Matty rhapsodizes about another spirited Armand Assante-starring caper from the late, great Anthony Hickox.

FEDERAL PROTECTION is the second — and best — of the three Armand Assante pics in the Anthony Hickox/Steve Beswick/David Lancaster continuum, following the Last Run (2001) and preceding Consequence (2003). In a wider sense, the film is part of the spike in blackly comic crime flicks post Pulp Fiction (1994), specifically the wave of more mob-based capers that cropped up in the wake of small screen darling The Sopranos. As with many of its contemporaries, Federal Protection struggles with a script that, well, just ain’t peak Tarantino or David Chase. Still, with most imitators believing that the key to QT or Chase-esque material are cringe-inducing pop culture references and a helluva lot of swearing, Federal Protection’s scribe, Craig Smith [1], at least unleashes enough quirk of his own to elevate this snappily paced number above its bigger budgeted counterpart, the similarly minded Bruce Willis/Matthew Perry vehicle The Whole Nine Yards (2000) [2]. 

Heralded by the majestic sight of Assante in a wig of Nicolas Cage proportions (a flourish also present in the Last Run and Consequence), Federal Protection launches with a slick and impeccably orchestrated junkyard prologue that joins Waxwork (1988), Full Eclipse (1993), and Payback (1995) as one of the hottest starts of Hickox’s career. Though the finer points of the plot – in which Assante’s in-hiding car thief is ratted out to his ex-associates by a pair of enterprising neighbours – aren’t quite as shaded as they should be, the late, great helmer does his Last Run trick and aims for memorable moments and spectacle. The results are lively, flamboyant and fabulous. Highlights include: some wonderfully gratuitous displays of morbidly funny violence; an ultra-slinky Dina Meyer in dominatrix gear; and a rain soaked finale reminiscent of the bombastic conclusion to Hickox’s brilliant stalker/courtroom drama hybrid, Invasion of Privacy (1996).        

Crisply lensed, colourful (the vibrant, stylised costumes of the various side characters are especially eye-catching), and performed with relish by Assante, Meyer, Angela Featherstone (as Assante’s love interest/Meyer’s harangued sister-in-law), and the rest of its game cast, Federal Protection premiered on HBO in March 2002, four months before its Promark produced stablemate the Last Run’s bow on network subsidiary, Cinemax. It surfaced on tape and disc via Lionsgate on 4th June of the same year. Here in the U.K. Federal Protection was issued on cassette by High Fliers on 9th December ‘02; which, as it happens, was a few months ahead of the company – a longtime distributor of Promark wares – nudging the Last Run onto shelves in early ‘03.

USA/Germany ● 2002 ● Thriller, Comedy ● 89mins

Armand Assante, Angela Featherstone, Dina Meyer ● Dir. Anthony Hickox ● Wri. Craig Smith

[1] Smith and Lancaster previously teamed on Showtime caper Scam (1993), which was adapted from Smith’s 1992 novel, Ladystinger. In addition to Christopher Walken, Scam also starred a post-GoodFellas (1991), pre-Sopranos Lorraine Bracco.
[2] Incidentally, The Whole Nine Yards was produced by Andrew Stevens and Ellie Samaha’s Franchise Pictures, with whom Hickox worked – via their DTV subdivision, Phoenician – on Storm Catcher (1999) and Jill Rips (2000).