Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film

Hacks and hackers suck life from 'Zoom' and 'Pulse'

By STEVE PERSALL
Published August 10, 2006

Life is full of mysteries, such as why we exist, what the future holds, and how Tim Allen continues to make movies. The guy hasn't delivered a box office hit in a decade besides sequels to Toy Story and The Santa Clause. He even managed to sink a seemingly foolproof remake of The Shaggy Dog earlier this year.

The comedian puts his waning appeal on the line again with Zoom (PG), a ripoff of Sky High, which ripped off The Incredibles. Allen plays Captain Zoom, a retired superhero hired by a private academy that teaches potential comic book heroes how to use their powers. It doesn't take X-ray vision to see through this scenario: The kids will be cute and hopelessly unprepared to save the world until a former nemesis returns with an evil scheme and Captain Zoom leads them to victory.

Zoom wasn't screened for critics in time for Weekend review.

Supernatural hackers are at work in Pulse (R), yet another remake of a Japanese horror flick, this time 2001's Kairo. The successful translation of The Ring was followed by the disappointing Dark Water, The Grudge and The Ring Two, so box office momentum isn't on the side of director Jim Sonzero and screenwriter Wes Craven.

Pulse offers a wireless signal from the other side that infects cellular telephones and personal computers and sucks the life force from users. Call it psychopathic spamming. It falls to a group of photogenic college students to trace the signal and break the connection without a high body count. Don't count on that happening.

Kristen Bell (TV's Veronica Mars) gets top billing and therefore the best chance of survival. The rest of the cast is up for grabs, although in teen-driven projects such as this being an adult isn't a smart idea when the dying begins.

Pulse wasn't screened for critics in time for Weekend review.

- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic

[Last modified August 8, 2006, 13:46:06]