Movie

Double Edge (1992)

This female assassin thriller took the unusual step of casting Susan Lucci in a dual role as the villainess Carmen and FBI agent Maggie. She’s less effective as the heroine, but her ruthless and intelligent hitwoman is Goddess tier material. This movie doesn’t skimp on body count, with eight people dead – ranging from unnamed extras to lead roles – by the denouement.

After the introductory credits sequence shows Carmen and Maggie getting dressed for business, the two women meet in a hotel lobby. Maggie attends a function, but Carmen has a far more deadly purpose. The assassin uses her seductive charm to get close to Hector Barrado, a key witness in a trial. And then murders him with a needle weapon disguised as a hairpin. Carmen’s first on-screen kill occurs within five minutes, the opening move of a deadly cat-and-mouse contest.

Maggie – already researching the assassin – builds a profile and realises it’s the same woman she met at the hotel. Typical of this kind of film, the female agent has someone she doesn’t like for a partner. That would be her ex-husband Carter (Robert Urich), whom she blames for her child’s death. The relationship subplot is formulaic. Cold to begin with, their affection gradually warms, and most viewers will guess where this is going.

Carmen also has a lover: her assistant Paul, who stands in as a masseuse when not negotiating his boss’ contracts. True romance isn’t reciprocated, since she views him as a source of information and not an equal. The assassin’s latest contract is personal since she’s after the man who killed her father, but that doesn’t stop her demanding a higher fee.

Carmen disguises herself as maintenance staff and attempts to snipe her target from a van in an underground parking garage. That ends in failure when she’s disturbed, leading to frustration with Paul. Do you suspect he’ll become a loose end later? Meanwhile, Maggie hunts the elusive killer.

Villainess

Carmen (Susan Lucci)

Forced to up her game, Carmen builds a homemade jamming device that disperses iron filings. Just the thing to hook up to a ventilation system and blind a CCTV system. Dressed all in black leather with white surgical gloves, the assassin infiltrates the upper-floor offices while the guards are distracted. Then, she accesses her target’s computer to view his itinerary. And this is just the preparation work for a cleverly planned hit.

Carmen takes too long because the cameras come back online before she’s made her escape. A guard spots something on the monitor, but the assassin evades him by taking the staircase down instead of the elevator. Another man asks for identification, but he’s about to learn the hard way Carmen is no ordinary criminal. The assassin plays the role of a clumsy employee and drops her purse to distract him. When he takes the bait and kneels down, the killer stabs him.

Maggie follows the money trail to a church and learns her quarry’s name is Carmen Moore. Given the close resemblance, the FBI woman pretends to be a loving sister and discovers that the hitwoman’s donations support a mentally ill father. Maggie leaves her contact details with the mother superior, causing further friction with Carter. A dangerous move intended to panic Carmen, but she learns of Maggie’s visit, and the huntress and prey roles switch.

Deciding to repay Maggie’s curiosity, Carmen watches the agent’s house and breaks in after she leaves. The assassin finds a photo and takes an interest in a porcelain figure because of a personal connection before the housekeeper, Rose, arrives to clean the rooms. After the maid hears a disturbance, she encounters Carmen in her leather outfit. Initially, Rose mistakes the woman for Maggie, but her hostile intent soon becomes clear. Before Rose can call for help, Carmen pushes her over the balcony.

To gear up, Carmen visits a shady arms dealer – who works in a store basement – and tests out several firearms before asking for a sniper rifle. The dealer thinks double-crossing an assassin and ratting her out to a corrupt cop is a wise move. Except Carmen is suspicious and follows the guy to the meet. Betrayal is a surefire way to get killed, and the execution scene is darkly comical. The dealer calls out to his dog, Shotgun, only for the leather-clad assassin to greet him with the same phrase. Before she blows the idiot away with a laser-sighted… yep, shotgun.

With a family acquaintance dead, Maggie feels the pressure. Carmen piles on the misery by leaving a telephone message and a broken ornament in Maggie’s bed. No wonder the FBI has assigned its agent a protective detail, but that doesn’t prevent a hit-and-run attempt. That almost succeeds, and a bodyguard becomes the latest victim of an assassin’s bullet. All this excitement causes Maggie to hook up with Carter, and the former spouses put their ill feelings for one another aside to focus on the problem at hand.

Carmen isn’t pleased the dealer Paul referred her was crooked, so she concludes her “boyfriend” is no longer useful. The assassin gives him a dressing-down speech as she relaxes in an outdoor pool before she pulls out a gun. That body count keeps rising – they sure knew how to keep thrillers exciting in the 1990s. With the loose ends taken care of, it’s time for the assassination we’ve been building up to for the whole movie.

Since the two women look alike, it’s no surprise that Carmen impersonates Maggie to gain access to a private estate. A large-scale event gives the assassin the cover she needs to hide out in a storeroom and assemble a sniper rifle. Tipped off by security, Maggie prevents the hit, but Carter sacrifices himself by taking a bullet. Viewers who thought the lead would hook up with her partner just got a nasty surprise, because there’s no Kevlar vest or plot device to save him.

In the final showdown between the Susan Lucci characters, Carmen – still disguised as Maggie – shows up at the church to support her father. Maggie finds it difficult to shoot (!) and the assassin gains the advantage. That’s when her old man realises how evil his daughter has become and shoots her in the back. A bittersweet ending to finish things.