Timothy Woodward, Jr.'s action opus "Weaponized" is 91 minutes of your life that you won't get back. You've heard that cliché before, but it's the truth. Actor Johnny Messner plays a hard-nosed LAPD Detective named Walker who is investigating a massacre, and the shooting may have ties with an experimental Pentagon program to create the next generation of super soldiers. Under the guiding hand of a bereaved father, Kyle Norris (Tom Sizemore of "True Romance"), who lost his son in combat, Norris' company has concocted a procedure that enables the user to enter the mind of his adversary. Literally, a U.S. soldier can undergo this procedure and plumb the depths of the mind of his enemy to defeat him. This is what happened to the victims of Norris' experiment. They forgot who they were, suffered a bout of amnesia, and then assimilated the homicidal characteristics of somebody else. Meaning, harmless soldiers with no urge to kill transform into merciless murderers. Walker's partner Detective Phil Ross (Cullen G. Chambers of "Se7en") has our hero's back. Moreover, he bears an amazing resemblance to Morgan Freeman. As their superior, Captain Doug Rice (Michael Paré of "Streets of Fire") has handed over the case to the FBI and Homeland Security after a suspect stabbed himself to death in an interrogation room while Walker and Ross were trying to draw him out. Internal Affairs has their collective eyes on Walker and Ross, and Rice wants them riding their desks. Walker doesn't work that way as Rice learns. Furthermore, a scientist contacts Walker about the shootings, gives him a thumb drive with everything that he needs to know, and then disavows ever having seen him. Walker takes the thumb drive to a savvy friend, Victor (John Foo of "Tekken")and has him crack the code. Victor is not your ordinary friend because he survives an encounter with Norris' henchmen.
Eventually, our iconoclastic hero figures out how to use the transference, and he projects himself into the mind of the chief villain. Mickey Rourke appears in a supporting role as a scrappy, wheel-chair bound scientist with a pet puppy, and you may not even recognize Rourke beneath the band aid plastered across his nose. He works for the unscrupulous Norris, and scrappy Tom Sizemore makes an ideal villain. He looks the part with his beady eyes and weirdly cut hair. Naturally, our resourceful LAPD Detective cracks the case and saves the day after Norris uses the mind transference on him. One of the better scenes has Walker's wife change into a tramp who kicks the crap out of him. Literally, she traps him in a head lock between her luscious thighs. Later, she has no memory of her outrageous behavior. "Weaponized" boasts a strong cast, but Rourke is wasted in a minor role. This synthesis of sci-fi and action thriller generates only a modicum of suspense and intrigue.
"Weaponized" qualifies as a lackluster futuristic melodrama.
Eventually, our iconoclastic hero figures out how to use the transference, and he projects himself into the mind of the chief villain. Mickey Rourke appears in a supporting role as a scrappy, wheel-chair bound scientist with a pet puppy, and you may not even recognize Rourke beneath the band aid plastered across his nose. He works for the unscrupulous Norris, and scrappy Tom Sizemore makes an ideal villain. He looks the part with his beady eyes and weirdly cut hair. Naturally, our resourceful LAPD Detective cracks the case and saves the day after Norris uses the mind transference on him. One of the better scenes has Walker's wife change into a tramp who kicks the crap out of him. Literally, she traps him in a head lock between her luscious thighs. Later, she has no memory of her outrageous behavior. "Weaponized" boasts a strong cast, but Rourke is wasted in a minor role. This synthesis of sci-fi and action thriller generates only a modicum of suspense and intrigue.
"Weaponized" qualifies as a lackluster futuristic melodrama.