Someone is a fan of the Segal films of yesteryear because this fits right in with all those action packed, one liner vomiting movies we're used to seeing from Van Damme, Arnold, Segal, etc. Elsa Pataky is game as the typical action hero, giving us cheesy lines and kicking ass. The movie attempts to play into more modern sensibilities, with her character having suffered sexual assault by a high ranking officer, but it feels like a forced attempt at making #MeToo apart of the film. Opposite her is the disgruntled. Alexander Kessel, a dull villainous traitor who checks off the "I Hate What America Has Become" boxes, only trying to flip the script by making him come off as having more liberal sensibilities (he hates all the racism, misogyny, etc.), but he ends up coming off fairly whiny and annoying. Gary Busey's Commander Krill he is not.
There's a handful of side characters, but they're pretty much cliches, including the military slime ball, the family man, the tough woman bad guy, etc. The action is decent but nothing special. Pataky does make a case for being a decent action hero with the right material, but even she's better than this material. Heck, her Fast and Furious appearances gave her better material to work with. The film wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the pontificating by it's lead villain and all the time spent on cheesy dialogue. This also feels way past the time it emulates. In the 90's, this might have been a movie people could get excited about, but in 2022, this is a cheeseball fest not worth the hour forty of it's run time.
There's a handful of side characters, but they're pretty much cliches, including the military slime ball, the family man, the tough woman bad guy, etc. The action is decent but nothing special. Pataky does make a case for being a decent action hero with the right material, but even she's better than this material. Heck, her Fast and Furious appearances gave her better material to work with. The film wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the pontificating by it's lead villain and all the time spent on cheesy dialogue. This also feels way past the time it emulates. In the 90's, this might have been a movie people could get excited about, but in 2022, this is a cheeseball fest not worth the hour forty of it's run time.