INTERCEPTOR (2022)

INTERCEPTOR (2022)

Tagline: The World's last defense.

(Adventure, Action, Nukes) [R]

Note: This was a direct-to-streaming movie that came in under the rating TV-14. If the MPAA had given it a rating, I think we’d be looking at a [R] for profanity. 

Do you know anything about the fall of Rome? When the barbarians massed outside the city gates they did unspeakable things to try and force the Romans to let them in. Exitus actum probat. The result justifies the deed.

In this one Captain, JJ Collins ends up as the senior officer at a base in the middle of the ocean designed to intercept missile attacks. It doesn’t take long before Alexander Kessel and some carefully planted allies take over the base and Collins job is to keep them from breaking into the control room. They intend to fire nuclear missiles directly on the United States. Who can she trust? How elaborate is the plan and what is the purpose? Can America’s last line of defense be the INTERCEPTOR? 

First off, this movie is pretty intense and action-packed. People have often referred to it as “DIE HARD at sea” and while that is somewhat accurate the execution is actually vastly different and really well handled and we get some layers that I wasn’t expecting. 

One thing that caught me off guard about this movie is that Elsa Pataky who plays Captain JJ Collins is married to Marvel star Chris Hemsworth who plays THOR. Over the past 4 years, Chris has started to dip his hands into producing movies and this is one of those. He was also the Executive Producer of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER. So yeah, I am guessing Elsa was picked for this role in part because she is married to Hemsworth, but she is also a major action star herself. She was in SNAKES ON A PLANE and 4 FAST & THE FURIOUS films. Let me be the first to say that Elsa crushes this role. The action in this is top notch and really this is just a blast of a film to watch for the most part.

What I disliked about this movie is the side story involving Captain JJ Collins. They get into some of the adversity she went through in the military. The movie itself already had enough suspense to fill an ice cream truck traveling around a neighborhood at night. It didn’t really need to take a pro and anti-military stance in the same movie and that is kind of what the effect of this part of the movie is. The side story is meant to draw us emotionally closer to Captain JJ Collins, and what she has overcome already, but she overcomes a ton of stuff in this movie already. This isn’t saying this sort of thing doesn’t happen, but I think the side story is more a subject for a completely different movie. 

This flick did do a LOT of things right. Probably the best thing about this thing was the emotional tension between Captain JJ Collins and Alexander Kessel (played by Luke Bracey who is most famous for G.I. JOE: RETALIATION). We also get some humor thrown in with Chris Hemsworth just randomly playing a TV salesman who is watching the events play out on TV because the terrorists are broadcasting it. The movie's dialog also has a lot of shining moments even as cheesy as some of the lines are. 

Overall the action and tension are good, and the twists and turns are interesting. This movie had my attention the entire way and gives us a wide range of emotions which makes it a lot more solid outing that people doing reviews are giving it credit for. Just on the entertainment value alone, this is a 5 out of 7 for me and stands well above a field of pretty bad streaming offerings this year. 

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