This routine adventure yarn stars Dolph Lundgren as an unlucky government agent, assigned to keeping the president's nuclear launch codes safe, who becomes embroiled in a mad soldier's plot to bring revenge to the country which left him for dead in Iraq. Essentially though, it's simply another rehash of DIE HARD, with lots of actionless filler thrown in to pad out the running time and a smattering of good bits to keep you watching. This isn't the best, most original film you'll see but it does pass the time if you're stuck.
Things start off on a different tack as Lundgren battles the thieves who have stolen his codes. The first thing to really catch your eye is a jaw-dropping roof-top car chase, which has Lundgren's battered vehicle (more bullet holes in it than bodywork) jumping from building to building with the bad guys in hot pursuit. It all ends in as a big explosion as you can possibly imagine. From then on Lundgren integrates himself into their team (cunningly wearing a balaclava) and it becomes DIE HARD 4.
The difference here being that hard-man Lundgren is teamed up with the unlikely Montel Williams, better known as a daytime chat show host. Williams isn't bad in his underwritten sidekick role, but his character is only incidental in the proceedings. It's amusing to watch him play a nice guy though. Lundgren is his usual thuggish self, no worse than Van Damme or Seagal here, and displaying his might in a number of low-budget yet watchable action scenes. Michael Sarrazin is the crazed bad guy with a blind eye, and I thought his war victim was quite pathetic. Roy Scheider puts in his familiar role as the US president (something he's becoming quite adept at) and lends some solid support.
The low budget is apparent with the inclusion of a number of cheesy computer-animated scenes showing the missile flying through space and the earth's atmosphere. These aren't that poor but definitely don't pass for real. There are a couple of gun and fist-fights thrown in to keep things moving along, and my favourite scene has Lundgren dispatch a bad guy in his way via an axe to the stomach. The ending, where Williams and Lundgren race against time to stop the countdown while the power keeps cutting out, is surprisingly suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat - although when you think about it the outcome is obvious. All in all this isn't a bad DIE HARD clone, and I fairly enjoyed it despite the many shortcomings.
Things start off on a different tack as Lundgren battles the thieves who have stolen his codes. The first thing to really catch your eye is a jaw-dropping roof-top car chase, which has Lundgren's battered vehicle (more bullet holes in it than bodywork) jumping from building to building with the bad guys in hot pursuit. It all ends in as a big explosion as you can possibly imagine. From then on Lundgren integrates himself into their team (cunningly wearing a balaclava) and it becomes DIE HARD 4.
The difference here being that hard-man Lundgren is teamed up with the unlikely Montel Williams, better known as a daytime chat show host. Williams isn't bad in his underwritten sidekick role, but his character is only incidental in the proceedings. It's amusing to watch him play a nice guy though. Lundgren is his usual thuggish self, no worse than Van Damme or Seagal here, and displaying his might in a number of low-budget yet watchable action scenes. Michael Sarrazin is the crazed bad guy with a blind eye, and I thought his war victim was quite pathetic. Roy Scheider puts in his familiar role as the US president (something he's becoming quite adept at) and lends some solid support.
The low budget is apparent with the inclusion of a number of cheesy computer-animated scenes showing the missile flying through space and the earth's atmosphere. These aren't that poor but definitely don't pass for real. There are a couple of gun and fist-fights thrown in to keep things moving along, and my favourite scene has Lundgren dispatch a bad guy in his way via an axe to the stomach. The ending, where Williams and Lundgren race against time to stop the countdown while the power keeps cutting out, is surprisingly suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat - although when you think about it the outcome is obvious. All in all this isn't a bad DIE HARD clone, and I fairly enjoyed it despite the many shortcomings.