Sudden Death (1995 film)

Darren McCord is a French Canadian-born firefighter for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire now serving as the fire marshal for the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, after being unable to save a young girl from a house fire two years prior. During the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks (a fictional rematch of the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals), a group of terrorists take the Vice President of the United States and several other VIPs hostage in a luxury suite. Secret Service operative Joshua Foss has the arena wired with explosives, and plans to blow it up at the end of the game, while having hundreds of millions of dollars wired into several off shore accounts.

Darren takes his son Tyler and daughter Emily to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals as a birthday gift for Tyler. A spat between brother and sister causes Emily to run off before getting kidnapped by Carla, the sole female member of the terrorists (who is disguised as the local mascot Iceburgh after killing the original performer). Carla places Emily in the suite with the other hostages about to be executed. Not wanting his son to go missing, Darren orders Tyler to stay in his seat while he goes searching for Emily. Carla is about to kill Darren, but he evades her attacks in a fight and kills her. Afterward, Darren asks for a security guard's help, but the guard is another terrorist in disguise and reveals their criminal operation before being killed by Darren. Now aware of the situation, Darren finds a mobile phone in the executive offices and uses it to contact Secret Service Agent Matthew Hallmark; Hallmark advises Darren to stand by while the agents take charge. He angrily refuses, saying that he will handle this himself.

The Secret Service and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police team up to surround the arena and a standoff ensues. Meanwhile, Darren manages to find and disarm a few of the bombs (as well as killing and evading a few of Foss' men), whilst Foss himself kills several hostages after the end of the first and second periods. Hallmark finally makes his way inside and meets Darren, who explains where the rest of the bombs are most likely located. Hallmark is revealed to be in league with Foss, and tries to kidnap Tyler, but fails. Hallmark then reveals his true self to Darren, who sets him on fire and ultimately kills him. Darren then uses Hallmark's phone to contact Foss, who taunts that he is holding his daughter captive.

As time ticks down, Darren disables more bombs, but is severely slowed by confrontations with Foss' men. At one point, Darren, dressed as the Pittsburgh goalie to escape the thugs, enters the game and successfully defends a shot on goal. As the third period runs down, Luc Robitaille scores the game-tying goal for Pittsburgh in the last second, prompting sudden death overtime and prolonging the game. Deciding that there's no time left to find the remaining bombs, Darren climbs to the roof of the arena. He fights off two of Foss' henchmen; one of them falls onto the score display, blowing it up. As the arena erupts into chaos, Darren advances upon the owner's box from above and forces his way in, rescuing Emily, the Vice President and the remaining hostages. Darren and Emily reunite with Tyler and set out to leave the arena.

Foss manages to escape and blend in with the panicking crowd. He sets off one of the bombs, flooding part of the arena, and recaptures Emily when she recognizes him. They head towards the top of the arena, where a helicopter is waiting to lift Foss away. Darren intervenes and saves his daughter before Foss could shoot her. As Foss attempts to flee, Darren shoots the pilot, causing the chopper to stall and fall into the arena, sending a screaming Foss to his death as the chopper explodes on impact with the ice. Darren is led to an awaiting medic unit while his children tell the paramedics of his heroism.

Penguins staff includes Ed Evanko as team owner Baldwin, and Bernard Canepari as equipment manager Jefferson.[3] Arena personnel include Bill Dalzell as head of security George Spota, Steve Aranson as scoreboard operator Dooley and Jennifer D. Bowser as mascot entertainer Joan Cometti.[3] Additional law enforcement personnel include Brian Delate as Secret Service agent Thomas Blair, and Milton E. Thompson as Pittsburgh Police Dispatch Sergeant Kurtz.[3] Other members of Foss' gang include Jophery Brown as Wootton, Jeff Habberstad as Lewis, John Hateley as Briggs, Fred Mancuso as Billy Pratt, Brad Moniz as Toowey, Manny Perry as Brody, Thomas Saccio as his helicopter pilot, Fred Waugh as Bluto, and Dean E. Wells as Kloner.[3]

The novelization of the film was written by American novellist Stephen Mertz, and published by Boulevard Books.[27] An audiobook version was produced, which is read by the film's co-star Powers Boothe.

Sudden Death's score was composed and produced by John Debney. A selection of Debney's tracks was released on CD by film music label Varèse Sarabande shortly before the film's release date, and has since become available in digital format.[28]

Sudden Death was the first in an informal series of hockey-themed theatrical and television films produced by the Baldwins, which includes Mystery, Alaska, Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, Odd Man Rush (and its less hockey-centric sequel Discussion Materials) , as well as the proposed Harlem Saints.[29][30]

Peter Hyams has maintained an association with producer Moshe Diamant over the years, but did not collaborate with Van Damme again until serving as cinematographer on two Universal Soldier sequels, Regeneration (2009) and Day of Reckoning (2012), which were directed by his son John. Sudden Death scribe Gene Quintano contributed extensive rewrites to the former.[31] The elder Hyams returned to the director's chair for a third Van Damme vehicle, Enemies Closer, in 2013. While these movies did not enjoy the wide releases given to Timecop and Sudden Death, they were well received among a circle of critics, their sparse and downbeat atmosphere prompting discussions about auteurism in the largely commercial medium of direct-to-video action films.[5][31]

The 2018 British film Final Score is widely considered to have been influenced by Sudden Death.[32][33][34] In it, the hero played by Dave Bautista battles terrorists against the backdrop of a closely contested soccer game. He must neutralize them before the game's 90 minutes run out, or innocent spectators and his putative goddaughter will die. It was released on September 7, 2018 to a mostly positive reception.[35]

• Sudden Death at IMDb
• Sudden Death at the TCM Movie Database
• Sudden Death at AllMovie
• Pittsburgh Hockey.net Sudden Death (1995)