Under Pressure is an alternate title for this 1997 Charlie Sheen (credited both in the film and on the DVD case as 'Charles Sheen') vehicle that's better known as Bad Day On The Block (which I personally think is a better title).

Sheen plays Lyle Wilder, a firefighter who becomes somewhat of a local hero when he saves an infant from a burning crack house – a noble gesture to be sure. But what the media doesn't realize is that Lyle left the babies mother in the house to burn to death, on that basis that if she was irresponsible enough to bring a child into such a place that she deserved to die anyway.

Lyle's home life is equally suspicious and when he forces his wife, Marge (Karen Brigman), to play a game of Russian roulette, she finally has enough and takes their son, Kenny, and leaves him.

Lyle, by this time quite obviously more than a little touched in the head, figures that the do-gooder neighbors who live in the house next door, the Braverton's, are probably the real reason that his wife and son left. In his mind, they put her up to it and it's up to him to set things right and make the Braverton's pay for what they did to him and his family.

Lyle begins terrorizing Catherine Braverton (Oscar nominee Marie Winningham) and her family but is clever enough about it that when the cops are called in on the scene, they don't have much to go on and Lyle's local hero status pulls a bit of weight with the authorities as well. Why would someone brave enough to go into a burning building to save a baby terrorize his neighbors? The police don't know about Lyle's past though, or about his temper and as he becomes more unbalanced, he becomes more dangerous.

Sheen, usually relegated to playing smarmy sarcastic types, is actually reasonably effective as the loose nut fireman and does a pretty good job of making his character intimidating without going too over the top (which would have been easy to do in this role). Marie Winningham is even better as the victimized neighbor being harassed by the local hero, and she does well bringing a sympathetic air to her part.

The movie itself though is only average at best. There is one good jump scare in the film (you'll know it if/when you see it, as it stands out) but the rest of the movie is mildly suspenseful at best. Director Craig R. Baxley would go on to become the reigning champion of made for TV Stephen King adaptations (he did Storm Of The Century, Rose Red, The Diary Of Ellen Rimbauer and the upcoming Kingdom Hospital) and had, in the eighties, directed worked on a few episodes of The A-Team (hey, don't knock The A-Team, it was a good show!) but here seems to really just be going through the motions as the film lacks enough intensity to really keep you on the edge of your seat. It's not that the movie is bad, it's not, it's just that it could have been a lot better.

As it stands, Under Pressure is entertaining and a half decent way to kill eighty-eight minutes if you've got nothing better to do, but odds are, you do.

Video:

Under Pressure is presented fullframe, and I'm not sure if 1.33.1 is the original aspect ratio or not but nothing looks too cropped on this transfer. Overall, picture quality is decent enough. Colors for the most part are pretty crisp while the blacks are solid and don't pixilate at all. Print damage is minimal, as is edge enhancement (though if you're looking for it, you'll notice it in a few spots).