Force of Nature Review

"Force of Nature," featuring but hardly starring Mel Gibson, is far from a victim of the pandemic forcing movies out of the theaters. In fact, this high-concept thriller sounds, looks, and plays out like a movie destined by nature to be direct-to-streaming. That's not a bad thing necessarily, as a grimy little genre picture like this is best enjoyed in the privacy of your own home so you don't feel ashamed for having a good time.

Or at least a decent time. Look, "Force of Nature" is far from the best thing you could watch on lockdown, nor will it look particularly good on Gibson's resume, but it sets the bar low and then just barely lumbers over it.

"Die Hard in a hurricane" would be the best way to describe the concept here, with Emile Hirsch as Cardillo, filling the shoes of the obligatory sarcastic officer who doesn't want to be in the situation. Only Cardillo is no John McClane. He and his partner end up at an apartment complex as a hurricane roars behind them, trying to get any civilians to evacuate. But wait, there's more! One of the tenants is Ray (Gibson), is a grizzled ex-cop with a bad mouth and temper (hard to tell how much is acting and how much is him just being himself). But wait! There's more!

There is at least one other resident in need of rescuing, Bergkamp (Jorge Luis Ramos), but he isn't just some old guy. He possesses a few priceless pieces of art, which attracts badguy John the Baptist (David Zayas) and friends. All of this exposition happens relatively quickly, a brief appetizer to the meat-and-potatoes main-course; director Michael Polish knows he's just barely captured the interest of his audience and dives directly into the good stuff as soon as he can.

What's the good stuff? The usual shootouts, fisticuffs, and a few moments of cat-and-mouse games just to break the monotony. We watch familiar scene after familiar scene, but the real attraction is the hurricane setting and the building. The constant bang of the wind and the forever rainfall is an unbroken threat, never sure when it could interrupt the plans of the cops and robbers. The structure, on the other hand, offers unique rooms filled with possibilities; will this residence have an escape path? A weapon? Medicine?

But it is the silliness of it all that sells the material. The film touches on some unplanned timely issues but it glazes over every subject it approaches with a big grin and an equally big fist. Only I wish it was sillier. I wish it went "all in" on just how preposterous everything really is; there is a good idea for an action/disaster satire somewhere here, but "Force of Nature" hasn't found the magic combination. Or it did, but went with the more commercial route.

This is a dopey piece of genre escapism, a low-rent relic of a time where cops, natural disasters, and Mel Gibson could simply headline entertainment, not controversies. These topics don't make for a fun time at the movies anymore. (Should they ever have?) But is it fair to criticize for a product made with the innocent intentions of cheap distraction? I don't know, and my attempt at an answer is unimportant. This film is unimportant. But it is a passable way to spend an unimportant afternoon.