Hostile Force

HOSTILE FORCE

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Ultra-Stereo

Employees of a security agency are forced to combat a gang of professional thieves who invade the premises with a view to stealing cash from the company's heavily fortified safe.

The very definition of DTV fodder, Michael Kennedy's blah programmer is an OK time-waster, nothing more. Top-billed Andrew McCarthy plays the villain, an ambiguous character who's not above killing those who get in the way of his criminal ambitions, but who keeps a tight rein on his psychopathic subordinate (popular German actor Hannes Jaenicke), whose wild behaviour threatens the entire operation. Wolf Larson (TV's "Tarzan") is a former cop who stumbles onto the heist and makes an effort to rescue the hostages, including Cynthia Geary, another ex-cop who switched careers when her boyfriend was shot and killed during a violent confrontation with armed robbers several years earlier. Unfortunately, hunky Larson is sidelined in favour of mousy-looking Geary, whose transformation into a gun-toting action hero during the film's climactic shoot-out stretches credibility to the limits.

Much of the film unfolds in the agency's control room where Geary and her co-workers are held hostage, and the banter between captors and captives isn't particularly compelling, which stifles tension and slows the pace to a crawl. When the narrative DOES move beyond these limited confines, the half-hearted action scenes are compromised by a lack of decent coverage, which further cheapens the production. There's plenty of talent on both sides of the camera (I'll refrain from making the usual comments about McCarthy's painful slide into obscurity), but the movie wears its lack of ambition like a badge of honour. Why do people waste their time making such bland, faceless tripe? Also known as ALARM FÜR SECURITY 13 and THE HEIST.