Movie Review: On the Border

On the Border a.k.a Coyote Rain
Nu Image / Millennium Films, Webster & Montague Production, USA, 1998. 

Jaded security guard Jake Barnes (Casper Van Dien) guards a bank located near Mexican border. Bank manager Ed's (Daniel Baldwin) wife Rosalita (Rochelle Swanson) has a steamy affair with Jake. Ed wants to kill the other man but doesn't know who he is. Ed is also laundering South American drug money. Jake and Rosalita plan to rob the bank as a big shipment of dirty money is arriving soon.

Jake Barnes

Ed

Rosalita

Jake meets a suspicious hitchhiker girl Kristin (Camilla Overbye Roos) on the road and offers her a temporary housing. Violent criminal Barry Montana (Bryan Brown) forced her to seduce Jake as he also plans to rob the bank. Jake's old 'friend' Sykes (Bentley Mitchum, Robert's grandson) is released from the prison and arrives to town to further mess things up. Can you guess what he is up to? 

Kristin

Sykes

The film offers 1990s direct to video B-movie goodness. It is a noirish thriller with some steamy erotic scenes. It is a slightly better Casper Van Dien film if you are willing to forget the plot holes and some recycled script ideas. The border town setting offers some nice cinematography. Nothing is as seems and just about everyone wants the money. The ending is hilariously over the top with double-crosses and double-double-crosses! The femme fatales are ambiguous and it is difficult to see how it will end. Van Dien is wooden but still has more facial expressions than Kristen Stewart. Actually he fits the role as a bored guard who is stuck in the desert town. Bryan Brown chews the scenery with some weird scenes, that is a dangerous way to answer a phone:

Barry on the phone

Rating: Good

Starring: Casper Van Dien, Bryan Brown, Daniel Baldwin, Rochelle Swanson, Camilla Overbye Roos, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Heidi Jo Markel, Bentley Mitchum, John Bishop, Bridget Wilkes, Gina Angela Ritchie, Elizabeth Bradley, Bill Stuart, Valentin Sandoval, Alma Nava, Ruth Bastillos, Gary Paul, Frank Bowles, Pavel Jezek, Fernando Fuentes Sr., Heidi Carrasco, Judith Van Vleet, Daniel Zubiate 

Director: Bob Misiorowski