A plane crashes near the Killington ski resort. On board is a container with a radioactivity warning--in the Cyrillic alphabet.
A group of terrorists, led by Sandra and the terminally ill Greig, are willing to kill, and they do. The power goes out at the resort, and contact is lost with the outside world, except for incoming calls to the resort.
Meg wants to marry ski patrol member Matt, who cleans banks during the off-season. Her rich father Bill does not approve. Through creative and humorous editing, as Meg explains Matt's good qualities, we get to see whether he actually has them. Matt is dealing with some of the terrorists, along with forest ranger Beck, who provides comic relief.
Oh, if only the entire movie had the quality of the music with the opening credits, repeated in the final scenes before the closing credits. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (the part that included the familiar 'Ode to Joy') performed by the Tblisi Symphony Orchestra. The credits didn't list the name of the excellent tenor soloist (I think he was a tenor, anyway). Magnificent.
I liked Bruce Campbell better as the comical hero Brisco County. He has his moments here as a smart-aleck villain, but I wouldn't say he could make a career out of playing a bad guy.
I felt sorry for Stacy Keach, who apparently was going through a career slump. He did show how talented he is, and if you blink you'll miss it.
Resort manager Clay came across as an incompetent idiot, and later as a poor excuse for a human being. I'm not sure this was a good thing. Beck was a more likable loser, and better acted too.
There were some interesting chase scenes, including one with a great stunt snowboarder. And plenty of explosions for those not obsessed with them. Also lots of tension toward the end. Early in the movie when the terrorists were in New York City, there was a great overhead shot of what may have been the Empire State Building.
But overall, there was nothing really special here.
