Second to Die (2002) User Reviews

Poor Ending Spoils Second to Die **

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 29 July 2006]

Mystery. An engaging, interesting storyline is killed by a ridiculous ending.

The story of a beautiful blond who does away with the image of a dumb blond by building a bomb to kill her husband. She had everything until they found out that wife #1 killed herself and a few days later, their handicapped daughter shows up to live with them. Her husband makes her a maid for this child. Enter the guy's best friend, played by Jerry Kroll, who is a definite look alike to Eddie Fisher. The two plot to kill Jim (#1) for an insurance policy. Turns out they can't do anything until she dies since the policy can only kick in then and it will be for the surviving child.

In the meantime, suspicions are aroused when Kroll weds our blond shortly after Jim's death.

The late Paul Winfield plays a widowed detective who is on the trail of the two.

Again, the ending is ridiculous as everyone comes together suggesting that everyone was in this for the money. Ridiculous.

A nice little movie with some surprises

[headhunter46 · 6/10 · 8 August 2006]

Possible spoilers but I'll be careful not to ruin the plot.

This movie had me guessing toward the end. I think the cast did quite well with the script and none were obviously "acting". This was the best performance by Erika I have seen to date and I hold out hope that she can learn to really "become" the person she is portraying. I think she has potential. The guy who played the cruel Jim was absolutely, believably rotten to our heroine. He and Grady the older detective were the two in this movie that did the best job in my opinion. I despised Jim for the way he treated his wife, but now I realize its because he really acted the part well.

The ending left the viewer to do some of their own brain work and for me that was a bit of a let down. Maybe I'm weird but I like clean endings so you know what really became of the characters. A few of them were left for you to figure out. For that I deducted one point.

Write your own ending...................

The oldest stroke of life insurance policy!!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 5/10 · 30 October 2019]

The premise couldn't be so foolish, a unhappy married dumb blonde Sara Bratchett (Erika Eleniak) and his closest friend Raymond Scucello (Jery Kroll) having an affair, suddenly they have a fabulous idea, frame an efficient plan to kill the husband Jim Bratchett (John Wesley Ship) in a explosion in his own airplane to get rid of him for good, it won't raise any kind of mistrust, due him works on demolition, using those plastic explosives and devices to ignite it, after a week or something she get marry with Scudello, however Sara found dead on his swimming pool, the Detective Grady ( Paul Winfield) in charge of the investigation, Sara has a sister Amber (Kimberley Rowe) that appears there, Sara left an diary, through this Amber will slowly figure out all about, anyway a poor screenplay, on weakest acting, apart the veteran actor Paul Winfield who gave some reliability to the movie, the remaining is awful and no make sense!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 5.5

Interesting Thriller

[archive1 · 23 July 2002]

I have to give Erica Eleniac credit: she really is trying hard to shed her early career as 'eye candy' and take on more challenging and serious roles. Hollywood being what it is, she still spends a lot of time in this movie scantilly clad...but also delivers a performance of real depth as a party girl who married for money only to find herself trapped in a loveless marriage. When she starts to plot to have her husband killed, things start to go terribly wrong. The movie uses an unusual framing devise in having the action related in a series of flashbacks from the dead woman's diary as it is being read by her younger sister (also Eleniak). Paul Winfield also delivers a solid performance as an aging cop, somewhat similar to that of Gene Hackman's aging cop in the movie 'Falling Down'. While not exactly a masterpiece, and utilizing plot devises that have cropped up many times in other movies, the quality of the cast and the dead-on solid performance by Eleniak combine to lift this film over its B-movie cliches!Recomended

Almost watchable

[dusan-22 · 2/10 · 1 September 2009]

This would be a watchable Hollywood mediocre if it had a good editing. It relies on the typical American thriller plot - "who is going to outsmart everyone". Acting is below average, but with shining appearance of the detective who is the best actor in the film and he is mostly responsible if the tension in the film rises. Film was completely suffocated by blank video and sound shots and most of it looks like raw film material. All in all, if you don't mind watching a movie that looks like a student film project, this is a film to watch. I guess that would be enough to say on this film, everything else could really spoil the tension that is probably low enough.

Awful, Pointless Movie

[elizacron · 1/10 · 15 November 2010]

I've never written a review on IMDb but after catching this little stinker today on Lifetime Movie Network, or whatever it is called, I jumped on here to see what others had written. I couldn't believe the number of people giving this piece of you-know-what good ratings! First of all, the writing was mindless. Anyone could have written this script. It is generic and bland. The worst part of this movie HAS to be the acting. Half the time the cast sounds as if they are simply reading their lines, the other half they sound like they are too bored to bother. And who could blame them? I don't excuse the sloppy filmmaking and apathetic acting just because it is a small budget film. Many others have managed to produce well-scripted and acted movies on tight budgets. One of the critics said this is the perfect movie for 3am on Showtime when you can't sleep. I agree. Better than Unisom!

One Of Paul Winfield's Last Movies

[FilmNoirOnline · 7/10 · 26 June 2007]

An interesting thriller that has Paul Winfield as a detective on the case of a murder. Paul Winfield was an underrated actor who pulled off all his roles with such ease, it was hard to tell the man was even acting. Maybe most known by younger viewers as the voice/narrator of "City Confidential", Winfield ends his career with a so-so movie; but as always, Winfield shines. A treat to watch.

Erika Eliniak is well, Erika Eliniak, nice to look at but leaves a lot to be desired in the acting department. Though, to be fair, this is one of her better efforts.

Bottom line: a watchable thriller that shouldn't be missed by any Paul Winfield fan. A decent telefilm to help send Paul Winfield off to celluloid heaven. What an actor. He will be missed.

I applaud this little film

[martasavila · 8/10 · 24 October 2005]

We're talking about a low budget film, and it's understandable that there are some weaknesses (no spoilers: one sudden explosives expert and one meaningless alcoholic); but in general the story keeps you interested, most of the characters are likable and there are some original situations.

I really like films that surprise you with some people that are not who they want you to believe and then twist and turn the plot ... I applaud this one on that.

If you know what I mean, try to see also "Nueve Reinas" (Nine Queens) a film from Argentina.

Paul Winfield -- ten stars always

[tashaffer · 9/10 · 8 August 2018]

I like Second to Die for mindless entertainment, and despite criticism to the opposite, I think Eleniak is a good actress. But mostly, agreeing with other review, I can watch the movie again and again just to see Paul Winfield as a cute, comical detective, always polite while he has everyone's number. Truly, Winfield was an underrated actor. How tragic that he died so soon.