DANGER ZONE
"Everything's gonna be fine". The Lifetime network never goes that route. That's like saying that the Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn't lean. Natch.
Anyway, Danger in the Spotlight is my latest write-up. It's gonzo film-making with an even more gonzo ending (and that's saying a lot for a certain long-running cable endeavor). What's on screen has so much promise till "Danger" pulls a 180 "WTF" just for the heck of it. I mean seriously.
So OK, Danger in the Spotlight for the most part is a Lifetime drama thriller that is generally well-crafted. It has an original premise about a recovering alcoholic who commits a hit-and-run leaving a famous ballet dancer paralyzed (so you think).
Jessica Morris (as Martha) plays said alcoholic and her screen presence is palatable. I mean Morris is a babe, she's a Lifetime lifetime-r, and well, she's pretty darn sexy. But to paint her as a kind of pseudo villain in the end is just bunk. It renders "Danger" sort of icky and a little misguided.
Danger in the Spotlight leads you down a path where you almost know where things are headed. Thanks to its eerie vibe, its multiple flashbacks, its red herrings, and its solid musical score by Tomas Peire, the film is still generally watchable. But jeez, that conclusion lacks credibility and overall plausibility. I guess pigs really do fly (ugh).
I mean you'd have to believe that someone would forgive someone else for trying to kill them so they could get their daughter back in a custody battle. You'd also have to believe that that same someone would commit a murder and help dispose of a dead body for the same darn reason. Lifetime network, I give you credit for going for shock value and thinking outside of the box on this one. But even M. Night Shyamalan has his limitations. Unclear and present "danger".
Written by Jesse Burleson
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