Check Point Movie
A Film Reflection by Patricia Mooney
Check Point movie poses this question: Do we ever really know everything that is happening in our country, let alone our community? “Check Point” poses that question and then lays out a scenario in which the community members of a sleepy town begin to realize there is a terrorist sleeper cell in their midst.
The thriller was filmed on location in Wilmington, North Carolina. The cast includes Bill Goldberg (“The Longest Yard”), Kenny Johnson (“Bates Motel”), and Michelle Lee (“The Hunted”), along with Fred Williamson, Tyler Mane, Mindy Robinson, Olga Safari, Kane Hodder, Krista Grotte, Ricky Harris and Niko.
Kenny Johnson
We once interviewed Kenny Johnson for Access Hollywood around 1998. At that time, he played “Burner” on “Pensacola: Wings of Gold.” Factoid: This series took place in Pensacola, Florida. However Stu Segal Productions REALLY filmed it in San Diego. In “Check Point,” Kenny plays a vagrant veteran with PTSD who is the first to notice signs of the terrorist sleeper cell in town. When he takes his concerns to the local Sheriff (William Forsythe), he is locked up for his troubles.
Kenny Johnson on set at “Pensacola: Wings of Gold” in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California
I had the chance to speak briefly with Kenny over the phone as he was driving home from another production. I reminded him that I had met him in Ocean Beach while videotaping interviews with he and the rest of the cast, and that an apartment building now sits where the Crab Shack once was. “Oh no!” he said. Yep, progress.
PTSD
Kenny said he was proud of his role in “Check Point” and that the film tackles some issues near and dear to him, including the far-reaching effects of PTSD on not only the sufferer, but family and community; and the potential of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil. Kenny’s popularity as an actor is soaring these days although not without some wear and tear on the body from performing stunts. “I really need to be more aware of my health and what I put into my body,” he told me, not only for himself but for his six-year-old daughter whom he was heading home to tuck into bed.
The War Continues
As Dark Water Productions writer Patti Tripp explains in her press release about “Check Point:” “Through all of the drama and action in this film, there will be a raw and unadulterated look into the war that is still going on in thousands of our brave veteran’s minds years after they have left the battlefield. It’s pays homage and respect to those in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.”
Crystal Pyramid Productions tackled the topic of homeless veterans a few years ago when we produced the multi-award-winning documentary, “The Invisible Ones: Homeless Combat Veterans.” This was not an easy topic to handle; it was emotionally stressing and if you are hyper-sensitive like me, you, too, would have endured many sleepless nights throughout the filming and editing process, while listening to the plaintive tones of our veterans who, after serving their country, fighting for us, and perhaps losing limbs, they now find themselves on the streets.
Hopefully “Check Point” can bring some awareness to the plight of combat veterans who roam our cities’ sidewalks like ghosts.
