Defense Play (1988) User Reviews

Eat Lunch and Watch a Movie

[professor-x · 5/10 · 25 February 2006]

For some reason I've found it my duty to push my hands through the muck of 80's film until something worthwhile rises to the surface. There are so many trashy 80's films geared toward teens and the immature college crowd, it can be overwhelming trying to find treasure within all of the trash.

I was mostly interested in Defense Play because of Susan Ursitti. I had just watched Teen Wolf the night before, and wondered where the likable Boof had gone. Defense Play was her next feature film. While Ursitti's dialogue was stilted, she was still the most charming character of the lot.

There are a few other seasoned 80's supporting actors peppered in here and there, but most of the screen-time is hogged by our generic hunk David Oliver. It's hard for people to sympathize with a spoiled athletic military college playboy, but Oliver managed to be fairly tolerable while having everything.

Other than Ursitti, the poster art and plot were the true hooks for me, full of 80s shticks. Airwolf meets Russian war games? Smartly (budget-wise) the movie features a radio controlled military drone gone amok, and the jet stock footage that favors can buy.

The plot was predictable, and I knew who the secret bad guy was by the second act, but the chuckle factor was pretty high. If you now what to expect, you won't be disappointed. It's a cheesy 80's movie, that barely avoided going directly to VHS.

Make a sandwich, eat some chips through the bag dialog, and all will be well.

OTHER 80's B SCI-FI that has risen to the surface: Timerider - The Keep - Ghost Warrior

Attack of the killer model airplanes! (minor spoilers)

[vertigo_14 · 6/10 · 20 March 2005]

Though cheap 80s cold-war themed nonsense, this movie turned out to be much better than most of its kind (see Terminal Entry). This is the story of two teens (one clearly too old to play a teenager thanks to that shirtless scene in the introduction of his character) on an army base who stumble upon a Soviet plot to infiltrate an American weapons defense system by hiring posing as Americans in the program.

I was expecting another War Games rip-off (they don't tell you much about the teens' role in the plot synopsis on the box), but was glad to learn it was not. Granted, the story does make itself incredibly overt at times (especially in the characters and the comic book-esque professor and most of his dialog), but the movie is not too ridden with bad acting (except from Susan Ursitti who adds to most of the cheesiness with some forced grief here and there), implausible plot, or cheap effects. In fact, our protagonists are actually smart teenagers who do their homework well when it comes to dodging dangerous Soviet assassins. It's a bit of a ridiculous story in the same sense that Red Dawn was a ridiculous story about a handful of teenagers single handedly saving the world from terrorist destruction, but done with just the right amount of favor towards the teen characters. This, plus a well-paced story (for the most part) makes this a better-than average B-80s movie. Most likely worth the time of energetic teenage boys, but nostalgic fans may tolerate it...if this is the kind of story you enjoy.

80s Teenage Fun

[danieldpj · 23 October 2001]

Like most 1980s action/suspense movies, "Defense Play" is standard issue in nature: the bad guys are Russians, the good guys are average Americans (living in a California style backdrop) who love racing their cars and playing rock & roll. In good 80s fashion, the plot revolves around a secret weapon which cannot fall into enemy hands.

In the Reagan-esque "Defense Play" storyline, we see the United States Air Force attempting to launch a top secret satellite into orbit (on a Saturn V rocket of all things). To foil the US satellite launch, the KGB plans to steal a top-secret, remotely piloted stealth helicopter (codenamed 'DART') being produced at a local university. Because DART is so small, it cannot be easily detected, and therefore would be optimal for use in attacking the well defended USAF Saturn V at Vandenburg AFB.

The hero and heroine of "Defense Play" are your classic all-American teenagers who get 'tangled' in the nefarious plot and decide to take down the bad guys.

All in all, "Defense Play" is a good, half-decent low budget film which might appeal particularly to the teens, and follows in the fashion and style of such 80s films as Iron Eagle, My Science Project, Real Genius, The Rescue, and many others. It serves as a good flashback to the days when low budget producers didn't have an F-117 (and tons of F-117 stock footage) to make as the centerpiece of all the action (the official 'blow up plane' of the 80s was desert camoflauged F-16s).

"Defense Play" is an obscure film, but well worth watching if you just want to kick back and have a few laughs.