DROP ZONE. Directed by John Badham; written by Peter Barsocchini and John Bishop; produced by D. J. Caruso, Wallis Nicita and Lauren Lloyd for Paramount. Starring Wesley Snipes, Yancy Butler and Gary Busey. Rated R (violence, language)
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Drop Zone has only one thing to recommend it. But that one thing, the skydiving sequences, is so amazing that you might want to consider seeing it. In spite of its weaknesses in other areas—like plot, character development, etc.
The story involves a gang of bad guys (led by Busey) who use their skydiving expertise to pull off their nefarious capers. They're pursued by Snipes, as a U.S. Marshall whose brother is taken out by the villains in the movie's first action sequence.
None of that really matters, though, except as an excuse to watch Snipes learn about skydiving and to watch the experts in action.
Daring mid-air rescues, heart-stopping practical jokes (you will not believe the circumstances of Snipes' first "jump") and gorgeous free-fall choreography are liberally scattered among the fist-fights, gun battles and other predictable, ordinary action-pic mayhem. If there were any less skydiving footage, the preposterous, yet still mostly boring, story would weigh down the movie too much. As it is, you might wish for more aerial antics.
Snipes is fine in movies like this. He looks great in martial arts fight scenes, and plays a good fish-out-of-water when he tries to mix with the skydivers. And Busey always makes a good villain. Butler, as a female skydiving hot-dogger who doesn't quite become a love interest, is an appealing and convincing young star-on-the-rise. (Note to Baby Boomers with long memories: Butler is the daughter of the drummer of the Lovin' Spoonful!)
None of the characters have much depth to them, except for Butler, whose recklessness is intriguing. But the performers do the limited jobs asked of them by the script in an adequate fashion. The gang of good-guy skydivers is particularly fun to watch, pleasantly eccentric and serious about nothing but their jumping.
Note for parents: Drop Zone has a few too many on-screen murders to my way of thinking; which is too bad, because most kids would love the skydiving scenes. To be fair, though, there's little of the sadism or fascination with violence that's often found in movies like this (except, perhaps in those martial arts fights). Most of the murders are business-like disposal of witnesses. You might want to give it a preview.
January 11, 1995