Double Down was the first cinematic endeavor by the King of Grade Z WTF independent filmmaking, Neil Breen. It features all the hallmarks he would carry throughout his filmography. There are random shots of skulls, scenes of him furiously typing away on his laptop, long stretches of him roaming through the desert, enough stock footage to draw comparisons to Ed Wood (such as scenes of the Las Vegas skyline, NASA stock footage, and random shots of planes taking off and landing), and the most random close-ups of feet outside of a Doris Wishman movie.
Another Breen trademark: He stars as an all-powerful hero with mysterious and vague powers who is seemingly infallible, incorruptible, and spouts anti-capitalism New Agey nonsense. Breen is a shadowy agent who lives out in the desert who has orders to bring Las Vegas to a standstill using his advanced satellite technology that he runs out of the trunk of his sedan. He’s also a part-time bioterrorist who can bring down major cities should his employers ever think to double-cross him. Eventually, he has a crisis of conscience and sets out to stop his own plan.
Most of the time, Breen walks around by himself while mind-numbing narration plays over the action. (If you can call it that.) The visions and flashbacks of his dead wife are also humorous, but it’s the scene where Neil reacts to her dead body that may go down as his all-time best moment on screen. As he holds her corpse close to him, he lets out a quick little yelp that sounds more like a reaction someone would have to a paper cut or hangnail; not exactly losing the love of your life. Oh, and did I mention Neil is NAKED in this scene? Of course, because why wouldn’t he be? (Gratuitous nudity by Neil is yet another Breen trademark.) Despite coming perilously close to seeing his little Breener, you’ll be scrambling for the rewind button to play this scene over and over again. Trust me.
The movie is chockfull of scenes where Breen spouts out fortune cookie wisdom while banging away at his computer. His diatribes are a word salad of mystical gobbledygook and indecipherable technobabble. The so-called action scenes are jaw-dropping. Folks, you haven’t lived until you see Neil get the drop on absolutely no one at all, shoot the nonexistent gunmen, and then nonchalantly wipe their blood off his face.
In short, Double Down is a modern WTF classic that will have you scratching your head and laughing your ass off in equal measure.
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