Biting the big one
Blast from the Past is an enjoyable piece of American popcorn.
Christopher Walken is masterful as eccentric scientific genius Calvin
Webber, a man obsessed with the cold war and the threat from the
Rooskies of atomic annihilation, and Sissy Spacek is wonderfully
offbeat as his long-suffering suburban wife, Helen.
The plot moves
into gear when the anxiety caused by the Cuban Missile Crisis
coincides with a plane crashing on their home. Under the mistaken
belief that they are facing the big one, Walken's carefully prepared
and elaborate underground fallout shelter comes into play. Locked in
on a 35-year timer, the pair and their newborn son, Adam, played by
Brendan Fraser, live underground in a fossilized 1960s world of Perry
Como records and tasteless furniture until finally, Adam is sent
above ground to search for survivors and find himself a mate,
preferably not a mutant, however. His encounter with 1990s Los
Angeles girl Eve, played by Alicia Silverstone, has predictable
results, but the juxtaposition of `60s and `90s culture and values
are a good engine to drive the plot, and Walken and Spacek do all
they can to steal the film from their youthful leads. All in all, an
unchallenging but highly entertaining weekend movie.
BY MARTIN SPAIN
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