FATE (2003)

During the late 1970s and early 80s American television was producing some arguably superb action series from ‘The A-Team’ to ‘Knight Rider’ and all those in between. Two of those ‘in between’, at least as far as I was concerned, were ‘The Fall Guy’ featuring Lee Majors playing the stuntman ‘…who made Eastwood such a star…’ and ‘Miami Vice’, with Phillip Michael Thomas as one half of the post modern ‘Starsky and Hutch’ duo patrolling the mean streets of Miami. So it was with a certain amount of pleasure that I noticed both names in the opening credits of ‘Fate’ and sat back in anticipation to see what the erstwhile action heroes were doing in the present (Thomas’ record release not withstanding). Here, Majors plays Oscar Odgen, a killer who is being hunted by Detectives Cody Martin (played by Michael Pare) and Ciprian Raines (Phillip Michael Thomas), two law enforcers with contrasting methods and a past rivalry. Ultimately the pair reconcile their differences and solve the case as Majors is brought to justice. And that’s it.


As mentioned above, I was a fair-weather fan of Majors, and thus mildly intrigued at the prospect of him playing a ruthless, obstinate bad guy. However his performance here is disappointingly wooden, as he seems utterly uninterested and passionless during proceedings. Thomas and Pare also bring very little indeed to the metaphorical table, as both seem to draw character influences from the most bland of 1980s cop dramas. Additionally the script is poor, the dreadfully generic storyline by Ash Smith and Martha Burgess could have been written by a child, the soundtrack is clichéd and uninteresting and there’s not much else to say.


The film has clearly been produced on a low budget, but even taking this into account there is no excuse for filmmaking as poor as this, and let’s not forget that even without money, facets such as creativity, aptitude and innovation can be applied to overcome, or at least cover up, a glaring lack of funds. Additionally, it’s very, very rare that I ever find myself completely bored throughout the course of a movie, even during the likes of the abysmal ‘Starship Troopers 2’, where at least there was the occasional explosion. However ‘Fate’ takes bad film making to a new plateau, encompassing all of the worst aspects of any woeful TV movie you could care to name (indeed, some scenes even outscored ‘Sarah K: Confessions of a Teenage Alcoholic’ in the abysmal stakes with shockingly effortless ease) and frankly I hope I never see anything from the dubiously named director ‘Ace’ Cruz ever again. Utter trash.

Score