‘Interceptor’ Review (Netflix)
Stars: Elsa Pataky, Luke Bracey, Aaron Glenane, Mayen Mehta, Paul Caesar, Belinda Jombwe, Zoe Carides | Written by Matthew Reilly, Stuart Beattie | Directed by Matthew Reilly
Stuart Beattie, whose credits as a writer include working on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and who directed the likes of Tomorrow, When the War Began and I, Frankenstein, teams up with first-time feature director Matthew Reilly for Interceptor, a very timely piece of action cinema – one that puts the Russians firmly back on the filmic map as THE bad guys of the movies, along with their co-conspiring American dissident buddies (aka Trump supporters looking to “make America great again”).
The film follows Captain JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky), who’s called back to active duty after she is wrongfully drummed out of her dream job at the Pentagon. When a simultaneous coordinated attack then threatens the base itself, Collins finds herself in charge of a lone nuclear missile interceptor base (hence the title) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Coming face-to-face with the charismatic yet crooked Alexander Kessel (Luke Bracey), a former US military intelligence officer intent on carrying out an unthinkable plan, Collins must utilize her years of tactical training and military expertise to determine who she can trust and stop Kessel and his covert mercenaries from completing their twisted and terrible mission. All against the [nuclear] clock…
Let’s get this out of the way first. Elsa Pataky’s Captain Collins is a rather unassuming lead in what is an action-heavy film but who, after her first fight sequence, seems more than capable of handling herself in a fight (as Pataky did in the Fast & Furious franchise). What Collins, well more Pataky, can’t handle is the cheesy dialogue she has to spout in the middle of said action! For that’s Interceptor‘s biggest downfall. The script. Well, I say downfall but the sheer absurdity of it all makes Reilly’s film a hell of a lot more fun than it really had any right to be.
It’s as if Reilly and Beattie watched a boat-load of action movies, from the big-budget to the no-budget and picked out all the most ridiculous cliches and tropes they could and then looted the films for just as ridiculous dialogue. It’s almost as if the duo put together a script based on all the most outrageous action-movie “catchphrases” and crowd-pleasing lines and then filled in the story around them! When the film starts with Pataky fighting a man twice her size and spouting “You’re a big boy” you know EXACTLY what type of action-film ride you’re in for.
Of course, Elsa Pataky has plenty of experience in over the top action having worked on the aforementioned Fast & Furious films and she obviously brings that experience to Interceptor but, but… she also doesn’t play the film in any sort of exaggerated way, her Captain Collins is very much a stoic hero and Pataky plays thing straight even when spouting the films ridiculous dialogue (apart from ONE scene, where even she crumbles under the absurdity of it all). Meanwhile, the villains of the piece ham it up in the typical action movie bad guy fashion – though what’s less typical for films of this ilk is that here the enemy is “us”, motivated by how America needs to be made “great” again. Yeah, that’s the motivation of our villains. Racism and bigotry. Ooooh poor white guys, we’ve had it so bad. I have a feeling that’s going to be a theme in movies for some time to come.
Ultimately, Interceptors IS an action movie and despite the ridiculous script, the film actually stages its action incredibly well. The fight scenes are well-choreographed and don’t rely on shaky camera work or too-excessive choppy editing… I could posit that if Beattie and Really did scan through action film after action film for the most cliched, absurd dialogue, they also managed to pick up tips on how to actually make a good action movie! Because Interceptor IS a good action movie, even more so for those out there that grew up watching similarly absurd action films from the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
*** 3/5
Over the top, ridiculous, absurd and insane but in the BEST way possible (seriously, this thing gets crazier and crazier as it goes on), Interceptor is available now on Netflix. Oh, and keep your eye out for Thor himself m and the film’s Executive Producer, Chris Hemsworth in a cameo role!
