(2007)

Submitted by Tornado Dragon

After Bob/The Whip (Esteban Powell) confronts Kenny Kent (Laz Alonso) and hints to him that he knows that he killed Cracker Jack (Fred Maske), Kenny has his bodyguard Sandro (Tony Longo) run a background check on Bob in order to find out if he has any friends or loved ones so he can threaten one of their lives in order to keep Bob from talking. After Sandro does so, he and Kenny end up kidnapping Bob’s ex-girlfriend Jennifer (Amanda Noret) and hold her prisoner in Kenny’s mansion, and then Kenny sends Bob a videotape showing that he has Jennifer and warns him that, if he doesn’t keep his mouth shut about the murder, she will be killed.

After talking with his friend Joe (Ike Barinholtz) about the kidnapping and how he doesn’t know where Kenny is keeping Jennifer nor does he have a plan to save her, but knows that he will have to do it soon, Joe replies that he ought to train for the rescue. He tries to help Bob with this by teaching him meditation and yoga, but Bob quickly loses interest. A few days later, Kenny calls Bob and tells him that he is growing tired of Jennifer, so he’d better get over to his place and save her fast or else she will suffer a fate worse than what she has already suffered thus far. He then turns the phone over to news reporter Casey Cox (Brande Roderick), whom he has just kidnapped, and she informs Bob that Kenny has been torturing Jennifer by forcing her to listen to his new album. Kenny then gets back on the phone and tells Bob to come to his mansion at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. When Bob tells Joe about this latest development, he says that he must go save Jennifer now, and Joe praises him for this, telling him that he is now doing something out of love and not fear like he has been encouraging him to do.

While Bob is visiting Ann (Joey Lauren Adams) (whom he has also let in on the kidnapping situation) that night, she gives him a folder containing information that she dug up about Kenny, and the information reveals that his real name is Michael Gallagher and he has a criminal record. When she asks Bob what he is going to do, he replies that he is going to confront Kenny tomorrow. She urges him to get the police involved, but he nixes that idea because he believes that Kenny will definitely kill Jennifer if he does. He then tells Ann that, when he came over here, he had a million different things that he wanted to talk to her about, but right now, he is settling on one: He tells her that, if something should happen to him tomorrow, he wants her to know that she makes him feel a way that he never thought he would ever feel again, and he is grateful for that. He then takes his leave, but he kisses her on the cheek before he goes. The next morning, he undergoes a crash workout with his other friend Paul (Eric Edelstein), in addition to a crash course in martial arts training, in order to prepare himself.

Later that day, just as Bob is about to leave his house to face Kenny, Ann shows up and tells him that she just wanted to wish him luck, then gives him a hug. As she does this, she secretly sticks a tiny listening device on the back of his neck, and she then advises him to get Kenny to confess to killing Cracker Jack. She also tells him to come on over to her place after he is done and tell her all about what happened, and lastly tells him to “be the Whip”. After she goes, Bob says that he IS the Whip, and this helps him understand that he doesn’t need the costume in order to do the things that he feels that he can only do while he is wearing it. He thus puts the costume in the trash and heads over to Kenny’s place as himself.

Sandro meets Bob at the door and brings him into a meeting room where Kenny is sitting. Bob manages to get Kenny to admit that he murdered Cracker Jack, and he explains that he did it because he saw that Cracker Jack was more talented than he was and he didn’t want him to knock him off the top of the music world. He soon tells Bob that, because he made a lot of money off of the sports picks that Bob made in his past columns, he is going to let him choose how he will be killed, and gives him the choice of either getting shot by him with a handgun or getting shot by Sandro with a machine gun. Thankfully, before Bob can take his pick, the police burst in and arrest Kenny and Sandro. When Bob asks an officer how they knew that he was here, the officer peels the bug off of his neck and shows it to him. Not wanting to let his training go completely to waste, Bob walks up to Kenny and knocks him senseless with a single punch, and then he has the officer agree to tell any members of the press who will inquire about this whole incident that the Whip kicked Kenny’s butt. Another cop then brings Jennifer into the room, and she thanks Bob for saving her, saying that she didn’t expect him to make it. He confidently replies with, “baby, I’m the Whip. Expect the unexpected” before heading out, having finally gotten over her. Off-screen, Casey is also found alive and well.

At Casey’s next news report, she confirms that Kenny has been convicted and jailed for murder, and she thanks Bob for putting a stop to him and saving her life. Bob visits Ann and gives her the scoop on what went down, then shows her the bug and tells her that he knows that she put it on him. He then tells her that he is no longer afraid of life because he has learned that you can only truly live when you do things out of love, after which they share a kiss.

01 hours 31 minutes