History Film / ToTheLimit

* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler: The data disk.]] [[CriticalResearchFailure (In reality, by the way, that "weapon" wouldn't work.)]]

As stated before, ''To the Limit'' is pretty much incomprehensible if you haven't seen the earlier Martino film, but notwithstanding even that it is, by any objective measure, a lousy film. There's the plot that just kind of jumps from place to place with little explanation for the shifts, a musical score that sounds like it was composed by a robot, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, quite a few of whom are female and are obviously there only as {{Fanservice Extra}}s. Travolta generally bumbles through his role, and most of the rest of the performances are either clichéd or unmemorable. In retrospect, it's clear that this was crafted for the sole purpose of having a (hopefully) lucrative star vehicle for the 1993 ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year.

%%* YeahShot

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Smith hardly attempts to disguise her lower-middle-class East Texas accent, even though Colette is supposed to be highly intelligent and has surely been all over the world.

''Her code name was Colette. Her mission was danger.''

The DesignatedHero of this movie is Frank Da Vinci (Joey Travolta) [[note]] and yes, that would be the big brother of [[JohnTravolta that other famous Travolta]] [[/note]], a [[VietnamWar Vietnam vet]] and vigilante who is continuing his private crusade of vengeance from ''Da Vinci's War''. The man he's tracking happens to also be responsible for the murder of the spouse of a rogue CIA agent. Da Vinci eventually discovers that this agent is a woman - and a blonde and very beautiful one - named [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Colette Dubois]].

Plot specifics aside, this movie is best remembered nowadays for its depressing - arguably even tragic - subtext of being the first film in which the late model/actress Anna Nicole Smith attempted a "serious" role (she had previously had a large role in the third ''[[Film/TheNakedGun Naked Gun]]'' film, which was pure comedy, and then a very small role in ''Film/TheHudsuckerProxy'', a romantic comedy with serious overtones). Very much in keeping with her famous obsession with MarilynMonroe (of whom most people generally consider Anna Nicole the late-twentieth-century equivalent), Smith apparently wished to show moviegoers around the world a completely unexpected side of herself. Needless to say, the results were far from satisfactory.

As stated before, ''To the Limit'' is pretty much incomprehensible if you haven't seen the earlier Martino film, but notwithstanding even that it's, by any objective measure, a lousy film. There's the plot that just kind of jumps from place to place with little explanation for the shifts, a musical score that sounds like it was composed by a robot, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, quite a few of whom are female and are obviously there only as {{Fanservice Extra}}s. Travolta generally bumbles through his role, and most of the rest of the performances are either clichéd or unmemorable. In retrospect, it's clear that this was crafted for the sole purpose of having a (hopefully) lucrative star vehicle for the 1993 ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year.

* ActionGirl
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress

* InformedAbility: Would ''you'' believe a 27-year-old former Playmate could do all those things?
* TheMafia
* MalevolentMaskedMen: The assassins at the wedding.
* MonumentalBattle: The Hoover Dam.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Although in this case it's Ninja Stripper Mobster Vietnam.

* {{Retraux}}: The film is deliberately styled at some points to resemble a [[TheSeventies Seventies]] low-budget exploitation film.
* StrawLoser: Don Williams.
* YeahShot

Plot specifics aside, this movie is best remembered nowadays for its depressing - arguably even tragic - subtext of being the first film in which the late model/actress Anna Nicole Smith attempted a "serious" role (she had previously had a large role in the third ''[[TheNakedGun Naked Gun]]'' film, which was pure comedy, and then a very small role in ''TheHudsuckerProxy'', a romantic comedy with serious overtones). Very much in keeping with her famous obsession with MarilynMonroe (of whom most people generally consider Anna Nicole the late-twentieth-century equivalent), Smith apparently wished to show moviegoers around the world a completely unexpected side of herself. Needless to say, the results were far from satisfactory.

Martino's ''To the Limit'' (1995) can best be described as the kind of film that EdWood might have made if he'd lived in our own era, and also if he'd have been less interested in wearing women's clothes than he was in ''removing'' women's clothes. It's actually a sequel to the earlier ''Da Vinci's War'', which featured much of the same cast...but since ''Da Vinci's War'' did not feature a ''very'' famous supporting player who (for reasons that will become obvious momentarily) was probably the sole reason for many men and boys wanting to see ''To the Limit'', there was inevitably a great deal of ContinuityLockOut for most of the latter film's original audience (and, to be fair, that fact alone might go a long way toward explaining why ''To the Limit'' came off as such a mess).

Before Raymond Martino was a low-budget film director, he was an actor (and [[MethodActing a student of the Method]], too, believe it or not). His first appearance in a major Hollywood film was as one of a gang of bikers who threaten Pee-wee Herman in ''PeeWeesBigAdventure''. Later in the Pee-wee movie [[ItMakesSenseInContext (bear with us, this is going somewhere)]], the fictional events of the story get adapted into an equally fictional movie in which Pee-wee is reimagined as a suave spy character (played by James Brolin) who fights ninjas and romances Morgan Fairchild. Now, imagine if someone made a movie just like that fictional one, but [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously did it dead seriously]], and loaded it with plenty of nudity and gore (though, thankfully, not [[{{Gorn}} at the same time]]), ''and'' filled it with lots of BadBadActing and shoddy editing...ButItReallyHappened!

As stated before, ''To the Limit'' is pretty much incomprehensible if you haven't seen the earlier Martino film, but notwithstanding even that it's, by any objective measure, a lousy film. There's the plot that just kind of jumps from place to place with little explanation for the shifts, a musical score that sounds like it was composed by a robot, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, quite a few of whom are female and are obviously there only as [[FanserviceExtra Fanservice Extras]]. Travolta generally bumbles through his role, and most of the rest of the performances are either clichéd or unmemorable. In retrospect, it's clear that this was crafted for the sole purpose of having a (hopefully) lucrative star vehicle for the 1993 ''{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year.

* ActorAllusion:
** In the film's very last scene, Colette reveals that she has been using a code name the entire time, and that her real name is [[spoiler: Vickie Lynn]]. This is obviously a reference to Anna Nicole Smith's birth name, which is [[spoiler: Vickie Lynn Hogan]].
** [[HeyItsThatGuy Branscombe Richmond]], who usually is cast in a [[{{Mooks}} Mook]] role of some sort, here plays a good guy - but like all those mooks, he still gets beaten up, this time [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu being humiliatingly trounced by a much smaller female assassin]]. [[ButtMonkey Richmond has made a prolific B-movie and TV career out of playing guys who get their asses kicked.]]

* EveryoneRemembersTheStripper: We challenge ''anyone in the world'' to recount this movie's plot for us.

The DesignatedHero of this movie is Frank Da Vinci (Joey Travolta), a [[VietnamWar Vietnam vet]] and vigilante who is continuing his private crusade of vengeance from ''Da Vinci's War''. The man he's tracking happens to also be responsible for the murder of the spouse of a rogue CIA agent. Da Vinci eventually discovers that this agent is a woman - and a blonde and very beautiful one - named [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Colette Dubois]].

The DesignatedHero of this movie is Frank Da Vinci, a [[VietnamWar Vietnam vet]] and vigilante who is continuing his private crusade of vengeance from ''Da Vinci's War''. The man he's tracking happens to also be responsible for the murder of the spouse of a rogue CIA agent. Da Vinci eventually discovers that this agent is a woman - and a blonde and very beautiful one - named [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Colette Dubois]].

As stated before, ''To the Limit'' is pretty much incomprehensible if you haven't seen the earlier Martino film, but notwithstanding even that it's, by any objective measure, a lousy film. There's the plot that just kind of jumps from place to place with little explanation for the shifts, a musical score that sounds like it was composed by a robot, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, quite a few of whom are female and are obviously there only as [[FanserviceExtra Fanservice Extras]]. Travolta generally bumbles through his role, and most of the rest of the performances are either cliched or unmemorable. In retrospect, it's clear that this was crafted for the sole purpose of having a (hopefully) lucrative star vehicle for the 1993 ''{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year.

* InformedAbility: Would ''you'' believe a 27-year-old former [[{{Playboy}} Playmate]] could do all those things?

Plot specifics aside, this movie is best remembered nowadays for its depressing - arguably even tragic - subtext of being the first film in which the late model/actress Anna Nicole Smith attempted a "serious" role (she had previously had a large role in the third ''NakedGun'' film, which was pure comedy, and then a very small role in ''TheHudsuckerProxy'', a romantic comedy with serious overtones). Very much in keeping with her famous obsession with MarilynMonroe (of whom most people generally consider Anna Nicole the late-twentieth-century equivalent), Smith apparently wished to show moviegoers around the world a completely unexpected side of herself. Needless to say, the results were far from satisfactory.

Before Raymond Martino was a low-budget film director, he was an actor (and [[MethodActing a student of the Method]], too, believe it or not). His first appearance in a major Hollywood film was as one of a gang of bikers who threaten Pee-wee Herman in ''PeeWeesBigAdventure''. Later in the Pee-wee movie [[ItMakesSenseInContext (bear with us, this is going somewhere)]], the fictional events of the story get adapted into an equally fictional movie in which Pee-wee is reimagined as a suave spy character (played by James Brolin) who fights ninjas and romances Morgan Fairchild. Now, imagine if someone made a movie just like that fictional one, but [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously did it dead seriously]], and loaded it with plenty of nudity and gore (though, thankfully, not [[{{Gorn}} at the same time]]), ''and'' filled it with lots of BadBadActing, shoddy editing, and cheap-looking camerawork...ButItReallyHappened!

* InformedAbility: Would ''you'' believe a 27-year-old beauty queen could do all those things?

* {{Retraux}}: The film is deliberately styled at some points to resemble a [[TheSeventies Seventies]] low-budget exploitation film. [[YourMileageMayVary As for whether this is a liability or a strength...]]
* SoBadItsGood

* {{Retraux}}: The film is deliberately styled at some points to resemble a [[TheSeventies Seventies]] low-budget exploitation film.

* ActorAllusion: In the film's very last scene, Colette reveals that she has been using a code name the entire time, and that her real name is [[spoiler: Vickie Lynn]]. This is obviously a reference to Anna Nicole Smith's birth name, which is [[spoiler: Vickie Lynn Hogan]].

* InformedAbility

* MalevolentMaskedMen

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent

* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler: The data disk.]]

Plot specifics aside, this movie is best remembered nowadays for its depressing - arguably even tragic - subtext of being the first film in which model/actress Anna Nicole Smith attempted a "serious" role (she had previously had a large role in the third ''NakedGun'' film, which was pure comedy, and then a very small role in ''TheHudsuckerProxy'', a romantic comedy with serious overtones). Very much in keeping with her famous obsession with MarilynMonroe (of whom most people generally consider Anna Nicole the late-twentieth-century equivalent), Smith apparently wished to show moviegoers around the world a completely unexpected side of herself. Needless to say, the results were far from satisfactory.

Before Raymond Martino was a low-budget film director, he was an actor (and [[MethodActing a student of the Method]], too, believe it or not). His first appearance in a major Hollywood film was as one of a gang of bikers who threaten Pee-wee Herman in ''PeeWeesBigAdventure''. Later in the Pee-wee movie [[ItMakesSenseInContext (bear with us here, this is going somewhere)]], the fictional events of the story get adapted into an equally fictional movie in which Pee-wee is reimagined as a suave spy character (played by James Brolin) who fights ninjas and romances Morgan Fairchild. Now, imagine if someone made a movie just like that fictional one, but [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously did it dead seriously]], and loaded it with plenty of nudity and gore (though, thankfully, not [[{{Gorn}} at the same time]]), ''and'' filled it with lots of BadBadActing, shoddy editing, and cheap-looking camerawork...ButItReallyHappened!

* ImprovisedWeapon

* MonumentalFinale

* BloodSpatteredWeddingDress

[[/folder]]

Nevertheless, ''To the Limit'' is not without potential for enjoyment. It's got a generous helping of action, plenty of sex appeal, and [[{{Troperrific}} lots and lots of juicy B-movie tropes]] (which alone makes it more than worthy of witty analysis on this wiki).

As stated before, ''To the Limit'' is pretty much incomprehensible if you haven't seen the earlier Martino film, but notwithstanding even that it's, by any objective measure, a lousy film. There's the plot that just kind of jumps from place to place with little explanation for the shifts, a musical score that sounds like it was composed by a robot, and LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, quite a few of whom are female and are obviously there only as [[FanserviceExtra Fanservice Extras]]. Travolta generally bumbles through his role, and most of the rest of the performances are either cliched or unmemorable. In retrospect, it's clear that this was crafted for the sole purpose of having a (hopefully) lucrative StarVehicle for the 1993 ''{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year.

Nevertheless, ''To the Limit'' is not without potential for enjoyment. It's got a generous helping of action, plenty of sex appeal, and lots and lots of juicy B-movie tropes (which alone makes it more than worthy of witty analysis on this wiki).

The DesignatedHero of this movie is Frank Da Vinci, a [[VietnamWar Vietnam vet]] and vigilante who is continuing his private crusade of vengeance from ''Da Vinci's War''. The man he's tracking happens to also be responsible for the murder of the spouse of a rogue CIA agent. Da Vinci eventually discovers that this agent is a woman - and a blonde and very beautiful one - named [[EveryoneIsSexierIfFrench Colette Dubois]].

''Her code name was Colette. Her mission was danger.''