FORCE OF NATURE (2020) Mel Gibson / Emile Hirsch

So....let's take a trip back in time (two hours ago to be prescise) and I get wind that there's a new Mel Gibson movie in town. I've never heard of it, vaguely recognise (nor care about) the supporting cast and (most importantly) notice this is a 'Emmett/Furla' (EFF) production. 

My inner-Columbo screams "Holy Fuck...Hollywood's one-time MVP turned STD has gone STV"

The underlying question here is....why?

SYNOPSIS

Emile Hirsch (who I barely recognise from the otherwise enjoyable Into The Wild) plays Cardillo, a demoted, embittered, suicidal ex-Police detective with a dark tragic past (tm) who is content to finish out his career in a cushy police surveillance department in Puerto Rico....only to be told one evening, by his angry, shouty superior (tm) to actually get up off his ass and round up a bunch of people refusing to leave their homes (due to a incoming major hurricane heading that way) Cardillo is also partnered up with an attractive female partner (tm) who is his polar opposite (trademark overload)

(Don't worry Emile, that LIONSGATE logo has a similar effect on me too)



Despite Cardillo's reluctance to rock the boat (and actually do some police work) our two cops are called out en route, to an incident at a food market involving a black guy buying up 100lb of meat (mmm, I hope he's not keeping a CGI wildcat in his heavily padlocked cupboard?) Anyhow, as it stands, the two police officers kneel on the black guys windpipe, murdering him, thus causing race riots across the globe escort the black guy home (who coincidentally lives in the same appartment as the other folks they have been sent to round-up.....Holy plot device Batman!) The other tennants consist of some old secretive, German guy (with security cameras in and around his otherwise modest adode) and the other is a grumpy, shouty, sweary, tuberculosis-riddled, ex-cop (tm) named Ray (Mel Gibson) and his nurse daughter (Kate Bosworth)



(Mad Mel sitting in a chair marked 'Bruce Willis')


But if the impending hurricane wasn't enough, the 'Fickle-Finger-Of-Fate' has also sent a group of murderous thieves to this apartment block (armed to the teeth) looking to 'liberate' valuable paintings (Once again, my inner-Columbo assures me that neither the mysterious old German guy or the largely unseen big cat locked away in the cupboard will in no way, shape or form, bear any relevance to the outcome of the 'Pinteresque' melding of convential crime and drama tropes on display)

REVIEW

Despite not knowing of this movies existence a few hours ago...a cursory investigation confirmed my initial fears.....when I read that Mel Gibson took the role after Bruce (fucking) Willis opted out.



(Talk about a closed-Set?)


It's never a good sign, when Bruce (paypal-verified) Willis drops out of his customary 'Two-Day-Stay' work ethic, which invariably involves his usual fifteen minutes of 'sit-down-thesping' (for around $1m+ salary) But to be fair, I prefer Gibson over Wilis anyhow (even if Hollyweird doesn't) So as the movie unfolded, I was prepared for Mad Mel to have the (customary) switch-and-bait screentime of around 15-20 minutes (spaced out to give the impression he's headlining it, no less) Although Mel (here looking even more grizzled and Beard-ier) doesn't disgrace himself....the script takes that honour.....Alas all we're left with here is an OK-ish opening 20 minutes...followed by multiple 'myopic-shooters' wandering around endless coridoors of the world's smallest apartment block....as the supporting cast, pad out the running time with backstory, exposition and even (despite their predicament) tonal-shifting levity.



(A typically 'tense' scene)

Production wise, everything was competent...as to be expected from EFF, albeit too predictable (right down to the prerequisite overhead drone shots) but the sparse low-rent locations (clouded by wind machines and rain sprinklers) drag proceedings further down. What could have been a tense piece of 'siege-cinema', is saddled with both uninteresting support and predictable 'plot-devices' will leave the viewer (like the cast) checking your watch (for 'clocking off' time) at around the midway mark. The movie even has the gall to open up with a 'flash-forward' scene (involving Gibson) which would be OK if it had any later relevance....but alas it doesn't.....it's inclusion is there to both pad out the running time and give the gave the movie a bit more (much-needed) Mel.

(Gibson 'thanks' his agent)

I'd like to fool myself into thinking that Mel Gibson was doing a 'Cassavetes' here (i.e, securing funds for one of his own master-works) Yet however UNJUSTLY reviled his standing may be in Tinsletown, I'm almost certain he doesn't need whatever little money was on offer here.....and given his many directorial flourishes, woulda-coulda-shoulda at least have a better 'eye' for picking projects. Given Willis' almost coma-like performances of late, Gibson (to his credit) gives a little more 'oomph' and takes the fight to the (one-dimensional) bad guys on a few occasions, but come the halfway mark, seems as disinterested with it as you'll be.

Bruce Willis' loss...Is also Mel Gibsons loss (and now ours)


FACTOID

IMDB have the estimated budget for this to be at $23,000,000 (meaning that either Gibsons salary was $22m....or that the accountants involved should be handed the 'Glengarry' leads)