Blast (2004) is an action/adventure set on a sea based oil rig, floating off the southern California coast. Hardly a new idea, but it is still executed fairly well here. Eddie Griffin is Lamont Dixon, and ex-fireman turned tugboat operator, hired to tow the rig out to the undersea well. The task of connecting up to the well is interrupted when pseudo-protesters turn terrorist, board the rig, and take it over at gunpoint. Led by renegade environmentalist Michael Kittredge (Vinnie Jones), the group is demanding that the oil company cease operations. The FBI is called in, with Agent Lisa Reed (Vivica A. Fox) heading the negotiation team.
Dixon finds an unlikely ally in Jamaal (Breckin Meyer), one of the terrorists, who has a link to Agent Reed. Jamaal is a tech, who has several run-ins with an acrobatic, backflipping terrorist named Lola (Nadine Velazquez). The film features some decent action sequences, some of which could have benefitted from slightly improved special effects.
Blast is a bit offbeat, but holds together better than expected, for a film that features comedian Eddie Griffin in the lead role. There are times where thing go too far, but balance is usually restored before long, preserving a certain level of credibility. Vinnie Jones (The Condemned) has the crazed nutcase role down pat. Directed by Anthony Hickox, the film is apparently a remake of a 1997 German production. The presentation is widescreen, with no English subtitles, or extra features.
