Matthew Reilly directs Elsa Pataky, Luke Bracey and Aaron Glenane in this Die Hard On A Missile Base where a whistleblowing officer starts her new post on the very day terrorists hijack her base, launch 15 nukes at America and drag up the workplace sexism she suffered.

Clunky. The storytelling is inelegant in every respect. The missile base control room where 90% of the action happens looks like a Saturday afternoon TV show set from the Ninities. The exposition is painful. Hard to say whether the acting or the dialogue makes this all seem so amateurish. I can take or leave the unexpected #metoo stylings. I understand why they are here, and they are give the right amount of screentime to not feel solely like a cynical bolt on to the main plot, but I doubt very many are selecting this on Netflix hoping for a topical debate or searing insight into US military gender politics. The fact such heavy chew is explored in between the bullets and bombs is more down to this being an airport thriller writer’s big foray into movies. Matthew Reilly’s novels will no doubt have his protagonists overcoming past trauma as they defuse bombs or find treasure… so why shouldn’t his movie debut give his muscular cypher some kind of ripped from the headlines internal struggle? I, however, turned up for a light retread of Clancy / Crichton / Hunter and this just about delivers. For all its flaws and junkiness, it manages to meet its cheap Under Siege remit whenever it gets kinetic. Whenever the control room is breached, whenever smackdowns are dealt out or whenever trash needs to be talked over the intercom, Interceptor has the goods… just about. The countdown finale builds to a decent head of steam. It ain’t beer and pizza movie heaven but it is one of the more adequate examples I’ve clicked on in a while.

5

Perfect Double Bill: Bodies at Rest (2019)

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We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/