Customer Reviews

Live Wire

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I watched this movie on cable several years ago and have been searching for it for awhile, unfortunately I could never remember the name, until now. I am a true fan of Pierce Brosnan, since his debut as Remington Steele. 'Live Wire' allowed viewers to really see Brosnan. He was angry and vengeful, arrogant and cruel, comical and so very sexy, and physical. If not for starring Brosnan, the movie would have never been able to hold my attention. The music really sucked, and Silver well he has done much better work. I recommend this movie to anyone who can't get enough Brosnan. No collection of Brosnan films can be completed without 'Live Wire'.

Anybody who is a fan of Pierce Brosnan should definitely get a copy of the Unrated Version of Live Wire. It's worth the price of the movie just for the hot love scenes(and I mean hot!) between Pierce and Lisa Eilbacher.. .

As I was flipping through channels one night, I came across this movie just as it started (opening title) I was about to turn it off, and I started watching the first few minutes. I coudnt believe this movie grabbed my attention so quickly. I soon realized this movie was really good and watched the whole thing. My wife, being a Brosnan fan loved it too. So we bought a copy for our collection. This one is worth a look.

This movie is very underated, I happen to think it is better than every James Bond movie Bronson has made except for Golden Eye. Bronson's character in this movie has more depth than Bond's character which allowes Bronson to show of his acting talents and a wider range of emotions. In this movie he plays a capable, resoursful, tough, independent, bomb specialist. However, he is also a haunted drunk with a temper. Bronson's child drowned in a pool at their home while he was supposed to be watching her. The guilt has turned him into a hollow shell of the man he was. His wife has seperated from him and is now dating a senator who she works for. The senator, played by Ron Silver, is a great character. Silver does a supreb job of being sleazy and arrogant in this movie. The plot of this movie is unrealistic but intriguing nonetheless. Somehow a middle eastern terrorist/arms dealer has succeded in developing an explosive that exists in liquid form. For instance it looks like water but if you drink it you explode. The scenes where people explode are CRAZY!!! People get it really bad in this movie. The villian in this film is great, I have never heard of Ben Cross before and have never seen him in anything since this film and I do not know why since he plays such a great villian. His screen presence is astounding, he has even more presence than Brosnon. I lot of people gave this movie bad reviews but from reading what they wrote it seems to me that they had trouble following the plot. A lot happens in this movie very quickly and the plot involves a United States governent sponsored arms deal gone bad. In truth the movie could have spent more time detailing exactly what went wrong between the senators and the arms dealer (Ben Cross). Ben Cross's assistant is the guy who played the father on Ressecurtion Boulvd. (the Showtime orginal series about boxing) and he is good as a terrorist. I liked the fact that Bronson is pretty much the only good guy in the film, the senators are bad, and so is the arms dealer. Lots of intense action scenes, horrible death, etc. Good direction, script, acting, etc. The evil people in this movie get what is coming to them in the end, the senator especially.

The movie is great, unfortunately only the R-rated DVD was available. I originally saw the uncut version which is better. All in all, a good movie for Pierce Brosnan fans.

The film starts out with a brilliant, and creepy premise -- what if there was a chemical that could be added to ordinary water, colorless, tasteless and odorless, that, when drunk, didn't just kill its drinker but turned that person's body into a deadly explosive? As the movie initially unfolds, this premise is handled well and is remarkably chilling.

Pierce Brosnan plays the munitions expert who is in charge of determining the cause of several inexplicable explosions that have been taking out prominent senators. His investigations put him in uncomfortably close proximity with one of the senators who may be the next target -- the man his ex-wife left him for following the death of their daughter. As his investigation leads him to the bizarre method being used to kill off these lawmakers, he finds that his attempts to protect them are being misinterpreted and miscast, damaging his reputation... until he manages to prevent what would have been a deadly attack during a public rally.

Unfortunately, it's right after this attack that the film unravels into a mess. Up until this point it was a tight, chilling mystery; the attacks unfolded with spooky "it could happen anywhere" finesse, the chemistry used in the film to explain the explosive compound was handled remarkably well, and the haunted past driving the protagonist (his daughter's accidental drowning and the way his life and marriage fell apart in the aftermath) was a nice subplot that helped but wasn't overbearing.

But at this point the film abruptly changes course and becomes a cliche'd 80s actioner. His wife, witnessing his act of heroism, has the epiphany that she's with the wrong guy and comes back to him for a heapin' helping of "hot" 80s-style music-video simulated-sex. Now the senator is the one on the outs, and gee, turns out he's dirty and probably deserves to get blown up, but our hero is still sworn to protect him. The man out to get him, who up until now has been using remarkable finesse (and who wouldn't be creeped out by the concept that any glass of water could be their last?) suddenly switches over to much cruder tactics. You could swap in virtually any action movie with a rugged loner hero, unscrupulous ass who has to be protected, glowering villain, and useless woman screaming encouragement on the sidelines, at this point, to the same effect. Our hero, of course, saves the day, solves the crime, and wins the girl.

Live Wire had the potential to be brilliant, and would have been, but the final act ruins the entire puzzle-box effect of the film. It's a shame, because it could have been a great thriller. But it's not.

My recommendation: rent, don't buy. Watch up until the end of the rally sequence, when the ex-wife gets that speculative, "we're going to have SO much sex!" gleam in her eye, and then hit the stop button, and imagine the ending yourself. You'll get a much better film out of it that way.

I was flipping through the channels when i got up one day and caught Live Wire in the middle of it. I loved every bit I got to watch and filled in the beginning, basically Danny O'Neil(Pierce brosnan)is an explosives expert who is dumfounded by mysterious, seemingly causless, explosions. The story is strong, and Brosnan's performance is impecablly brilliant, if I were a bigger Pierce Brosnan fan, I'd give Live Wire a 5 star rating.

Great action well delivered by pierce Brosnan you can tell this guy is made for the role of James Bond. Brosnan has all crediabillty and belvabillty in presenting his character to the viewer. Brosnan Plays an ex-bomb expert turned FBI Agent who is puzzeld when people are just suddenly exploding all over the place and finds out that just before the victim`s explode they drink a glass of water laced with a silver coated explosive all courtesy of a terroist out to get revenge on crooked senators that cut him out of a $50 millon arms deal. The explosive premise was a great way to get the viewer`s attention and thanks to Brosnan`s great physical and acting talent this was the perfect role to show anyone who were skeptical of seeing Brosnan in the role of 007 proved them wrong because he did an outstanding job.

Being a huge Bond fan, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Although scientifically impossible, the story had enough comedy, action and suspense to make it worth watching. I don't think it compares to Brosnan's performance as 007, but it was a worthy audition for the spy-like role. Check out Live Wire...then see all the Bond flicks...they're worth it.

While not technically believable this movie makes for fine entertainment. It catches your attention and never drags. It does tend to get pradictable toward the end. Enough humor is introduced to keep it interesting.