Main Cast: Wesley Snipes, Linda Fiorentino, Martin Cummins
Release Year: 2002
Run Time: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Liberty Wallace (Linda Fiorentino), the wife and business partner of wealthy weapons manufacturer Victor Wallace (Oliver Platt), is on her way to her regular assignation with her boyfriend, Russell (Martin Cummins), an actor who's about to go on-stage for the closing night of his hit play. Their plans are ruined by a mysterious gunman who calls himself Joe (Wesley Snipes). Joe straps Russell to a bomb in his dressing room, which will go off if he moves or speaks too loudly. Joe then calls Liberty on her cell phone and coerces her into chaining herself to a hot dog stand in a plaza outside the theater. The hot dog stand is rigged with a bomb, which will go off if Liberty hangs up her cell phone, or when it runs out of battery power. Joe also has a high-powered sniper rifle, her company's best gun, trained on Liberty. Joe doesn't make any demands at first, but it's clear that he has a problem with Liberty's weapons empire, which she inherited from her late father. He eventually tells Liberty that his young daughter was killed in a school shooting by one of the guns her company manufactured. Joe lets Liberty know that she's going to die, but she can die a hero if she exposes her company's shady business dealings and political connections before she's killed. As Joe monitors and records her every move, Liberty reveals secrets about her own past, and her business dealings. When Victor, who's also having an affair, finds out that his wife has been taken hostage, he's torn between following company protocol -- protecting himself and allowing his wife to be killed -- and going to help her. Liberty Stands Still was written and directed by Kari Skogland. The film premiered on Cinemax in July 2002. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Liberty Stands Still is a reasonably absorbing thriller, but it's also contrived and heavy-handed. The problems begin with the title. Liberty is the name of the endangered arms manufacturer played by Linda Fiorentino. This accounts for more than one obvious play on words about threats to Liberty, those who would abandon Liberty, etc. And the film's central conceit is that Liberty has come to represent something evil -- the prevalence of a dangerous gun culture in the U.S. and abroad. Writer/director Kari Skogland begins her film with a jazzed-up opening credits sequence featuring techno music with highlighted images of the Constitution and Second Amendment. The setup is solidly B-movie, as Liberty finds herself chained to a bomb in a public park, while Joe aims a sniper rifle at her and various passersby, and lectures her about the evils of her chosen line of work. While Fiorentino and Snipes deliver solid, restrained performances, bringing a human dimension to the story, the flashy cinematography and editing pumps up the action, making it seem like there's a lot more going on than just a conversation about gun control. The techno-inspired score by Michael Convertino is clearly meant to serve a similar purpose, but it's mixed too loud, nearly drowning out the dialogue at some points. The music is too wall-to-wall, and it irritatingly draws too much attention to itself. Russell (Martin Cummins), Liberty's lover, has also been taken hostage and strapped to a bomb by Joe, a situation that adds another layer of suspense to the film, although it's never clear why Joe involves Russell to begin with. But Liberty Stands Still has enough going for it to maintain audience interest. Skogland demonstrates some talent, along with a lot of passion for her subject matter. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Ian Tracey - MacMunro; Brian Markinson - Rex Perry; Jeff Seymour - Officer Pritchard; Roger R. Cross - Officer Miller; Hart Bochner - Hank Wilford; Oliver Platt; Tanya Allen - May; Fulvio Cecere - Burt McGovern; Jonathan Scarfe - Ted; Ronald Selmour - Dwayne
Credit
Sue Parker - Art Director, Coreen Mayrs - Casting, Heike Brandstatter - Casting, Alisa Krost - Costume Designer, Mairzee Almas - First Assistant Director, Kari Skogland - Director, Jim Munro - Editor, William Vince - Executive Producer, Mario Ohoven - Executive Producer, Peter Marshall - Executive Producer, Michael Convertino - Composer (Music Score), Joel C. High - Musical Direction/Supervision, Keith Brian Burns - Production Designer, Denis Maloney - Cinematographer, Gary Pearl - Producer, Johanne Hubert - Set Designer, Kevin Sands - Sound/Sound Designer, Kari Skogland - Screenwriter, Allen Benjamin - Special Effects Coordinator, Bobby Muzingo - Supervising Sound Editor, Bill Sheppard - Supervising Sound Editor, Dean Giammarco - Supervising Sound Editor
