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3.0 out of 5 stars
"I should end our little game, but I'm having too much fun", November 25, 2011
Olivier Gruner holds an odd distinction among his generation of western action heroes for venturing into the sci-fi genre more often than others - more so than Schwarzenegger, even. I can't say how well he fared most of the time, but if "Interceptor Force 2" is an indication of his science fiction outings in general, I'd say there's room for improvement. Gruner manages to elevate this picture slightly higher than typical SyFy-produced garbage, but it's still fairly unremarkable and uninteresting to anyone who's not a completionist of his or a fan of the low-budget subgenre. Know yourself before buying.
The story: four years following the events of "Interceptor Force", a second lone alien assassin infiltrates earth with intentions of causing death and destruction, and it's up to a team led by a returning Sean Lambert (Gruner,
Nemesis and potential "Expendables 2" applicant) to corner it in an armed nuclear reactor and stop its plans of radiating the entire world.
I'm usually not the sort of guy who jumps ahead to a sequel without seeing the original movie first, but because I did in this case, I can't say how well this one stacks up to the first one, although that one's cast list looks better than IF2's. Then again, this one's isn't too bad: Gruner's team includes Roger Cross (
24 veteran), Elizabeth Gracen (veteran of both
Highlander TV series but also known for a fling with Bill Clinton), and Adrienne Wilkinson (who's wimpy in this role but has played a Jedi in
lesser-known Star Wars media), and Nigel Bennett (
Cypher) and Hristo Shopov (aka
Pontius Pilate) also play considerable roles. Disappointingly, none of them have a particularly strong presence or are otherwise memorable, taking a backseat to the CGI alien (played by Eve Scheer while in human form) and its antics whenever it's around. This includes Olivier Gruner himself, who is convincing as a commando thanks to his real-life experience but otherwise really feels like a lesser Van Damme here.
The action is mostly limited to shootouts between military types and the slow-advancing alien, with a bit of kicking supplied by Gruner, but there is an instance of decent hand-to-hand stuff early in the movie when he beats up a guy with a pair of sticks and then disarms an entire barnful of enemies. His two fights with the alien stink. Speaking of the alien, the filmmakers were obviously going for a
Predator-meets-
The Thing style here, since the creature can both camouflage itself and take the form of any human it assimilates, but I have to point out how redundant this is: its invisibility is shown to be effective enough, (SPOILER) and the only payoff for its extra ability is to have Elizabeth Gracen go paranoid at one point and shoot Roger Cross - because let's face it, if your partner is behaving perfectly normal, he's obviously an incognito alien.
The CGI really ends up getting on your nerves, but not at first: the opening scenes of the alien craft taking off and flying through space are actually decent, given budgetary restrictions, and only later does the computer animation turn sour when they start overusing it. A couple other typical SyFy-isms abound via 1) none of the Chechen or Russian characters speaking anything but painfully-written English and 2) a scene wherein Adrienne Wilkinson is supposed to be vomiting, accompanied by the appropriate sound effects, but the camera slips and it's clear she's not actually throwing up. If there was more stuff like this going on, the movie'd be getting a lower rating, but because its production values are essentially sound, it slips by with an average verdict. It's not a movie that you ought to be actively seeking, but it's not one that you ought to be shying away from either if it shows up on TV.
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