The Story:
As White Rush opens, a group of friends (who never seem to care much for each other) are camping, and at the same time, a few forests away, Judd Nelson is in the midst of a drug deal with a bunch of baddies. Ah, Judd Nelson. Remember after his amazing performance in The Breakfast Club we were all so sure he was going to go so far? Well, as I watched this, I immediately thought, "So this is what happened to Bender 20 years later. He became a drug dealer. Guess one day in detention just wasn't enough time for Claire to save him…"

Things go horribly wrong, and everyone involved in the drug deal dies except Judd Nelson. Meanwhile, back at the camp, the group of friends hears the gunfire, and it just so happens one of them is a cop. Hunky beefcake Louis Mandylor (you'd know him if you saw his face) is the cop, and as usual, he's playing a dumb-sounding Italian (Correction. He played a dumb-sounding Greek in My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Unfortunately, you never see him shirtless in this film. That could have added some redeeming value. But I digress. The cop finds the messy crime scene, and the cocaine, and convinces his friends they should sell the cocaine and become rich. And this group of friends, who I assume are supposed to be just a bunch of everyday people, agree to the plot. Except the one anti-drug chick who makes it clear she was an addict at one time and will not be involved. So she sets out on her own through the woods…and gets kidnapped by Judd Nelson.

But fear not. Judd's not out to kill her. He convinces her she needs to help him get that cocaine back from her friends, because a mean and nasty drug lord will have their heads. Meanwhile, once back home, the supposedly "normal" friends all prove to be really good at high stakes scam artistry as they deceive and backstab each other like professional criminals. What??? Who ARE these people? Bad soap opera scheming and bed-hopping follows. Meanwhile, the drug lord sends out none other than an evil beauty with a gun and an accent to knock off the people who stole his cocaine. Man, this girl was like comic relief—a caricature of the very caricature she was portraying.

The intrigue was ridiculously farfetched all the way through, but I have to admit, I was mildly entertained by the denouement, when all those involved (and still alive) come face to face. I just couldn't wait to find out who would get the coke in the end. And there was also a surprise twist I didn't see coming (mostly because I didn't spend any time thinking about the movie's plot up to that point). If you must know what the twist is, trust that I've given you all you need to know about the first hour and ten minutes, so just go watch the last 20 minutes.

The DVD

Video:
The copy I had of this DVD was clearly marked as for promotion only, so I am hoping that this is not the final product. It was presented in full screen format, standard 4:3 aspect ratio. But that's not the problem. The copy I watched was extremely blurry, even in progressive scan on a high definition TV. Don't know if that was just a result of cheap runoffs of promo copies, but it's shameful for a DVD—it would be shameful for a VHS tape. Also, although not terrible, there were occasional minor tears and flaws noticeable in the print.

Sound:
The film is presented in Dolby 2.0 stereo, and the 2-channel stereo separation was excellent, with well-synched left/right distribution. Go figure. I guess there always has to be a silver lining.

Extras:
Once again, I had a promotional copy of the DVD, and this one had no extras whatsoever. The promo copy case only promised that the commercial release would include Spanish subtitles, so I don't know that there will be any extras at all.

Final Thoughts:
White Rush is supposed to be a suspenseful thriller of drug corruption and greed, but it plays out like a bad soap opera, makes viewers pity the course of Judd Nelson's film career, and is not even worth the surprise twist at the end.