Crime Zone Reviews

Intermittently entertaining but doggedly uninspired, CRIME ZONE is a futuristic action thriller that borrows liberally from other sci-fi sources without adding anything very new to the mix. The film is set in the totalitarian future society Soleil, where Bone (Peter Nelson), recently fired from his job for appearing disgruntled, meets Helen (Sherilyn Fenn), a state-sanctioned prostitute. Bone and Helen are "supergrades," who are forbidden many things, including consensual sex. Yearning for the freedom to frolic, the outlaw lovers accept a dubious proposition from mysterious bigwig Jason (David Carradine). If they will steal a computer disk from a well-guarded justice facility for him, Jason will secure their escape to Froidan, with which Soleil is continuously at war. As down-and-dirty B-budget action thrillers go, CRIME ZONE is better than average but does suffer from overambitiousness. Director Luis Llosa keeps the action moving along at a crisp pace, but the script, by Daryl Haney, is full of speeches and superfluous subplots that tend to belabor the obvious and underscore the film's lack of originality. The effect is to throw off the pacing, making CRIME ZONE seem oddly slow and cumbersome even when events are moving along at lightning speed.