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With every beat
of your heart, blood rushes through your
body. It’s what keeps you alive and
kicking. You know that at any moment that
heart can just stop. You expect it will
someday. Stopping is one thing, exploding
is quite another….
The thriller “Dead in a Heartbeat”
stars Judge Reinhold (“Gremlins”,
“Beverly Hills Cop”) as a Seattle
bomb squad expert tracking down a psychotic
killer who uses pacemakers in a very explosive
way. Also starring as the target of the
psycho’s revenge is Penelope Anne
Miller (“Carlito’s Way”,
“The Shadow”). As the surgeon
who is unknowingly planting the devices.
“Dead in a Heartbeat” originally
aired on TNT back in 2002, and I actually
remember catching that one, if for no other
reason than I like Judge Reinhold. He’s
not the best actor in the world, but he
is likable enough to make me want to see
his work. I was a bit disappointed Miller’s
performance, however. I really wonder what
happened in her career.
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I have recollections of her making a few really
good movies, and then she kind of dropped out
of sight. Every now and again she pops up in some
low-budget thriller, but that’s about it.
In this movie, she just seems dragged out, and
is looking pretty haggard.
As in most Made-For-TV movies, the acting in
“Dead in a Heartbeat” is pretty good
if you can get past some of the melodramatic pretense.
There are no Emmy Award winning performances here,
but they are above average. Some of the dialogue
was admittedly pretty hokey (“Okay people
let’s rock and roll…” and, “…we
do this by the book and we’ll be home by
7:00 watching the game with a beer in one hand
and a woman in the other…” both come
to mind). The plot however was actually pretty
creative, but the writers made the mistake of
giving away too much information, too soon. I
would have rather had the film be more of a whodunit,
as opposed to finding out right away the identity
of the bad guy.
Directed by: Paul Antier
Starring: Judge Reinhold, Penelope Ann Miller,
Timothy Busfield
Extras: Cast Profiles
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: BFS
Release Date: 4/16/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give Dead in a Heartbeat a C.
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