jotix100 This film, which according to IMDb appears to have been made for television, was shown in a cable network not long ago. This 1992 movie was directed by Gary Nelson, and while not a masterpiece of the thriller genre, it is not without its own merits.If you haven't seen the film, perhaps you should stop reading.The main attraction for watching this movie was the late Robert Urich. Mr. Urich was a personable performer, who was always good to watch. In the film he plays and FBI agent that suffers a tragic experience in his life with a sting gone wrong, where a young child is killed by accident.Mr. Urich played Nick Sastre, a man of Catalonian parents, that is called back by his old handler at the FBI, to help with the investigation of a branch of the Spanish mafia that is trying to operate in the Los Angeles area. During a night on the town with Aldo Testi, he is shot and becomes paraplegic. In his strong will to survive, he undergoes physical therapy that shows him how to use to the best advantage the wheel chair he must use for life.The action then switches to Barcelona, the beautiful city by the Mediterranean where Nick reacquaints himself with Aldo Testi, the bad guy he is trying to expose. We meet an amazing array of characters that are part of a new world for Nick. In a way, it's a big stretch of the imagination that Nick will survive the adventure because of his condition, but we go along for the ride, making excuses for what we know it's almost impossible.Aside from Mr. Urich, Dakin Matthews plays the FBI agent in charge of the operation. David Ryall makes a mean Aldo Testi. There are good appearances by some notable Spanish cinema stars. Assumpta Serna plays the mysterious countess in Aldo Testi's employment. Ariadna Gil is seen as the woman who makes a notable change in Nick's life.

rsoonsa The established screen persona of Robert Urich, as a tough but still nice guy, is utilized to advantage in this action film that offers some components uncommon for the genre: the lead character is paraplegic and the setting is Barcelona. Nick Sastre (Urich), an FBI operative of partly Catalan descent, has retired due to an incident of which he was a participant wherein a young boy was shot to death in New York City, but is lured back to handle an assignment requiring that he go to Barcelona, his cover being as a criminal broker in an attempt to prevent a Spanish drugs and arms dealer named Aldo Testi from expanding his business into the United States. While a guest of Testi at a Los Angeles night club, Sastre is suddenly shot and, as the round has lodged in his spine, he suffers lower body paralysis, but insists upon retaining his assignment in his resolution to bring the crime lord to heel and returns to Spain to do so where, during his search for his unknown assailant, he uncovers a pending sale by Testi of stolen nuclear war heads to a political group. Sastre's efforts to adapt to his disability are presented well and include an interesting scene of real life wheelchair bound self-defense expert Ron Scanlon instructing Sastre in uncustomary use of his chair; and although public access difficulties are ignored as are vehicle adaptation devices for motorist Sastre, his conflict with depression is insightfully treated through Urich's characterization in a work stuffed with incident. Urich performs ably as do the supporting players, in particular Dakin Matthews as Nick's FBI overseer, and the accomplished Catalonian actress Assumpta Serna, cast as mistress of Testi, but acting laurels go to the splendid Ariadna Gil for her sterling performance as a new lover for the stricken Sastre. The script has weaknesses a-plenty but production values are high enough so that a viewer tends to minify them, and the primarily director-for-television Gary Nelson briskly moves the action, handling his extras very nicely; dialogue contains above average interest for the most part, while cinematographer Neil Roach and composer Phil Marshall each shares with us in his own manner the beauties of Barcelona, where the entire film is shot but for stock footage.