Drop zone is a classic 90’s action movie where Wesley Snipes hunts down some proficient skydiving criminals.
The story begins with a cop escorting a prisoner transfer on an airplane flight.
Unfortunately for him, the routine assignment ends in tragedy with the death of his colleague.
Indeed, the criminal’s accomplices free him while shooting everyone and then skydive out of the plane.
His superiors refuse to believe his report, and so he must investigate on his own.
Thus he begins approaching this extreme sports world, becoming a friend of a group of expert skydivers.
However, he doesn’t know the woman heading this group is the sister of one of the criminals he’s looking for.
She also has unfinished business with the same man responsible for her brother’s death.
So they decide to go to a big skydiving gathering, where they are sure to meet these men.
However, before venturing into such a risky venture, the policeman will have to learn this beautiful but hazardous sport.
An adventure to enjoy on the fly
Once again, we return to the carefree action of the 90s world we love so much.
Drop Zone is a classic exponent of this cinematic school, entertaining and exciting from the first to the last minute.
As I have already said on other occasions, we should not take seriously nor look for too much realism in these movies.
We probably don’t reach the level of a cult sports movie like Kathryn Bigelow‘s Point Break a few years later.
Nonetheless, John Badham is capable of crafting action scenes of high impact and fun.
The many chase and runaway sequences are deliberately put together to exploit the stuntmen’s skydiving skills.
Here, literally, the director rises to the occasion to deliver some of the most spectacular sequences of his entire career.
Neither should we expect too much psychological substance from the characters, merely split into good and bad sides.
However, the sporting spirit of the discipline emerges with its charm, bringing us closer to the skydiving world.
In the end, it remains 100 minutes of our lives flying away satisfyingly without us even noticing.
The 90’s all-around badass cops
For John Badham, this is not the first film featuring a cop working among the skies.
A few years earlier, the director shot the equally spectacular Blue Thunder, featuring a helicopter pilot police officer.
In both cases, his skill at directing a high-altitude crime thriller is unquestionable.
But where the legendary Roy Scheider starred before, this time, there was instead the young Wesley Snipes.
The actor may not be a master of acting like his elderly colleague, but he’s certainly much better as an action star.
Moreover, he definitely has the charisma to be the main character, always being friendly and engaging in his performance.
As his arch-enemy, Gary Busey is another iconic and unforgettable face of the 80s and 90s.
The actor has a lot of fun; we can see him as the bad guys’ leader and unstoppable skydivers.
A career to remember since the time of Big Wednesday, arriving at the previously quoted Point Break were, however, was one of the good guys.
Finally, between the two men is the beautiful Yancy Butler, teacher of life and skydiving for the police officer protagonist.
Another demonstration is that women can be sexy even with a sporty body without having the over-the-top Jessica Rabbit curves.
In conclusion, Drop Zone is an easy, amusing movie craftily made that has everything it takes to keep everyone entertained.
