Drop Zone (1994)

My oh my: yet another movie where Steven Seagal was the lead choice and he turned it down for bigger and more succulent fish (eg. Under Siege 2) which is now rotting in locations other than my movie collection. Oh Seagal, how fat and far you've fallen. But let's shine the spotlight o' glory where it truly belongs: on the shiny head of Wesley Snipes. Yes, without Snipes, this movie would just be another Freefall, destined to be completely unrecognizable and mostly regrettable (I speak without credentials in this case; I've never been finagled into watching this beauty). On the other hand, it's hard to blame the poor box office performance of Drop Zone on its concurrent release with other skydiving movies, because Terminal Velocity, starring Charlie Sheen, and released the same year, also couldn't make back its budget. I guess people just weren't jiving with the sky-diving. Well, it's their loss. Because this movie is absolutely watchable. You've got Yancy Butler kicking ass and taking punches, along with Gary Busey being his vile ole self, and Snipes rounding out the team with his cop on a mission shtick. There are other characters as well, including some chick who looks like a melted version of Butler (why was she necessary? and why do they have exactly the same hair?), and my personal favorite, the absolutely loony Swoop (dive on my crazy W-A brother!). All in all, it's a well-rounded team of misfits and miscreants, and a couple of fucked-in-the-faces. Add in sky-diving, murder and mayhem, plus the disgruntled Busey mug, and you've got a real knee-slapping good time.

I deem it: "A seriously tripped out action movie by the little known king John Badham!/A 25+ person sky-diving configuration means the dopest stunts I've seen in ages!/Traditionally tantalizing and tasteful!