( 1999 / USA )
( 1999 / USA )
Review By-Paul Cooke Director : Phillip Roth Scripted : Patrick Phillips & Phillip Roth Starring : Olivier Gruner , Brad Dourif , William Zabka , Glenn Plummer , Angel Boris , Mark Adair-Rios , Stefan Lysenko & Ernie Hudson Source: Maverick Entertainment / NTSC Region 1 DVD / Wide Screen Ratio 1:85:1 / Stereo 5.1 Sound / Movie Trailer / Star Filmographies
With an opening shot that implies an Alien presence , like stepping into an episode of Producer Quinn Martin’s classic Sixties TV show ‘The Invaders’ where star Roy Thinnes character David Vincent fights to alert the world of an invasion , fleeing people from the Canadian town of Yellowknife are eviscerated by an explosive shock wave that envelopes them.
Time jumps forward to the present day from that 1993 setting and kicks immediately into a high tech setting of espionage , as star Olivier Gruner purposefully struts into the affluently structured building of Zircon Technologies. He plays a government forces highly trained operative called Sean Lambert , here thrown into the deep end and soon facing a slap down with a volume of the yellow pages repeatedly bouncing off his skull. Zircon Tech are a major player in the public sector of technological advancement , but behind their vast closed doors grows an insidious surge for global power.
Gruner is allowed to display his martial artistry in an exciting sequence of kicks and punches along with acrobatic hurdling of inanimate objects , as a frenzied retaliation has him escaping with outlandish audacity from the Zircon building rooftop. His intended and acquired trophy a hard drive containing information on Alien activity !.
The main player roster introductions continue in the same seat grabbing vein as Ernie Hudson , in a cameo role as air force Major McKenzie , commands central operations as his airborne men encounter a UFO in a dogfight situation of blistering proportion. He is overseen by David Webber , a top priority government V.I.P presence in the undermining shape of the always watch able Brad Dourif , here to enforce a counter strike on the Alien craft. The fast and furious fight sequence between super jets and off world super craft is swift and explosively final , but an escape pod from the Alien craft is jettisoned outward in a spiralling decent towards a small Mexican town. A town that has a strong drug cartel and one that can do without an illegal Alien immigrant !.
Webber waves his maximum clearance ID in the face of Major McKenzie and takes control of the operations room. Ex ‘Ghost Buster’ Ernie Hudson demands to know from Webber who he’s going to call and the steely response is of course Olivier Gruner and his unit of men. An ex military team that works outside of the government , Expensive and Expendable !. They have forty eight hours to clean up the mess and thankfully without an Eddie Murphy along for the trip , but amongst the group are two professionals hand picked by Webber !. The incident is similar to the Canadian occurrence in 1993 and the two government operatives have first hand knowledge of the situation. One of the duo is strong female lead Angel Boris who plays Jena , a sexy addition to proceedings but definitely a girl not to be messed with.
Arriving on the outskirt of the Mexican town the clean up crew appear like resurgent gunslingers , looking to unshackle the poor townspeople from the imposed tyrannical grip. Lambert and team are met with the startling spectacle of an enormous impact crater , stretching off out into the horizon. This is one giant skid mark on the under garment of the Earth’s surface !.
Looking mean and moody in designer Oakley sunglasses , that shield his steely glare , Gruner recognises that its time for business. They saddle up their multi horse powered four wheeled drive carriages and ride off into town like ‘The Magnificent Seven’ , readied to do battle not with an Eli Wallach scene stealing bandit but a mankind threatening predator with stealth abilities !.
It doesn’t take long for the Action to Hot up as both Alien predator and predatory drug dealers each take a shot at the elite team. Gruner gets to display his kickboxing skills in a well choreographed bar brawl scene that alerts the drug lord of a threat to business harmony , played with true bad guy undergoing psychoanalytical counselling with his shrink glee by the perfectly cast Stefan Lysenko. Team Gruner is soon facing the smack down from the drug traffickers , leaving the Alien intruder to inject its own substance altering abilities upon the unwitting human pickings. Able to absorb the human life force as well as take on the shape and form of prey , as well as being able to morph in and out of organic form at will , its chameleon qualities afford it an infiltrating advantage that gets it close to intended kills. It’s do or die decision time for the conflicting groups as they realise their common threat and the government countdown to eradicate the entire down is almost up !.
Aside from the disappointingly CGI rendered appearance of the Alien threat the movie is an enjoyably silly Action Adventure flick , styled in the shoe prints of those good guy versus bad guy westerns of days gone by. Director Phillip Roth knows how to entertain and clearly draws upon what thrilled and enthralled him whilst growing up with escapist Action and science fiction films himself.
Steeped in true ‘B’ movie thrills and spills it essentially never takes itself seriously and most rewardingly delivers the all important explosive ending. Someone’s got to take down this pesky Alien who seems to have a universal passport and far from willing to have it stamped out !. With enough guns , explosives and CGI rendering to dazzle its audience with the stunt coordinator gets to pull off a very satisfying end to proceedings. Throw in some wry moments of humorous dialogue , avail yourself for an end credits blooper reel and ‘Interceptor Force’ is viewing material definitely to be reckoned with.
© 2006 cinema-nocturna.com
