Review: Backtrace

Matthew Modine ends up the only surviving part of a robbery, and therefore the only living person who knows where the loot has been stashed. The problem? It’s several years later and the man now has amnesia. Meek and mild-mannered, he doesn’t even remember a damn thing. Never fear, some bright sparks have decided to spring him from prison and have a ‘nurse’ (Meadow Williams) inject him with an experimental drug to restore his memories. A very, very experimental drug. It’s a bitch loaded with uber-irritating side effects. Meanwhile, the police (Sylvester Stallone) and the FBI (Christopher McDonald) are on the hunt, having tried to job Modine’s memory themselves for several years now.

Although scientifically bullshit, the inclusion of an amnesia drug with a lot of wonky side effects is the one wrinkle to an otherwise tired, cliched affair from 2018. Beware a Sly Stallone film that goes direct-to-DVD that you’ve never heard of. Credit where it’s due, the pair of ‘twists’ in the back end are reasonably difficult to detect (the first you might guess, but you’ve still got several credible options), but for the most part this just isn’t very good. Also, the amnesia angle results in headache-inducing camerawork for the audience. If that’s the best trick director Brian A. Miller (subpar direct-to-DVD efforts “Caught in the Crossfire”, “Vice”, and “The Prince”) has got, he’s obviously seriously lacking. He and screenwriter Mike Maples (whose only previous effort is a TV movie called “Miracle Run” with Aidan Quinn) for the most part deliver a very stock escape and manhunt film, outside of that one bizarro plot element. In fact, it’s unsurprising that some of the people involved here went on to make the third “Escape Plan” movie because this is basically the same thing, but with amnesia drugs. The opening stand-off/shoot-out isn’t half bad, but again hampered by the shaky-cam a bit.

A tanned and tired Stallone gets second billing behind the unimpressive Ryan Guzman, whilst Matthew Modine has a much larger role than Sly, as the amnesiac. In some ways he’s a good choice and sympathetic, but once the drug kicks in, there’s not much he can do except look confused and pained. As for Stallone, he’s in the same paycheck mode as regular Miller colleague Bruce Willis. However, some have suggested this is a low-point for Stallone, and I disagree. Those people clearly haven’t seen “Escape to Victory”, “Rhinestone”, “Cobra”, “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot”, “The Specialist”, or “Judge Dredd”. Dude has had lots of low points throughout his entire career. Meadow Williams was one of eleven billion producers here, and cast as the ‘nurse’ she gives an absolutely horrid performance. Veteran jerk Christopher McDonald is perfectly fine, if a little underused. If you like the actor, he does his usual thing here pretty much.

The amnesia science is hooey crossed with malarkey, but for a while it’s kinda entertaining hooey and malarkey in a direct-to-DVD ‘low expectations’ fashion. After a while though, you realise the drug and a few name actors are the only things distinguishing this from a very, very large and underwhelming pack. The cast looks somewhat impressive on paper, but no one really shines terribly brightly aside from maybe Modine. Mediocre stuff.

Rating: C