an effective bomb-ectomy on the spot. They flee as the lab explodes, but Garvey's caution is lost in the pointless

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require el ...

Cast

as Buck Hogan *

as Angeline *

as Malcolm Garvey *

as Melinda Clark *

as Donald *

Michael Jace Michael Andrew Jace (born July 13, 1962) is an American convicted murderer and former character actor, best known for his role as Los Angeles Police Officer Julien Lowe in the FX drama ''The Shield''. He also played Andre Tibbs, an ex-convict ...

as Detective Jefferson * Martin Hewitt as Adam * David Packer as Brad *

Shawnee Smith Shawnee Rebecca Smith (born July 3, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her portrayal of Amanda Young in the Saw (franchise), ''Saw'' franchise (2004–2010), which established her as a "scream queen" and as an influential f ...

as Shelly *

Victoria Jackson Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and singer who was a cast member of the NBC television sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) from 1986 to 1992. Early life Jackson was born in Miami, Florida ...

as The Waitress *

David "Shark" Fralick David "Shark" Fralick ( ; born October 16, 1962) is an American actor who portrayed the recurring character of Larry Warton on ''The Young and the Restless'' from 1995 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005. He played the title character in the 1 ...

as Buff * Art Chudabala as Bewayne * Carole White as Carol White * James Dumont as Dr. Braunmann

Production

Filming was taken place in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was produced by Molecular Films and Wynne/Pike Productions. It was distributed by Crystal Sky Worldwide, Spentzos Film Home Video, and

Trimark Pictures Trimark Pictures was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later T ...

Reception

Critical reception to the film has been negative. TV Guide wrote Some praise went to the plot of the film "that the nano-engines ... assemble an explosive device inside Hogan's gut is a neat payoff; too bad Wynne couldn't think of a better way to get there (or escape from it)". However, criticism was directed to the running of the film: "The game is mostly up at the 70-minute mark, ... director Paul Wynne pads the remaining running time with a protracted car chase and ... fruitless attacks on shallow TV journalism." Surprise praise was given to cinematographer Angel Colmenares ... BOMBSHELL is worth watching, if only for Angel Colmenares' snazzy cinematography, which paints the future-shock sets with electric colors and sometimes slips into time-lapse imagery."

References

External links

* * * {{tcmdb title, id=456052 American science fiction thriller films Films set in 2011 Films set in the future 1990s science fiction thriller films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films