This movie is a made for TV movie and as such some of these come off really good and others not so. Christmas Rush is not so but then again it is not so bad. Okay it is an obvious 'Die Hard' rip off but the interesting twist is the robbers motive. I will not give it away but I think this gave the film an emotional core that you will never get in all the other 'Die Hard' rip offs or die hard itself. I personally thought that at the end of Die hard was a bit too cheesy whereas the personal motive for the robber in this movie is quite understandable and suddenly he is not so much of a bad guy. I have always liked Dean Cain and I am happy that he has managed to keep in work after his role in Superman, many actors disappear without a trace after starring in a long running TV program. Maybe like Bruce Willis he will get a role that will launch him on the world stage. Watching Christmas Rush is easy on the eye and brain cells and has a good moral message while the demise of the lead robber will make you think.If I came across this film on DVD at a reasonable price I would certainly add it to my collection.
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mjarvis01 February 2006
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redkiwi9 December 2002Erika Eleniak & Dean Cain are not Mr & Mrs Bruce Willis.
This film tries to be Die Hard IV [set in a shopping centre this time] as our hero attempts to foil a heist.
Mostly harmless and silly, this was not particularly interesting. -
sleestaker15 December 2002I have to say that I enjoyed this movie, mainly because I like Eric Roberts.
Once again Eric transcends the material he is given. His sister may be more famous, but Eric is definitely more talented. I keep waiting for him to land the role that will showcase his talent to a mass audience. If you want to see him at his best, watch "Star 80."
It was refreshing to see Erika Eleniak play a Christian who didn't apologize for nor tiptoe around her faith. Neither was she an in-your-face fanatic. She was much like most Christians - faithful and trusting. The movie gets high marks from me for this alone. After decades of seeing caricatures of Christians in movies, it's nice to see a regular person who just happens to be a believer.
I have to agree that the bit with the go karts in the sewer was hokey, especially since they seemed to move about 10mph. Why Dean Cain chose to chase in the 3rd go kart rather than just run them down on foot is beyond me. This has to be the slowest chase scene since "The Jerk" when Steve Martin tried to escape from M. Emmett Walsh in a car with no wheels. If the ending hadn't been what it was, the go kart scene might have been too much, but "Christmas Rush" redeemed itself in the climax where Roberts' character was forced to make a tough decision. Roberts brings a human side to his character that seals the movie very well.
No, it's not a classic and, yes, it is "Die Hard in a mall" (just like "Air Force One" is "Die Hard on a plane"), but for a quick seasonal action film to watch on basic cable on a weeknight, you could do worse. I mean, you could be paying seven bucks to go see Rob Schneider in "The Hot Chick." That ought put it heavily into perspective. -
RLARKT1999 December 2006I saw this film,during the Christmas season a few years back. This is a tame version of Die Hard. It takes place in Chicago,but viewers in Canada will recognize some of the Canadian outlets. The film was made,I think in Winnepeg. A lot of shooting and action takes place in this film without the blood-gore like it was in Die Hard. A good cast the actors was assembled for this film. Originally released for TV,Christmas rush,the film is available on DVD under the title,Breakaway. This a good film to put people in the Christmas mood as well entertain you. Dean Caine, plays the role of a police officer under suspension from the police force because of a cover-up,Eric Roberts,a reformed jewel thief,retired,separated from his wife,needs the money for a life saving operation for his son. Although the film does contain some violence,it should be OK for family viewing. After a long day of Christmas shopping,if this film is being aired on TV,watch it,or is available at the video store,rent it.
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jfulmer1 December 2002Oh my. I only have a few things to say:
1) Diehard Ripoff
2) MacGuyver Ripoff (the Leatherman should get its own credit)
3) Best ending since 'Space Mutiny' (MST3K fans should get that one)
4) Go Karts. Yes, the final chase scene has Go Karts.
5) Christianity has a lot to do with killing people and blowing things up. Or so sayeth the movie.
If you want a good movie, go find something else. If you want to make ummerciful fun of one of the worst written, worst acted, christian-oriented action movies ever, this is for you. -
iroxursoxorama22 December 2006I think it's definitely watchable but it has some "Yeah, Ooo-kay" moments. For one, the cops are taking there sweet ass time. For two, when he's getting chased by the gentleman in dreadlocks why in the world does he take the time to go all "Home Alone" on him and open some bottles of product and put them on floor when he has a good 20 foot running lead in a mall with a bunch of places to hide. At one point one of the black dudes is actually building a bomb to take the protagonist out within feet of him. Truthfully, I think it would've been a better movie if we let the antaganist be the protagonist, because our hero basically comes off as the nosy bitch down the street that nobody likes.
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Theo Robertson15 December 2003To all you wannabe movie makers out there don`t worry about plagerism because you can only be sued if you tear the top sheet containing the screenplay credits off and insert your new top sheet saying you`re the author of the screenplay . That`s the literal and legal meaning of plagerism , trust me I`ve been to film school and I know what I`m talking about and this knowledge must come as a relief to the producers of CHRISTMAS RUSH which is identical in plot to the original DIE HARD movie and when I say identical I do mean identical in every way even down to the bad guys , some of whom are German - I did say identical didn`t I ? - taking the hero cop`s wife hostage . Did I mention this film`s identical to DIE HARD ?
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Robert_duder4 January 2006I am beginning to really despise reviewers who don't know exactly what to expect from certain movies. It's like going to see Star Wars and saying "I hated all the space scenes." You have to know a little about what you're about to see. Christmas Rush aka Breakaway gives you exactly what one would expect but even goes beyond the modest expectations and delivers a fairly decent, low budget TV action film. Let's look at the clues...Dean Cain (good actor, done a lot of movies but mostly low budget, TV films that don't review well), Eric Roberts...hey the guy has been around for ages and done scores of films and the majority of them are really low budget crap and he shows up in almost anything. Clue three...it's a TV movie...now that doesn't make it bad by any means but you always have to ask yourself why it wasn't good enough to make it to theaters. I knew exactly what I was going in for when I rented this film and I was pleasantly surprised. YES WE GET IT...IT'S SIMILAR TO DIE HARD..LET IT GO!! Besides the fact that what's wrong with being like Die Hard?? One of the greatest action films to date and I think it's a great movie to strive to be like. It's not exactly the same and has many different ideas and features so it's not a rip off by means.
Dean Cain does a good job as the hero of the film. He plays the highly moral, but tough cop Cornelius Morgan who lands himself into trouble when he takes down a bad guy and a bullet grazes a citizen who then sues the city and gets Morgan suspended. Morgan is going to pick up his wife from the local mall when he stumbles upon a major heist headed up by big time crook Jimmy Scalzetti played by Eric Roberts. Roberts does play a great bad guy and him and Cain have a good rivalry and good chemistry opposite each other. Erika Eleniak does an okay job as Cain's wife. Her role is just mostly to be there...eye candy perhaps...so there isn't a lot to her character but she does alright. The story is actually quite good and the action is non-stop and director/writer Charles Robert Carner uses a lot of slow down shots to really intensify the scenes and distract you from the low budget special effects which really works. Tons of weapons, shoot outs and explosions galore just like an action film should be and all taking place in a shopping mall.
It's far from a perfect film or even a well edited film which is where the low budget part comes in. There are plot holes a plenty, some really campy moments (although not nearly as many as everyone seems to think there was) and some poorly acted role (Aleks Paunovic plays one of Eric Roberts' men with a horrible accent and even worse acting.) The chase in the go karts is a little campy but not nearly as bad as everyone seemed to think it is. The ending is also way too neat and tidy and a little too much of a happy ending and I still don't understand why Cain's character is so eager to give up his huge reward to help the son of the thief who nearly killed his wife but I suppose that's just the way the movie ends. All in all I think if you want a light action movie, and you enjoy Dean Cain or Eric Roberts this is one of their better pictures. It's a decent low budget action flick that entertains. Something a little different for Christmas viewing. Worthy of a rent or better yet catch it on TV!! 7.5/10 -
FrostyHornyPie20 December 2006Okay, so it's a ripoff of Die Hard. How many TV movies have you seen that don't bear remarkable resemblances to specific theatrical movies. And so there are goofs galore. But if you just relax and watch it, you will probably enjoy it. You won't remember it long afterward though. I watched it because I'll watch anything with a Christmas theme or setting. In this case, it basically, like Die Hard, an action movie with a Christmas setting, but there is a mild theme in it which I won't reveal since it would involve spoilers. There is a bit of sentiment in it though, the fact that there is a child involved who requires a prohibitively expensive operation to save his life.
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whpratt12 July 2008This film takes place in Chicago, Illinois around Christmas time with people doing their last minute shopping on Christmas Eve and a Lt. Cornelius Morgan, (Dean Cain) has been put on suspension and his badge and weapon have been taken from him and he was wished a Merry Christmas from his chief of police. Cornelius is married to a very pretty blonde petite wife named Catherine, (Cat) Morgan, (Erika Eleniak) and they are both trying to handle this bad news at Christmas time. Cat is a religious woman and she tries to give her husbands support but there is a fight right at Christmas Eve and Cornelius decides to make up with her and bring her flowers at her place of business in a very large mall. While he is in the mall he notices that there is a robbery going on and he starts to investigates and gets himself into a war zone with plenty of bullets flying and lots of bombs and you name it, everything is used. This robbery involves 12 million dollars and Cornelius recognizes the leader of the gang and things go from bad to worse. Eric Roberts, (Jimmy Scalzetti) gave a great supporting role to this wild Christmas story and this film will hold your interest right to the very end. Enjoy
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Latvian200423 August 2005A cop who has shot a civilian by accident while he was aiming on another person, which means that he is not an accurate shooter and has some issues with his eyes, how can he shoot on security cameras and damaging them so easily ?
How can a suspended cop, who goes to kiss and make up for his wife on Christmas eve, walks carrying a back-up pistol 3 AMMO CHAMBERS and a Swiss knife ?
And what about the fact that this "super" cop, has survived from 2 grenades and one big explosion at a closed place and he was few centimeters away from each accident ?
I don't want to comment more than that because I don't want to get a reply like, then why you watched this movie ! -
mm-392 December 2002This is TV's version of Die Hard, and I like it. Every aspect of the film works, and does not have any of the annoying poor quality one expects from TV movies. It is entertaining, and not sappy either, ok a little. I believe it was filmed in Portage Place Mall in my home town. This is where my best friend Rick Krager and I would hang out on weekends and girl watch. It is funny how the camera angles make the mall look ten times bigger, a scene is at the old Eatons mall entrance, which no longer exists with the new arena going up. Watching this film is not waste of time like most made for TV movies. I give it an 8 out of 10.
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This is a TV movie about a big time robbery of a mall. It insults our intelligence on just about every level. First off, Dean Cain does not look nearly old enough to have a family with children of the age shown here. But, how did this youngish, goateed fellow get to be a police lieutenant? He looks only about old enough to be out of the academy for about a year or so!
Stumbling upon a robbery of the mall (where his wife works, of course) on Christmas Eve (see "Diehard"), Cain goes into pursuit mode. Well, I have news for these ignorant Hollywood script writers: forced opening of the outer doors of an elevator while it is in motion will result in immediate stopping of the elevator itself. There are also no convenient clean chains hanging to allow a person to shimmy down to the elevator cab. Oh, and our hero just happens to have a multipurpose tool in his pocket, with which he merely turns a screw on the elevator threshold and releases the doors. NOT!
With this amount of foolishness to show just how improbable this movie is, I declined to be assaulted by it any further. Avoid this turkey! -
nruss784 November 2004Yes! Another pathetic waste of my time! This movie was great for it's horrible over-use of clichéd ideas, a buddy system between the criminals that's ridiculous(all of them are either friends or family to one another), mediocre plot line that would make Ed Wood look like Orson Wells. This movie was so unbelievably bad that it mesmerized and hypnotized me... no matter if the protagonist has shot down someone to death and the victim mysteriously is able to keep living later on in the film. Yes, I loved hearing about how this criminal celebrated Kwanzaa... jees, how can such a horrible movie suck me in like that? I feel raped... Hmm... more space to fill in... let's see... ah... what do you want me to say? ah... oh look! My line's are met! Yay! Well there it is then.
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Some nice moments between leads. A twist near the end I didn't see coming. Liked the ending, thought it said a lot. As far as "police procedure" goes, especially since he was already on suspension, can we say BACK UP. Thought that back up should have been called for immediately.
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ashish317 May 2007A totally pathetic attempt at a hero centric movie. Contain more plot holes than there are edited scenes. Seeing Dean Cain from "Ripley's believe it or not" as the hero, I thought it might be an OK movie. God was I wrong! Forget about ripping off Die Hard - it is an insult to the Die Hard series. A suspended police officer carries fully loaded guns with extra ammunition when shopping for a boutique!! No bad guy ever hurts him, even if he is stronger than our hero!! No bullet ever hits him!! He is always able to find where the bad guys are, while the bad guys always seems to forget that there is a suspended police officer on their trails. He kills all the bad guys, yet his wife preaches about killing to the villain!! Villain and the last remaining bad guys are always stupid enough to NOT kill him and let him follow them everywhere!! If these are spoilers for someone who wants to watch the movie, they don't know about the standard Hollywood formula for making movies. My advice, stay away from this one at all cost, even if your life depends on watching this one!!
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scottlit21 December 2005Is it just me, or is this just B-movie Die Hard in a mall? The perfect heist? An ingenious escape involving explosives? One cop who accidentally ends up in the middle of things? His wife used as a hostage? This all sounds very familiar. Hmmm....
On the other hand, it is reasonably entertaining, and if you liked Die Hard, and you're bored, and you see it come on on TBS, you could probably do worse. The guy who plays the main hero is no Bruce Willis, but he does a pretty good job here...
I could've done without the strobe effect in the tunnel at the end though. Is this required by the MPAA in all B-movies? -
wes-connors31 July 2008In Chicago (Canada), it's hard times for goateed ex-superman Dean Cain (as Lt. Cornelius Morgan); he is suspended from the police force for being too generous with his bullets. Mr. Cain and Baywatch blonde Erika Eleniak (as Catherine "Cat" Morgan) might have to send their children to public school. (Gasp!) Worse off is ex-gangster Eric Roberts (as Jimmy Scalzetti), who must return to his more successful life of crime. Mr. Roberts' son has leukemia, and desperately needs an expensive bone marrow transplant. (Choke)
So, Cain and Roberts have a "Die Hard" shoot-out in the mall, where Ms. Eleniak becomes a lipstick and blood hostage. Written and directed for Christians, by Charles Robert Carner. Re-titled "Breakaway" to lure in unsuspecting non-believers. This is an unforgivable waste of resources. There is no laugh track. Those involved surely found a chunk of coal in their stockings.
* Christmas Rush (12/1/02) Charles Robert Carner ~ Dean Cain, Eric Roberts, Erika Eleniak -
aurorapic2 December 2002Dean Cain and Eric Roberts did a good job considering what they had to work with.
I really think that the writing was lame. Die Hard and its sequels are better. There were various changes in the beginning and the end, but for the most part I felt like I was watch a watered down version of Die Hard.
Dean Cain is a suspended cop who single handedly tries to rescue the hostages (Cain's wife among them) and stop Eric Roberts and his gang from robbing the local mall. Big thrill! -
mahindaradio30 September 2018Why do people buy a film or watch one? In 98% cases it is to watch a movie for entertainment. Not to compare it with other movies or to write reviews or impress others as armchair reviewers. This film taken independently is both entertaining and exciting. Tight, slick editing and plots and sub plots keeps one guessing. Good entertainment.
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FrankZZ13 December 2002This movie had in my opinion only two flaws: 1) having been filmed in the first place 2) having been released and shown ....
well, I guess there are worse movies on TV, but at least some of them end up being funny.
2 hrs. had been better spent watching paint dry. -
rox7319 December 2002I kept seeing horrible reviews for this movie. I finally got to see this for myself. Okay, so this isn't the best movie out there. It is made for television and really feels it. The movie had some ridiculous moments I have to agree, but over all, I thought it was one of Dean Cain's better movies. I voted for this movie with his other movies in mind giving it a much high vote then his others.
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wkozak22124 March 2020I saw this once on t.v. . Liked it immediately. I like the whole film. Erika is very pretty. I do have a problem with Morgan repeating some of his lines too much. The action is good. Story is good also. It is nice to see Eric Roberts play a flawed, repentent guy.
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souschef8122 November 2005I was living in the city of Winnipeg Manitoba when this movie was being filmed! It was great to see this movie being filmed just a few miles from where I lived! This film was in the "Portage Place Mall" where I hung out a lot, and to see all of the Christmas decorations put up in June, I was wondering what was going on. I thought it was a great movie, because I know where everything was when I was watching the movie, "see I was sitting there a lot" I was telling my family members, and "that is where I parked my care when I was at the mall!" It is just great to watch a movie and know that you were there to see it being filmed, even thought it most of it was filmed in the wee evening hours, I was there too in the wee evening hours!! And many other movies were filmed in Winnipeg at the time!