Product Details

• Actors: Mario López, Jaime Pressly, Richard Grieco, Greg Serano, Justin Walker
• Directors: David DeCoteau
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: East Texas Distribut
• VHS Release Date: November 23, 1999
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305263590
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #310,682 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There's a reason this took *13 years* to make it to DVD!, November 12, 2010

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Absolution (DVD)

Mario Lopez and his co-stars, B/Teen-movie queen Jamie Pressly and Richard Grieco should have had a long talk with their agents, asking "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??" by getting them involved in this disaster. Lopez had already gotten favorable reviews for his acting in "Breaking the Surface" by the time he shot this, and this was several steps backward, to his "Bell" days.

Lopez plays Ryan Murphy, a cadet at a military training "academy" in the dark barren and frozen country that was once the USA, before it was wiped out (along with most of the earth and its inhabitants) by a meteor a couple of decades earlier. The academy, training hunky young men to protect the "New America" (from what, it isn't exactly clear), is headed up by the self-described "hardass" Sgt Bradley (overplayed with a perpetual grimace by Grieco), who puts the best of his troops through special training (and on a diet of steroids) to be part of something called the "Z-Team", which is actually his creation to help the aliens who first tried to destroy earth to come and take it over. (If you are shaking your head saying "Whaaaat?", be assured it is not any clearer when you are watching it.)

Now I'll admit I am a fan of really BAD science fiction films, but this one doesn't even deserve to be considered part of that genre. The story has holes in it you can pass a meteor through, the dialogue could not be any more predictable if that was your goal, a special effects budget I'd estimate at about two bucks, plot developments that make no sense whatsoever, and overacting runs rampant. Much of the dialogue seems ad-libbed, such as Grieco's frequent exclamations of "For Pete's sake" which are ludicrous for his character. However, since the film is directed by David DeCocteau (known for his schlocky quasi-horror films that uniformly feature hunky young guys in boxer briefs), you know you'll see Mario and his fellow cadets in their "tighty whities."

What about Jamie Pressly? She plays a prostitute, one of two who are somehow allowed to roam freely through the academy. Considering most of the scenes with them are simply watching her friend dance topless while the boys hug each other or burn each other with cigars (Never mind the fact that they're all stripped to their boxer briefs), it's obvious the only reason they are there is to avoid assumptions that the soldiers of the future are all gay. Don't ask, don't tell, indeed! There is one sex scene between Pressly and Lopez, in which Lopez manages to keep his white boxer-briefs on so long it is almost laughable.Very brief shot of rear nudity.

I could go on and on about the stupidity in this film (why the locker room has hundreds of lockers, when it is apparent the academy holds maybe 20-25 guys at most; how Lopez and Pressly can OUTRUN an explosion, especially since they pause mid-run several times to look back at it; and how they had the nerve to use what looks like a standard web camera as the "alien communication device" Grieco uses). Suffice it to say that the only reasons to see this film might be (1) if you are obsessed with Mario Lopez, (2) you enjoy seeing a dozen or so hunky young men in their boxer briefs, or (3) "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" was just too intelligent for you to follow!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Silly Plot & Predictable Dialogue but Interesting Scenery, June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Absolution [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie will probably excite only two groups of people: fans of latin hunk Mario Lopez and individuals who like to see scantily clad, well-built young men.

The movie purports to be sci-fi but the plot is confusing and unrealistic even for sci-fi standards. The dialogue is predictable and the actors try to make it serious but you can't do much with "you don't wanna ask questions" and other frequently used dialogue lines.

Mario Lopez stars and tries to act but the script forces him to behave and talk like his Slater character on "Saved by the Bell." Even his lead-up dialogue to his love scene with Jamie Pressley is predictable. The scene leaves you watching them talk and then all of a sudden they kiss and are in bed together. Lopez's physique is seen frequently, along with numerous other handsome men, so if you like hunky men, it's not bad. But, having seen his ability to do more than just mouth lines in "Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story", fans of Lopez will be disappointed that he's in another Slateresque tough guy, I can kick your butt role.

Richard Grieco and Jamie Pressley are also wasted in this film, although Grieco is humorous at times. However, you can tell he's trying to "act" dramatic and the effect ruins the lines.

If you're looking for an interesting story, you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for dramatic sci-fi action, you'll be disappointed. And fans of Lopez will hope he finds a better script for his next project.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars TERRIBLE SCRIPT, GOOD NUDITY, November 12, 2010

By 

Michael Ledo (Windsor, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Absolution (DVD)

After most of the Earth was destroyed by a meteor, there exists a boot camp of New America in the Arctic. Now there seems to be people living in other areas, but we never get a feel for that. Ryan Murphy (Mario Lopez) shows up at this boot camp because his friend is missing plus there are odd things going on. (I liked this plot better when it involved prison girls.) Richard Grieco plays a psychotic Sargent, who idolizes Nixon. Murphy is assigned to Echo Group and immediately doesn't fit in. Somehow pretty females are allowed to go into the cadet's barracks for drunken comfort sessions including Jamie Pressly who makes love to Ryan Murphy on his extra wide army cot. It is nudity which deserves four stars, but the movie stank so bad I could only muster 2 stars in spite of Jamie's perky effort. Did I mention the aliens and the molecular transport which caused the disaster? An MST-3000 candidate.