LIFE ON THE LINE (2015)

Genre: Action
Director: David Hackl
Cast: John Travolta, Kate Bosworth, Devon Sawa, Julie Benz, Gil Bellows, Ryan Robbins, Ty Olsson, Reese Alexander, Stuart Stone, Sharon Stone
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 1 September 2016

Synopsis: Life on the Line is an exhilarating action drama, which follows the lives of a crew of eccentric and courageous Texan power line workers who do the extremely dangerous work of fixing the crumbling electrical grid. John Travolta stars as ‘Beau’, a salt of the earth man who blames himself for his brother’s death and raises Bailey, his orphaned niece (Kate Bosworth). His worlds collide when Bailey’s handsome lover joins his linemen crew on the eve of a massive and deadly storm that threatens to rip their lives apart.

Movie Review: 

Before we start the review proper, let me explain what a Line worker actually does. They are in fact those hardworking dudes who scale electrified poles to make sure every household gets the electricity. Though we don’t really have Linemen in our small little red dot, being a lineman is actually the fourth’s most dangerous job in the States. The filmmakers are so generous that they even shared a slideshow in the movie to prove that point.

In Life On The Line, a bushy John Travolta plays Beau, a no-nonsense line worker who helped raised her orphaned niece after her parents died in separate tragic accidents. His little niece happens to grow up to be Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) aka Bailey whose love of her life is a guy named Duncan (Devon Sawa). Beau being the overprotective uncle disapproves of the relationship because Duncan is a poor guy, had an alcoholic mum (Sharon Stone in a glorified cameo) and to make things worse, he has just become a lineman too.

If Life On The Line is somewhat liked Twisters, at least we have an enjoyable ride following the storm chasers or in this case, lineman in their line of duty. But director David Hackl (Saw V) and the four credited screenwriters have practically no idea on what to do with the subject that they actually piled the entire movie with clichéd dialogue and subplots that have practically nothing much to do with anything. 

Take for instance, there’s a prolonged subplot that involved a fellow line worker, Eugene (Ryan Robbins) who suffered from PTSD and has a cheating wife. This character has almost zilch interaction with Beau except functioning as neighbours of Beau and Bailey. Why this is an ongoing part of the story is muddling. There’s also a disgruntled suitor of Bailey that simply refuses to go away. All these unnecessary plottings took up almost 70 minutes of the running time consider the movie official runtime is only pegged at 98 minutes.

If you are expecting some thrilling action sets, you will be deeply disappointed as the supposedly pending deadly storm is just a cheap gimmick to end the story on a high note. Life On The Line is a lousy movie despite the fact that it harbours good intentions. One of the executive producers actually established an organization to help the families of line workers killed on duty. Fans of Travolta try not to get your hopes up. Rewatch Ladder 49 if you want to see a heroic side of him. 

Movie Rating:

(You thought it’s an action flick involving line workers but it’s NOT)

Review by Linus Tee