(2020) Force of Nature - Just Another B Action Movie

After watching a new movie on HBO Go the other day, I came across this film that I wanted to give a try as it seemed like a simple and suspenseful action film, and it also starred few well known names. OK I'll get right into it then.

Brief Story Line

When a big hurricane was going to hit Puerto Rico, the government insisted on people to move to a shelter. Officers Cardillo (Emile Hirsch - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood etc) and Jess Peña (Stephanie Cayo - El Secretario telenovela etc) were assigned to patrol the affected areas and bring the people who still remained in certain areas to safety. 

Despite Cardillo's reluctance, they decided to answer to a public disturbance involving Griffin (William Catlett - Black Lightning TV series etc). Later they went to Griffin's apartment to help other tenants that included former police Ray Barret (Mel Gibson - Blood Father etc) with his daughter Troy (Kate Bosworth - Before I Wake etc) and an old tenant named Bergkamp (Jorge Luis Ramos). However, this rescue attempt became dangerous as a group of thieves led by John the Baptist (David Zayas - Body Cam etc) wanted to acquire something from this apartment building.

So how would the rescue process go with the group of ruthless thieves around? Find them all in this action movie.

End of Brief Story Line

When I read the very brief synopsis of the movie, it seemed simple enough and I thought the movie would be in constant suspense/thrill. However what started of quite promising did not truly materialize into a totally entertaining film. Too bad as I thought the premise was OK. The problem that this film had was the decision to not show some important scenes. I am not sure the reason, whether it was thought to be too graphic, or to increase the curiosity, but it made the R rating became a bit peculiar. Yes there might be some violent fights and pervasive language, but I think it hardly justified such rating.

Anyway, the cast actually tried their best to make the movie interesting by showing their seriousness to their roles. Mel Gibson was quite convincing as retired, angry old police while Emile Hirsch was OK as a cop with a disgraced past. Meanwhile Kate Bosworth character seemed a bit too shallow, although I think it was due to the writing. But the ones that impressed me were William Catlett who seemed perfect as this Griffin and obviously David Zayas who never disappointed playing villain boss.

The actions were decent, not spectacular but quite OK. Again there were more than one important scenes that were omitted, making the satisfaction became lesser. Not to mention that the villains seemed ridiculously bad in shooting. Sadly, without the great actions and thrills, the movie felt too bland. Oh and the ending was also something that I did not really like as it was too cheesy to my opinion. I could understand the critics trashing this movie, although giving it very very low rating was a bit too harsh as well. I personally think it still fit as a B action movie.

So if you do not mind watching this sort of action film that did not get the chance to play in theaters, you can try it on HBO Go application or on HBO channel. However, if you prefer not to spend your time watching something that have very bad reviews, then by all means you can skip this one.

Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars