Check Point (2017) User Reviews

I'm not a soldier. I'm a Marine.

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 30 July 2017]

Roy (Kenny Johnson) is a former marine who lives in the streets of Port City (Wilmington, NC) Carolina. We get a brief flashback of his former life and wife. Note, the opening scene is not part of that flashback, but a plot spoiler tease that comes later. His brother (Bill Goldberg) lives in town and wants to help him. There is a terrorist cell beheading people on TV, something Roy gets to watch because mobs of people still gather at the local store and watch TV through a window. Roy is able to identify the unmasked killer and one of the victims which he believes is in Port City. Everyone thinks he is crazy.

This is a PLOT SPOILER paragraph, although I spare many details. About an hour into the film we get a long winded patriotic anarchy, overthrow the government type of speech that even sounded crazy to crazy Roy. Decommissioned Battleships don't move. It would take years to be able to get it to move under its own power and even if it was armed, fueled and ready, it is ineffective in modern times outside of a few unique situations. I love Marines, but they are not trained to operate a boiler and steam plant.

The film had some top "B" stars including Kane Hodder, Fred Williamson, Tyler Mane, William Forsythe, and Mindy Robinson to name a few. It also had a great soundtrack with top 40 rock tunes. They spent some money. Unfortunately the script was horrible. It was totally unbelievable with wooden dialogue. They have some kind of Marine dedication for the film, which is nice, except the film really sucked.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Mindy Robinson and Krista "rack pack" Grotte- cleavage only.

The fight comes home

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 1 May 2018]

Part of me was intrigued before watching 'Check Point'. It sounded interesting with a great concept, but it did look like a not very well made, ridiculous and by the numbers film with not particularly good actors so there was a little apprehension. Saw 'Check Point' anyway out of curiosity, being intrigued by the idea and having been a lot of low-budget films recently (most not very good to put it lightly).

'Check Point' managed to be worse than expected, even with mixed expectations. It started off pretty badly, got even worse quickly and never recovered. It picks up marginally at the end, when it gets a little more eventful and wasn't as dull. Sadly that's saying little, it feels too late when that happens and the climax is badly bungled and clumsy.

On a visual level, 'Check Point' looked shoddy. Drab and simplistic, with haphazard editing, far from slick photography and very artificial-looking visuals on the whole. The scenery is one of the two least bad aspects of the film, but the low budget look of everything else in the production values makes it difficult to appreciate.

The sound is intrusive and obvious, making a waste of the other least bad aspect of the film (the music, which is a little more than the one-note, repetitive stuff it could have been) and the direction has no sense of atmosphere or pacing, nothing to be thrilled by and nothing much engaging.

Script is awkward-sounding and ponderous, with lines that do make one cringe. A lot of it is gibberish and juvenile, with a stilted improvisatory feel that shouldn't have made it past draft stages.

On top of that, the story goes through the motions with no tension, suspense or thrills, a lot of intelligence-insulting ridiculousness, implausibility and pacing so dull that it makes a reasonably short length much longer. It is very derivative and parts also felt incomplete. The action sequences are more preposterous and by the numbers than they are thrilling or fun. The terrible way they look also hinder them.

Characters are basically every stereotype in the book it seems and are one-dimensional caricatures with no likeability or development and with the inability to behave logically. The acting is very poor all round, even from those who have been in films for years and in roles they should have been perfect for.

In summary, very poor. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Even I couldn't stomach this B movie

[dpavluk-13413 · 2/10 · 6 August 2017]

First off, I love movies, all kinds of movies. Good, OK, Awesome, I like to watch action flicks. HOWEVER, this is way over the top. William Forsyth was good, but the rest of the cast was just blah. And by the time you reach the final scene of the movie, your head should start to spin.

SPOILER ALERT: So you are a renegade group of soldiers fighting off a group of Army soldiers - that were delivered by civilian helicopter, but anyway - you're being over run, and using an M72 LAW, you fire at, and shoot down, A FLAG POLE!...Really?! There are ways to make an artistic point in a movie. This one missed by a mile...smh.

Not a legitimate effort to make an enjoyable film

[denny321 · 1/10 · 5 May 2020]

This is a classic case of a film made by people who really didn't care at all if it was any good. They hired a couple actors with recognizable names who could sleepwalk through inept dialog and poorly choreographed action, came up with a plot that sounds arguably engaging when reduced to a one-liner, made a distribution deal with Netflix and Showtime and called it a success. Whether anyone actually likes it is immaterial. In its own way this is a far poorer effort than anything made by Ed Wood, because Wood actually believed his films were entertaining.

The plot involves a two-stage effort to take over the USA: steal a decommissioned battleship now serving as a museum in a small North Carolina town and sail it up the Potomac to attack Washington, and simultaneously send commandos through a secret Civil War era tunnel linking that very same small North Carolina town (holy coincidence!) to the White House to assassinate the president.

In order for their plot to succeed, here's a few things that need to happen:

• The museum piece battleship must still be completely functional and stocked with live ordnance

• The Potomac must be dredged out to accommodate the battleship's 38' draft (the river is only 10'-20' deep near the city; there's a reason Washington isn't a major seaport)

• The Woodrow Wilson Bridge must be opened to accommodate the battleship's 170' height above waterline; the 14th St bridges don't open and may need to be removed

• A single vintage battleship must be able to destroy the US government completely, targeting from a distance of a couple miles by an inexperienced crew

• The US military must be incapable of sinking a single vintage battleship before it destroys the US government

• The Civil War era tunnel, untrod for 150 years, must still be intact over its entire 250+ mile length

• The secret tunnel, a well known local legend in the small North Carolina town, must be unknown to the White House (and not plugged up with cement long ago)

• The president needs to be at home (and not out golfing or attending a campaign rally) when the commandos show up

• The Secret Service must be ineffective at protecting the president from a small group of commandos who appear to be mostly over 50 and have just traveled 250+ miles in an underground tunnel

I can't say any of this film was legitimately enjoyable but here are my two favorite moments:

• During the battle on the battleship, the roided-up good guy spots the roided-up bad guy and tacitly they both put down their guns and fight barehanded. This is an overused plot device usually played out between longtime antagonists but here the two guys have never even seen each other before. The message seems to be when muscleboys meet they're swept up in a homoerotic frenzy and set aside the mission at hand (saving America or destroying America, respectively) to spend ten minutes mashed up against each other.

• During the final battle, the bleached blond, big-breasted truckstop-looking good girl fights the bleached blond, big-breasted truckstop-looking bad girl, and the shaved-head, bearded good guy fights the shaved-head, bearded bad guy (I wondered why they hired so many shaved-head, bearded/goateed actors until I got a look at the writer/director - those guys must have a club or something). They might have taken a cue from the old Westerns and put white hats on the good guys and black hats on the bad, just so we could tell them apart!

Bottom line: if I was a high school creative writing teacher I would flunk any kid who couldn't come up with a more believable plot.

I'm a former Marine... disgraceful.

[Rattrapk-124-544812 · 1/10 · 22 September 2018]

This is quite possibly the most disgraceful, unrealistic film I've ever seen in my life depicting military in general, let alone my proud Corps. Trust me skip this.

The most wonderfully horrible movie ever made

[jd-creativeguy · 1/10 · 12 August 2017]

I don't know any other way to put it. This movie isn't just bad, it's shockingly bad. It's wonderful in it's horribleness.

The raw acting talent of the foliage on the set are matched only by Mindy Robinson's cleavage.

The special effects are so bad that it makes a low-budget SciFy channel movie look like the latest Roland Emmerich mega flick.

And the dialog, well, I think I can give it a pass based on the assumption that each scene was written by a different person just minutes after the previous scene was shot.

All of this could be forgiven were it not for the fact that the entire story is just disjointed, doesn't resolve anything, and didn't appear to be going anywhere anyway.

No, really?

[stewstakes · 1/10 · 12 July 2018]

This film is so bad that it must have been made this bad on purpose. If you watch it from that perspective it is actually pretty funny. Grab your favorite drug of choice and let the laughs begin!

Wtf did I just watch

[smicyus · 1/10 · 10 August 2017]

This was by far the worst movie I have ever watched. I was bored and it was on Netflix. But dude!!!!! Just awful. Whoever rated this movie as 10's clearly are morons or they worked on the film and trying to boost the rating. The movie is just non stop stupid. If I could give it a negative number I would. It's just really bad. Not a single person in this movie should ever be in another movie and they should be ashamed for making this one. It's just so awful, makes no sense, and is a complete waste of time.

Scenery was nice

[homecookinggirl · 1/10 · 2 August 2017]

This was a terrible movie. I was browsing Netflix for something to watch. Saw this was set in NC and thought it might be interesting. I usually like movies "inspired by actual events". I have no idea what actual events this was based on but it was so far fetched that it was laughable. I liked the familiar backgrounds - but that was all. The acting was terrible, the plot was lame, I still can't figure out why the random couple was killed... It was offensive to Asian women with the terrible stereotyping. I can't say enough about how bad this was. Music was OK?

Uuummmm Ok...

[jesi_r_77 · 3/10 · 12 August 2018]

So the story line is good... I am always up for a military based movie... However the acting is a bit "B" rated....

Kenny Johnson is Awesome!

[billharris-02542 · 8/10 · 13 March 2017]

OK, so the wife and I got this on demand and for an indie film I have to say, it was better than I expected! I'm a big Bate's Motel fan and Kenny Johnson really delivers! He carries the film really well and gives a very emotional performance. It suffers from a few plot holes, repeated scenes and some cheesy dialogue but overall, it delivers the goods. Happy with my purchase!

Total non sensical tosh!!

[martingregory-41535 · 8 September 2018]

I'm off with a snapped Achilles' tendon so I have time on my hands. However watching this disjointed pile of cat sick was not time well spent. Bizarre, bonkers and bloody awful!

Not that bad

[vicky_carter · 6/10 · 18 April 2020]

I think most of the reviews were unfair This movie was not that bad and actually made you laugh at times IMDB should have rated a little higher than they did

A waste (Spoilers)

[RodMartinJr · 1/10 · 17 April 2020]

This doesn't even have good cinematography.

Bad acting, poorly done fight scenes, bad directing, and bad screenplay.

Neither side deserved much sympathy -- protagonists or antagonists.

This was a story about psychopathic patriots who wanted to restore America to its Constitutional roots. While I'm all for reversing the political erosion America has suffered at the hands of greedy politicians and corporate officers, this story does not portray such patriots favorably. Instead, it seems to favor the blind, naive fake patriots who don't see the corruption and are willing to follow orders no matter what kind of damage is done.

And while I could almost root for the protagonists, fighting against bloodthirsty antagonists, holding the status quo is just as much a betrayal. There are far, far better ways to start the revolution the Founding Fathers warned us we would need to create to refresh the font of liberty.

For all the money spent on special effects (clearly not much), they should've spent it all on a better script. At least with a good story, they wouldn't be wasting all their money, even with poor acting and directing.

Wwwwwwwttttttttffffffff

[joshuabusines · 1/10 · 9 July 2020]

Lol I don't know why did I watched untill the end, this is worseeeeee movie ever made.

The most stupid movie

[esadluta · 1/10 · 16 June 2017]

i never saw a movie as stupid as this one. It would look much better if this movie was a cartoon. i never saw a movie as stupid as this one. It would look much better if this movie was a cartoon. i never saw a movie as stupid as this one. It would look much better if this movie was a cartoon. i never saw a movie as stupid as this one. It would look much better if this movie was a cartoon.

bad in many sectors

[adhipur · 4/10 · 22 March 2017]

yeah... many things that's wrong right there, this movie just like a comic with wrong stories :D look to rebecca costume, is she want to go to war or what? she and tj leave Roy's body and run to American flag, is it team mate doing when got sad because their friend just death? look for the army, came by choppers, they leave all of them without try to save any body who get hurts. and many more. overall.. this film just send the budget to a garbage :D

Review of Check Point

[adam-39453 · 2/10 · 14 October 2017]

After months and months of waiting the day finally came to watch Check Point. Written and Directed by B-Movie, Director and Actor Thomas J. Churchill, Check Point is based in the fictional town of Port City, North Carolina. The film stars B-Movie actors and actresses from all likes and they come together to "stop" a terrorist attack from happening on US soil. The summary of the film is that a former Marine, who is down on his luck, oversees some be-headings of local towns people in a local workshop, when he informs the town Sheriff, played by the always great William Forsythe, he is mocked and not believed. He tells his "best friend", played by Bill Goldberg, but he dismisses his claims because Johnson is known to have mental health problems.

The story and relationship between those two characters doesn't make sense at all and I will dive into that further on in the review. It isn't until another local, a teacher, played by Mindy Robinson, finds herself in the back of the local restaurant, where she sees the trough that the be-headings took place and begins to see that something is off. At that point, she is confronted by the woman who owns the shop, played by Michelle Lee, and a fight ensues.

There are twists and turns but overall the film needs a lot of work. Now, having watched this film I noticed many inconsistencies;

1) If the main character, Johnson, was best friends with Goldberg's character, why the hell is he living under a rock, literally, on the beach?

2) Why are there marines working at NSA headquarters?

3) How did one of those marines end up captured and beheaded?

4) Who gave Churchill the money to make this horrible movie? 5) How did the beheaded marine get his head back and end up at the end of the movie with Kane Hodder?

There are so many problems with this movie that it was comical. I thought this may have been a parody type of movie where they were making fun of cheesy action flick, but nope I was wrong. They were dead serious about this film. This is the type of film I would expect 1st year film students to make or even high school AV Club. I do not expect this from seasoned filmmakers. After watching this film I researched a few of Churchill's other flicks, man this dude loves to put himself in his own films. I can see now why Check Point is so bad, the director. Thomas Churchill's directing, acting and writing is as bad if not worse the legendary horrible filmmaker Tommy Wiseau. Casting: The casting for this film is wrong in so many areas. You have type cast actresses like Mindy Robinson and Krista Grotte in it. All they have ever been in is films where they get to wear revealing clothing (I will get back to this) and low-grade horror/comedies. The film also stars legendary actor Kane Hodder, notably known for his portrayal as Jason Voorhees in several Friday the 13th films. His role is limited and I will let you watch to see why. Wardrobe: The wardrobe in the film is comical and impractical, no woman, let alone soldier, ever would wear what Mindy Robinson wore in this film to fight off attackers. Stupid wardrobe choice. The Sheriff looks like he just came from knocking on doors to talk about Christ. Poor Michelle Lee had to do a horrible Asian accent for some reason that never gets explained. Overall this film is bad. Just plain bad. Nothing special about it but if you like watching poorly edited, sub-par acting, adobe after effects added, non-exciting movies than this film is for you. Otherwise, avoid at all possible costs. I am giving this film 2/10 stars because William Forsythe was good but other than that nothing.

Garbage From Start to Finish

[torstensonjohn · 1/10 · 10 September 2018]

Even though it says based on real events THIS film was an atrocity at the highest level. The plot was decent as we seem to be dealing with things of this nature in the here and now, the editing was shoddy and very soft, the special effects were atrocious and the fight sequences looked phony.

The acting was definitely closed off from being anything but the word "ACT". My god a grouping of pets could do a better job. I was highly disappointed in the film as a whole. I watched it for 2 reasons both being Kenny Johnso and Goldberg.

Absymal B-action with a crazy crazy script

[touwney-62612 · 2/10 · 27 October 2018]

This is quintessential B-movie stuff, you just now it after a few minutes. It is sometimes sad watching some pretty good actors interacting in endless dialogues playing various tragic lowlife characters in some random tragic small town. Why the heck doesn't Kenny Johnson wash himself in the ocean you kinda ask yourself. Anyway the most interesting part is that the script and the conspiracy plot is completely bat**** crazy. The people who have written this material and/or financed this must be completely out of their mind. It is some kind of crazy christian people involved in this stuff. I kinda wonder about the actors too.

The things you do for money

[djmacdon-846-178257 · 1/10 · 26 August 2018]

We've all got bills to pay, guess they needed the paycheck! Shockingly bad acting, but made me laugh. I mean the who survives a direct hit from a rocket launcher?! Lol

GOLDBERG rocks!

[herreramike-93514 · 10/10 · 13 March 2017]

Not a big Wrestler fan but, I LOVE GOLDBERG in this movie! The action was great, the story was well written. The film was well directed. My girl loves the Bates Motel and I picked this up in Bestbuy because i noticed the dude from Bates Motel was in it. To my surprise this movie Rocked! The females in this movie are pretty sexy looking from the lead to the bad ass blonde villain. They actually have a bunch of cool fight scenes in the film. Some weird random scenes stuck in i guess for time. including the cheesy tag line-Run, Hide or Fight sounds like a child came up with that. We did laugh at the ugly dead guy with playing cards on him you can see he was breathing. But, overall this film rocked! Loved it and recommending it to people.

WTF??

[stacywoodruff-95747 · 2/10 · 11 June 2018]

If you want to see how to make a bad movie, then you must watch it!!

It doesn't get much worse than this

[jayplawner · 1/10 · 22 September 2019]

Everything about this movie is bad. The story is a joke, the acting is not much better, the "combat" scenes are ridiculous. The rest goes downhill from there. Stay away.

Shameful waste

[BigGuy · 2/10 · 23 June 2018]

A number of the actors in this, actually have had good moments in their careers. None of them deserve to be in this jumbled mess. Forsythe in particular seems to be cashing a paycheck in this one, rather than trying to act. Part of the problem is the script is a mess. The story just isn't coherent, the bad guys' plans don't make sense, and nothing even tries to pass a reality check. Maybe the bad guy's lines are supposed to sound like rehashed rhetoric that compound dwelling morons parrot, but the hero's lines aren't any better.

The action is handled with very poor CGI, where the bullets look more like white blaster bolts than anything. The blood squib effect in particular is laughable.

Anyway, this seems to be one of the new slew of so-called action movies, that are done on a cheap budget, with almost no effort on anyone's part. Let's just short the draft of the script. We filmed the actors during the walk-through, and they did good enough. Oh, we'll add some bullet flashes in post, just pretend you got shot in the head. Back in the 80's and 90's this would barely qualify for direct-to-video. IF that's your thing then you're going to watch this no matter what the review says... If not, then avoid this movie.