Blind Horizon DVD Review:

After a confusing series of shots which make up the title sequence, there is a gunshot and the words “Five days earlier” appear on screen. Suddenly it is the beginning of Blind Horizon, a film that leaves the audience with the same disorientating feeling throughout most of the film, which it seems, would at least prevent some predictability, but somehow it does not.

Found shot and left for dead in the outskirts of Blackpoint, a small town in New Mexico, a stranger is taken to the hospital where he stays in a coma for a day or so. When Frank finally awakes, he doesn’t even know what his name is. He has amnesia, and when a woman arrives claiming to be his fiancé and telling him that his name is Frank, he isn’t sure what to believe. After some time Frank begins to remember that he knows about a conspiracy to kill the president that is to take place in Blackpoint. When nobody believes him, Frank must retrace his steps to figure the mystery out, before time runs out.

Val Kilmer is convincing, as always, as Frank, despite the fact that there are some holes in the film, and some of it just seems a bit over-the-top. For the premise, Blind Horizon just seems much slower than it should be, and it takes too long to allow the audience to know what it going on. Once we are allowed to know the secrets of the film enough clues have been given that it doesn’t even seem much like a surprise ending. Many of the relationships also seem rather forced, mostly seeming to be due to lack of chemistry or even reason for them to be together. On top of having a Neve Campbell play the role of the fiancé, Amy Smart plays another love interest as the nurse who takes care of Frank. Somehow the film turns into a strange amnesiac love triangle near the end of the film, which actually ends up being more of an original idea than the conspiracy which the film is centered around.

There is some action within the film, and those moments are highlights of the film, but unfortunately they are few and far between. Had the action been more consistent, or the plot more convincing, the film would have been easier to compliment. With a cast like this film, including Sam Shepard as the local law and a small appearance by Faye Dunaway as well, this seems to be another film that is destined to be lost on the video store shelves for years, until it fades away completely. Although it isn’t the worst of its kind, or even a bad film at all, it is an inconsequential film which is not different enough from others in the genre to stand out.



Ryan Izay