REVIEW: Interceptor

 Interceptor is the latest action flick from Netflix, a movie that I hadn't heard of until it showed up on the top ten list on Netflix.  Directed by first timer Matthew Reilly (who also co-wrote along with Stuart Beattie), it is a Die Hard type of film where a bunch of money motivated baddies try and take down a ballistic missile defence platform in the Pacific Ocean.  Why?  Well, a bunch of other money motivated baddies stole sixteen nukes in Russia, and knocked out the only other ballistic defence system in Alaska.  The United States will be destroyed because money.

The lead character, Captain J.J. Collins (Elsa Pataky) is a full on badass soldier who stands in the way of these 'terrorists.'  Disguised as janitors, the villains start killing the crew of the platform to take control and ensure that the stolen nukes make it safely across the ocean to their target cities.  Sixteen cities are targeted, which seems to mean that everyone in the country will die.  I don't think that's how it works, but that's the least of the logical problems in the film.

Alexander Kessel (Luke Bracey) is the Hans Gruber of the film.  His father is super rich, and he doesn't like that, and he doesn't like money, and he really doesn't like money, but he's doing all of this to become rich.  Also, how did each of these villains end up being janitors on a super strategic installation?  I may be an ignorant person, but I'm pretty sure you can't join the armed forces and just decide to get assigned somewhere important along with each of your co-conspirators.  

This is simply explained by Kessel saying it took six years, and that's all we get.  Also, it turns out that Kessel was a highly well trained operative for the armed forces, so I guess he can just pretend to be a janitor because... well, I don't know how someone so important to the military can then just pretend to be a janitor for six years.  I also honestly don't give a kitten crap.

There is very little to care for in this film.  Yes, the entire country is apparently going to be destroyed by sixteen nuclear weapons, but there really isn't any tension that comes across.  Reilly decides that everything happening on this platform needs to be broadcast to every television and display in the country, because of course there would be a button at the site that would have that kind of power.  We keep seeing some long haired guy in a store watching the action play out, being both some sort of ill advised comedic relief as well as being the fist pumping character who is cheering for our lead.

Almost every movie has plot holes.  To tell a story over the course of an hour and a half and longer without a single inconsistency is an almost impossible task.  If the film is compelling enough, we may not notice any issues while watching.  Some films, like Interceptor, are so overflowing with them that we cannot help but start noticing them.  And, with Interceptor, once you start noticing one or two, you will quickly begin realizing the absurd quantity of issues within the film.  

From the decisions that people make for the sake of the plot to not knowing why a rogue Russian submarine is just sitting a short distance from the platform and allowed to just cruise right up to it.  What is the point of the convoluted plot if they had a submarine that was able to get that close and could have just destroyed it without all of the headache of a six year plan that required nothing but chance to come to fruition?

The one positive element is Pataky, who is charismatic, intimidating, and easy to cheer for.  She would be best known for appearances in some of the Fast and Furious movies, and here she is able to lead a film all by herself.  I think she made the lacklustre fight sequences work at a level higher than they should.  If only there wasn't an issue with pretty much every gun she gets her hands on, meaning her only choice ever is to engage in hand to hand combat.

Netflix likes flooding its service with films, and with the large amount of projects some movies come across as underbaked.  I think that the premise here is interesting, and Pataky easily works as an action lead.  It could be that if more attention was given to their projects instead of trying to churn them out at lightning speed, an idea like this could have been moulded into a better experience.  Sadly, it was not, and I doubt Netflix even cares.

Rating - 1 out of 4 stars