Main Cast: Charlie Sheen, Nastassja Kinski, James Gandolfini, Christopher McDonald, Gary Bullock
Release Year: 1994
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Party-hard skydiving teacher Ditch Brodie (Charlie Sheen) has a knack for getting himself into trouble, but his booze-babes-and-planes shenanigans hardly prepare him for an international plot that pits Brodie and a mysterious KGB agent against a post-Cold War Russian villain called Kerr (Chris McDonald) and an American heavy named Ben Pinkwater (James Gandolfini). Aerial set pieces alternate with tongue-in-cheek flirtation and conspiracy-theory suspense as Brodie meets a beautiful new student, Chris Morrow (Nastassja Kinski), then must try to explain to the authorities how he allowed her to fall out of a plane to her death. Soon Brodie -- on the run from both Kerr and the police -- begins to realize that in espionage, as in romance, often nothing is as it seems. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
This cheeky action thriller allowed Charlie Sheen to poke fun at his bad-boy image at a time when his reputation, if not his box-office reliability, was in decline, resulting in a film that's far more watchable than it has any right to be. It doesn't hurt that Nastassja Kinski, beginning her own career rehabilitation, also gets to make light of her softcore Eurotrash past as a sexy skydiving neophyte who isn't what she seems. The plot's fairly involved, but generally comprehensible, while the aerial sequences prove more believable and better shot than similar scenes in such CGI-driven blockbusters as Mission: Impossible; it's amazing what real live stunt men can do. Screenwriter and executive producer David N. Twohy, who had previously scribed Alien 3 and would go on to team with Sheen for 1996's similarly workmanlike The Arrival, shows the same grasp of genre conventions and how to tweak them that he would display with 2000's impressive sci-fi psychodrama Pitch Black. Future Sopranos star James Gandolfini even shows up in a typical villain role, making Terminal Velocity a study in the watchable work that can be done by folks who are past their peak or haven't reached it yet. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Hans Howes - Sam; Melvin Van Peebles - Noble; Cathryn de Prume - Karen; Richard Sarafian - Dominic; Kurek Ashley - Cargo Pilot; Jeff Daniels; Terry Finn - Birthday Mom; Michael Gaughan - FAA Inspector #2; Rance Howard - Stunt Pilot/chuck; Tim Kelleher - Jump Junkie #1; John Meier - Gunman #2; Sam Smiley - Corvette Owner; Tim Lounibos - Jump Junkie #3; Suli McCullough - Robocam; Sofia Shinas - Broken Legs; Sandy Gibbons - Greyhound Clerk
Credit
Sarah Knowles - Art Director, Terry Liebling - Casting, Joan Bradshaw - Co-producer, Poppy Cannon-Reese - Costume Designer, George Parra - First Assistant Director, Gabriela Velasquez - First Assistant Director, Robert Yannetti - First Assistant Director, Deran Sarafian - Director, Buddy Joe Hooker - Second Unit Director, Peck Prior - Editor, Frank J. Urioste - Editor, Robert W. Cort - Executive Producer, Ted Field - Executive Producer, David N. Twohy - Executive Producer, Gabriel Borgo - Hair Styles, Deborah Laub - Location Manager, Joel McNeely - Composer (Music Score), Stephan Vonhase Mihalik - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jeanne Van Phue - Makeup, Kimberly Greene - Makeup, David Luckenbach - Camera Operator, William D. Barber - Camera Operator, Moshe Levin - Camera Operator, David Snyder - Production Designer, John Connor - Cinematographer, Charles Minsky - Cinematographer, Oliver Wood - Cinematographer, Frank Holgate - Cinematographer, Bill Roe - Cinematographer, Donald M. Morgan - Cinematographer, Joan Bradshaw - Production Manager, Scott Kroopf - Producer, Tom Engelman - Producer, Beth A. Rubino - Set Designer, John Warnke - Set Designer, Lawrence James Cavanaugh - Special Effects, Doug Hubbard - Special Effects, Kevin Donnelly - Special Effects, Jerry Meyers - Special Effects, Stephan Vonhase - Sound Mixer, Michael Wilhoit - Sound Editor, Rick Morris - Sound Editor, Keith Campbell - Stunts, Daniel Epper - Stunts, Jim Nickerson - Stunts, Bobby Bass - Stunts, Eddie Braun - Stunts, Buddy Joe Hooker - Stunts, Steve Santosusso - Stunts, Dana Hee - Stunts, William H. Burton - Stunts, Jeff Brockton - Stunts, Tom Hili - Stunts, Christopher F. Woods - Special Effects Supervisor, David N. Twohy - Screenwriter, Florent Retz - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Randy Feemster - Additional Cinematography, Jeffrey Ballard - Publicist, Florent Retz - Additional Editing, Michael Kelem - Aerial Photography, Daniel E. Teaze - First Assistant Camera, Jamie Barber - First Assistant Camera, Robert Morey - First Assistant Camera, Bob Munoz - Key Grip, Michael J. Coo - Key Grip, Thomas Milano - Music Editor, Brad Blake - Post Production Supervisor, Kathy Virkler - Post Production Supervisor, Robin L. Green - Production Coordinator, Jacqueline A. Shea - Production Supervisor, Gary Bourgeois - Re-Recording Mixer, Tom Perry - Re-Recording Mixer, Brad Sherman - Re-Recording Mixer, Elizabeth S. Barton - Script Supervisor, Stuart Hagen - Second Assistant Director, Eric Tignini - Second Assistant Director, Gabriela Velasquez - Second Assistant Director, Susan J. Hellmann - Second Assistant Director, Bob Marshak - Still Photographer, Kelly Oxford - Supervising Sound Editor, David Kneupper - Supervising Sound Editor, Brenda Donoho - Costume/Wardrobe, Gary Sampson - Costume/Wardrobe, Melanie Baker - Assistant Art Director, Stan Cockerell - Assistant Properties, William E. Fitch - Best Boy Grip, Michael T. Travers - Best Boy Grip, James Tyson - Costumes Supervisor, Laura R. Harris - Dialogue Editor, Michael Brennan - Dolly Grip, Logan Breit - First Assistant Editor, Gary A. Hecker - Foley Artist, Tom C. Peitzman - Second Second Assistant Director, Alexandra Perce - Second Second Assistant Director, Tiby Kantrowitz - Set Production Assistant, Robert Neilson - Transportation Coordinator, Barbara Harris - ADR Voice Casting, Cliff Fleming - Pilot, James W. Gavin - Pilot, Craig Hosking - Pilot, Harry Hauss - Pilot, Kevin LaRosa - Pilot, Terry Amalong - Pilot, James Blumenthal - Pilot, Skip Evans - Pilot, James Gerlach - Pilot, Dave Kunz - Pilot, Barney Cabral - Supervising ADR Editor, Carole A. Kenneally - Visual Effects Editor, Robert Dawson - Title Design, Donna Ekins-Kapner - Art Department Coordinator
A Boeing 747 lands in the middle of a desert. A young Russian woman is tortured by getting dunked in the aquarium of her apartment until she drowns dreadfully. Skydiving instructor Richard 'Ditch' Brodie (Charlie Sheen) takes on a new client, Chris Morrow (Nastassja Kinski), who on her first jump doesn't open her parachute and apparently dies.
Brodie discovers that Morrow faked her death and that she is really a Russian spy trying to recover a shipment of gold. Brodie uses all of his skydiving skills to outwit the villains and to stay alive.
The final stunt - with Sheen at the wheel of a Cadillac Allanté falling to earth - was a mixture of bluescreen and camera work, as a real car was suspended beneath a helicopter and then a reverse zoom made it seem as if it were in free-fall.
