''Liberty Stands Still'' is a 2002 Canadian-German

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

starring

Wesley Snipes Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. His prominent film roles include '' Major League'' (1989), ''New Jack City'' (1991), '' White Men Can't Jump'' (1992), '' Passenger 57'' (1992), '' ...

and

Linda Fiorentino Clorinda "Linda" Fiorentino (born March 9, 1958 or 1960) is an American former actress. Fiorentino made her screen debut with a leading role in the 1985 coming-of-age drama film ''Vision Quest'', followed that same year with a lead role in the ac ...

. Directed by

Kari Skogland Kari Skogland is a Canadian filmmaker. In 2016, she co-founded independent production company Mad Rabbit. Her most recent project is the '' Falcon and the Winter Soldier'' television series for Marvel Studios. Career Skogland started as an edito ...

, it is a thriller about a man seeking revenge for his daughter's death. Following its screening at the

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

, the film failed to get a proper theatrical release and was released straight to DVD on October 22, 2002.

Plot

Liberty Wallace (

) is the Vice President of Marketing for McCloud Industries, one of the largest gun manufacturers in the United States. She's the daughter of the company's founder, and married to the company's ruthless CEO, Victor Wallace (

Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many films such as ''Flatliners'' (1990), ''Beethoven'' (1992), '' Indecent Proposal'', ''The Three Musketeers'' (both 1993), '' Execut ...

). While Victor trafficks in international armaments, Liberty takes a break to have a romantic affair with Russell Williams (

Martin Cummins Martin Cummins (born November 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor known for his role as Ames White in '' Dark Angel'' and as Nick Boyle in '' Poltergeist: The Legacy''. Life and career Cummins went to Seaquam Secondary School in the town of North De ...

), an actor. The balance of their

marriage of convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

shifts when a sniper, Joe (

), targets Liberty in a busy

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

park on the way to her affair. Joe calls Liberty on her cell phone, ordering her to shackle herself to a nearby vendor’s

hot dog cart A hot dog cart is a specialized mobile food stand for preparing and selling street food Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold ...

. Liberty has no intention of acquiescing to Joe's wishes, until he begins shooting. Convinced, she locks herself to the stand, only to learn that it is loaded with explosives. If she calls for help, hangs up the phone, mutes the phone, or fails to co-operate, the bomb will go off. Joe has also armed a bomb against Russell, backstage in his dressing room at the nearby theater. Liberty realizes she can not buy her way out of the situation, and she is forced to consider Joe's demand for an anti-gun forum. It is revealed that Joe's daughter was fatally shot at school by a classmate, who used a gun manufactured by McCloud Industries. Joe has decided to show Liberty what it is like to be on the other end of the weapon, and the horrors of what she has had a blind hand in for years. Victor and Liberty have even bartered illegal deals that have resulted in easier access to weapons for street dealers, including the ones who sold the weapon that killed Joe's daughter. Joe wants Liberty to use her political connections and this incident to spark a public debate on the

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

. Despite his past, Joe no longer supports the unequivocal right to bear arms. Joe tells Liberty that she is going to die, but that she can die as a hero if she exposes her company's shady business dealings and political connections before she's killed. As Joe monitors and records her every move, Liberty reveals secrets about her past, and business dealings. When Victor, who is also having an affair, finds out that Liberty has been taken hostage, he is torn between protecting himself and allowing Liberty to be killed, or going to help her. At first, it seems that Joe, who is actually a former CIA agent, is using Liberty as bait to attract media attention, but then Joe guns down news reporter Bill Tollman (

Jonathan Scarfe Jonathan Scarfe (born December 16, 1975) is a Canadian film and television actor. Early life He was born in Toronto, Ontario, to actors Alan Scarfe and Sara Botsford. He dropped out of high school at age 15, and at the age of 16 he spent a yea ...

), who is also the son of a hawkish U.S. Senator. Joe expresses his belief that this act will cause the Senator to change his pro-gun stance. Joe calls Victor on his cell phone as Victor is finally acting on his choice to get out of town. While Joe is shaming Victor for leaving his wife to die, Victor suddenly recognizes the voice on the phone as someone he knows personally. Following the phone conversation, Victor orders his car to bring him to where his wife is. When Victor finally arrives on the scene, Joe calls him on his cell phone again, and Victor addresses Joe by the name Alex. They discuss the time they met in Colombia and how Alex had saved Victor’s life there. Victor also apologizes for having won a military medal under false pretenses for whatever transpired while they were in Colombia. Joe/Alex then shoots and kills Victor in front of Liberty. Alex then tells Liberty that it is all up to her now before informing her that a key to her shackles is hidden in a box, underneath the hot dog cart. Liberty retrieves the key and releases herself, and then she runs to Russell's dressing room. Together, they helplessly watch the timer on his bomb count down to zero. When the bomb does not explode, they realize that it was a fake. Meanwhile, a police SWAT team has figured out which building Joe is hiding in. Before they can get to Joe/Alex he shoots himself under the chin, and dies; but he has already forwarded Liberty's recorded confessions to several newspapers.

Cast

Music

The

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

score was produced and composed by Convertino, and orchestrated with sound design by Film Composer and Film Music Producer Robert Muzingo.

Release

Theatrical

The film premiered at the

on January 18, 2002, originally planned to have a worldwide theatrical release, but due to the film's critical reception, it was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

in 2002.

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mostly negative reviews; critics praised Snipes and Fiorentino's performances, but panned the overall premise. The film was panned by gun-rights supporters as being very anti-gun and portraying all firearm owners in a negative light. Many noted the film's similarities to Joel Schumacher's ''

Phone Booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

'', another film released around the same time. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics.

References

External links

* {{Kari Skogland 2002 films 2002 crime thriller films 2002 direct-to-video films Canadian crime thriller films German crime thriller films Canadian detective films German detective films English-language Canadian films Films about contract killing Films scored by Michael Convertino Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Films about the New York City Police Department 2002 drama films Films directed by Kari Skogland 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films 2000s German films