Katz5 Review of Two-Minute Warning

Two-Minute Warning (1976)

Another so-called "what if" disaster movie of the '70s

[8/10 · 8 August 2005]

Like Black Sunday, which came out a year after this movie, "Two-Minute Warning" was billed as a disaster movie that used the "what if" basis of other genre examples of the '70s (and I'm including "Towering Inferno" and "Earthquake" along with the "mad bomber" movies like "Rollercoaster" and "Juggernaut"). "Black Sunday," "Two-Minute Warning" and "Rollercoaster" are really the three most believable now--the disasters are man-made and show us how vulnerable we really are (I, for one, am praying members of terrorists group don't watch the movie "Rollercoaster"). In Two-Minute Warning, a sniper with no apparent motive climbs to the top of an LA football stadium and starts shooting at the two-minute warning. It is possible the sniper had political assassination on his mind as the President was scheduled to come to the game. But it's never really explained, which bothered many critics including Roger Ebert. But after the events in the DC area in the fall of 2002 (which I lived through--I'll never forget having to pace back and forth quickly while pumping gas, to avoid being a target), snipers are never really understood--they're psychotic, plain and simple. "Targets," the early Peter Bogdonavich film, which Two-Minute Warning reminded me of, spent a good part of the movie explaining the alienation of its sniper. To a degree---you saw his family, his interaction with his wife, and saw what appeared to be his isolation. It's certainly not a justification for killing innocent motorists, but the film did show his face. "Two-Minute Warning" doesn't even show the face of the sniper until the end. The point of the filmmakers is clear: The sniper is unknown and deadly. This movie goes a little over-the-top in the gratuitous violence (unlike most other '70s disaster movies), but is absolutely suspenseful and the acting is very good (especially by John Cassavettes as the leader of the SWAT team). Gena Rowlands, Cassavettes' wife and muse, also appears as a spectator.