This film is a mess. Before watching it , I read that a former lineman and founder of a charity for fallen linemen was behind it so I had high hopes. These were quickly dashed. I would have preferred if the film had shown what these men actually do but other than climbing a couple of poles, moving some cables out of the way and someone re-enacting titanic on the top of a pylon, we see not a lot. From what I understand, the technical stuff is mostly wrong and the plot is something we've all seen before. The two lovelorn "kids" in the movie must be in their mid to late thirties and John Travolta's various wigs were more convincing than most of the actors. I hate slagging a film that has been made with a good cause in mind but this was one of the worst films I've seen in a while and probably does a disservice to the men and women who do this dangerous job. I do think this is an interesting subject and I hope one day someone makes a film that does these people justice.

John Travolta is a line man, one of those guys you see in a hard helmet and red vest on power lines, doing something dangerous and obscure.... and the power running. Lives depend on that power, and he's got s pregnant niece, her boyfriend as his new, unobservant apprentice, and a storm on the way.

Watching this attempt to mythologize another form of Texas Hard Man in the aftermath of at least 86 Texans dying because their power grid went out last month.... well it interferes with the impulse; it's hard to print the legend with the facts still fresh in your mind. It's also startling to hear Travolta with a twang overlaying his usual accent, but to my untutored ears, he's pretty good, his face buried under a beard. If's a good updating of the standard western tropes. Perhaps when this year's events have faded, it will seem better.

Life on the Line is a straight to VOD movie with every cliché in the book and a bare bones plot from Armageddon but without a comet and a spaceship.

John Travolta is Beau, a veteran lineman in Texas wracked with guilt after his brother got electrocuted and his brother's wife dies on the way to the hospital. Beau raises his niece Bailey (Kate Bosworth) as his own.

Bailey is in love with Duncan (Devon Sawa) an aspiring lineman but Beau dislikes him. Bailey has also attracted a stalker with an ex boyfriend. The crew have a difficult task ahead as they are replacing worn out electricity lines, they need to ensure their safety especially with bad weather about.

There is a subplot when new neighbours move in, the man is an Iraq war veteran with PTSD who reckons his wife is cheating on him. He is also a lineman and rather suicidal as well.

Trouble ensues when the electric lines are down after a train wreck, complicated by a heady storm and improbable melodrama involving Bailey ending up at hospital with the back up power down. Beau need all his experience and skill to have the electricity flowing.

We get a busy story but much nothing happens apart from a countdown to a deadly storm. You could not wait for the storm to arrive as it means some action but it is tepid at best.