Tactical Force (2011) – Review

Where to watch Tactical Force

3 Stars

Steve Austin has been carving out a sizable niche in the direct to DVD action film market, and Tactical Force is his latest offering to the masses or at least WWE enthusiasts. At first glance this movie seems like it could be another low budget entry into the SWAT franchise. It’s not. It is a Die Hard-esque B-movie with a wearhouse supplanting Nakatomi tower and instead of terrorists we get warring factions of ethnic mafia members. Tactical Force is the kind of movie that will play on male oriented cable channels like Spike and FX for years to come.

The movie opens with a supermarket hostage situation, recalling the action classic Cobra and nearly every early Seagal movie. After totally disregarding orders Austin and his team, including Michael Jai White, storm the market and rescue the innocent bystanders, but not before inflicting great property damage on the grocery store. The squad is then customarily chewed out by their captain and demoted to training exercises in an abandon warehouse out of city limits. It’s within the warehouse setting that the majority of Tactical Force takes place. Austin, White and squad members stumble upon a deal going sour between the Italian and Russian mafia. From this point on the plot involves a lot of chasing and searching for a briefcase containing some mysterious content.

Austin is a credible action hero, he has the detached sardonic delivery that made Schwarzenegger so popular. Unfortunately his acting isn’t up to that level yet. As of now he’s reminiscent of the faded NFL star and former B-movie headliner Brian Bosworth. At least he’s trying to appear in higher end productions and I appreciate that effort, it’s more than I can say for Seagal. As a fan of this genre I relish the pairing of WWE tough guy Austin and the menacing presence of accomplished actor and martial artist Michael Jai White. The fact that these two are allies and not squaring off against one another is a relief. I grow tired of seeing White in a villainous role. UFC fans will be pleased to see real life cage fighter Keith Jardine as a paid assassin, others will probably just mock the horrendous acting and orc-ish features of ‘the dean of mean’.

Tactical Force is a violent, well produced picture that looks good but doesn’t have much of a brain. However it would make a perfect companion piece in a double feature with Walter Hill’s flick Trespass. Good production values are undone by overuse of whip-flash transitions between scenes, and a moronic screenplay aimed at 15 year olds or people with police fetishes.

Director: Adamo Paolo Cultraro
Stars: Steve Austin, Michael Jai White, Candace Elaine