Memorial Day (1999)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

To fans of the cult 1990s television series Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Worth Keeter is the director of many of that show's episodes. But when it comes to film, Keeter is one of the genre's most mediocre directors – virtually all of his works are poor & some are laugh riots due to their badly-written stories. But in the case of Memorial Day, a 1998 effort mounted by the decade's cheap action studio Royal Oaks, there will be no laughing here.Written by later Wynorski affiliate Steve Latshaw, Memorial Day is the tale of a secret group of US intelligence agents within the CIA who feel threatened by budget cuts & so decide to save their paycheques by inventing a new terrorist enemy. Using a top-secret weapons satellite codenamed the Eagle, they commit attacks against their own countrymen, blaming the fictional terrorists for it. Using a hawkish & paranoid senator as a mouthpiece, the agents decide to kill him & make him a martyr for their cause. To this end they rescue an assassin who has been thoroughly brainwashed for years, sending him to assassinate the senator. But he regains his memory & refuses to carry out the hit. With the aid of a crusading reporter, he attempts to bring down the conspiracy.The script is a collection of conspiracy clichés that will offend those who have lost loved ones during 9/11 & other real-life terrorist attacks. Despite being made only three years before Al Qaeda launched its war against the West, the film has dated badly due to its plot. Latshaw writes with an abandon of any sense of decency, making his scripts full of bad writing choices & flatly-staged action scenes. Keeter also is to blame here, making something that has no purpose other than to entertain those idiots out there who perpetually believe that the USA's government is in league with its enemies (although Frederick Coffin's senator is a carbon copy of George W. Bush with his incessant ranting which will bring back unpleasant memories of Bush's false preaching about Iraq's non-existent WMD stockpile as an excuse to invade the country).Avoid this one like the plague.

The Cold War is over and Defense Spending is down. In order to increase military spending, the Agency (a team of high-level intelligence officers) headed by General Willard (Paul Mantee) creates a fake terrorist group: Red Five that is using a top secret satellite laser (codename Eagle) to create havoc and terrorize the people.Seven years ago, USMC Captain Edward Downey (Jeff Speakman) and former Agency employee told reporter Robin Connors (Stephanie Niznik) about the Eagle not working properly. The Agency discredited him by having him declared insane and committed to a mental hospital. The Eagle is now fixed and operational. Downey is re-programmed and released to do the Agency's evil deeds, Downey starts remembering the past and does not go through with an assignation of Senator Jerald Lancaster (Frederick Coffin) who is a presidential candidate and an unknowing pawn of the Agency's. Now Downey and Robin are on the run for their lives. Downey calls his old Agency contact, Jules (Bruce Weitz), for help. However, Jules (aka #1) is part of the conspiracy and kidnaps Robin because she knows too much.Downey finally convinces Lancaster about the plot against his life and to help him. In a race against time, Downey has to stop the Agency from making Lancaster and Robin martyrs and killing even more innocent people.

The film deals with Edward Downey (Jeff Speakman) , a government agent/ex-Marine imprisoned mental sanatorium where has strange dreams about his mentor (Bruce Weitz) . He's just been released from a mental ward by general Willard (Paul Mantee)and assign him to kill senator Lancaster(Frederick Coffin) and Presidency candidate . There's only one man you can count on when the final countdown begins. As an embittered satellite expert gets the opportunity for revenge against the USA by aiding terrorists in a plan to destroy the country's military base . A satellite called Eagle from 'Star wars project' is robbed by terrorist organization called 'Five Red' and formed by ex-KGB agents . The laser satellite launches a series of ray attacks on orbiting space station and US atomic underwater . Downey's needed to stop a terrorist band that's stolen the laser satellite . Meanwhile , he's helped by a beautiful journalist (Stephanie Niznik) .This routine-low budget movie contains suspense , action , thrills and cheesy effects specials . Routine , and low quality to the point of boring though some moment gets thrilling . The film is starred by Jeff Speakman . He's 6th degree black belt in American Kenpo Karate . Speakman is director of American Kenpo, an International Kenpo Karate organization with more of 50 schools . In the cinema his greatest success was 'Perfect weapon' but his career failed with C grade films (¨Hot Boyz¨, ¨Deadly outbreak¨) , like this one , becoming himself a failed star . Secondary cast is formed by usual B-movie actors such as Bruce Weitz , Frederick Coffin and Joe Stevez who holds an uncanny resemblance his brother Martin Sheen . The movie was middlingly directed by Worth Keeter . He's usually TV movies director (Power Rangers episodes) and occasionally cinema director , such as ¨Hijack¨ , ¨L.A Bounty¨ , ¨Trapper county war¨ and ¨Scorpio one¨ (again with Jeff Speakman and with similar plot and FX) . Rating : Below average , though displays some action but also boredom .

About the only thing worse than the awful dialog is the (over?) acting. Bruce Weitz's talent somehow comes through, in spite of what appears to be poor direction. Oh, yeah..the effects. Cheap...laughable at times. A notch or two above Flash Gordon.