Emile Hirsch stars as an American cop in Puerto Rico who is assigned to evacuate an apartment building during a Category 5 hurricane. Among the residents is a stubborn, sickly ex-cop (Mel Gibson) whose nurse daughter (Kate Bosworth) pleads with him to take shelter. Meanwhile, some tough thieves decide to pull an art heist inside the apartment building, and they have no problem mowing down a couple of cops in order to make their getaway. With the lines of communications down, it’s up to Hirsch and company to survive using their wits until back-up arrives.
Force of Nature finds fallen star Mel Gibson getting into business with Emmett/Furla Oasis, the same company who back many of Bruce Willis’ recent DTV efforts. Like those films, it’s apparent that Gibson was only around for a few days as it’s easy to spot when the production was shooting around his schedule. (The main characters often split up, allowing Gibson to be offscreen for about half the screen time.) Unlike some of Willis’ EFO output, this feels more like a “real” movie than just something that was cobbled together to meet a contract deadline. Yes, the (mostly) one location gives the impression of a lower budget, but at least the situation feels more organic and less contrived than many similar Willis actioners. (EDIT: According to the IMDb Trivia, Gibson replaced Willis, which only confirmed my theory.) That doesn’t make it good, however.
Gibson does an okay job in the role of the cranky ex-cop. It’s far from a great performance, but he puts more personality into the role than Willis has in his EFO movies. I know I keep comparing the two a lot and that might be a little unfair. It’s just that Gibson’s role could’ve been played by Willis, Stallone, Lundgren, or any other Expendable in the twilight of their career. I can see any of them doing the role, quite honestly.
Hirsch is usually an indie darling, and some will probably consider his starring in this DTV flick slumming, especially after his memorable turn in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, he seems to be having fun. At times, you’ll swear he’s channeling his Hollywood co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio as it often looks like he’s copped some of Rick Dalton’s squinty-eyed mannerisms and delivery. I’m not sure if he was trying to give a bad performance on purpose or if he was just tempering his talent to match the material, but it almost sort of works. If they ever make a Bounty Law TV show and need someone to fill in for Leo, Hirsch would be a spot-on replacement.
AKA: Lethal Storm.
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