Tactical Force (2011)

Directed by: Adamo P. Cultraro | 90 minutes | action | Actors: Steve Austin, Michael Shanks, Michael Jai White, Adrian Holmes, Candace Elaine, Lexa Doig, Steve Bacic, Michael Eklund, Darren Shahlavi, Peter Kent, Keith Jardine, Peter Bryant, Jerry Wasserman, Dan Rizzuto

“Tactical Force” is a major mishap for ex-wrestler and B-movie action hero Steve Austin, in which he plays an unconventional SWAT team leader of the Los Angeles Police Department, who has to face two gangster gangs unexpectedly with his team. The opening scene is already so laughably unbelievable that it makes the viewer fear the worst about the course of the rest of the film. In that scene, Austin as Chief Inspector Tate announces out loud to a group of armed hostage takers in a supermarket (!) that his team is just storming in. What they do next, take out the hostage takers in the most illogical way – and all without hurting anyone else. Apart from the fact that Austin’s SWAT team, including himself, only consists of four people (wasn’t there a budget for more actors?), apparently there are no protocols and tactical procedures. At least two members (including Austin himself) should have just been shot, given their completely stupid act. Meanwhile, the police themselves are also not very happy with the solution that Tate has chosen for the supermarket hostage crisis, especially since a quarter of a million dollars in damage would have been caused (damage that, by the way, is not shown in the preceding scene, apart from a dozen items. from inventory).

Unfortunately, the fear from the beginning comes true, because the rest of the film is just as ridiculous and unrealistic. Maybe even a bit worse, because the amount of annoyance increases proportionally with the playing time of ‘Tactical Force’.

As punishment, the team—which includes Austin as well as Michael Jai White as the witty Sergeant Hunt, Steve Bacic as the sunglasses-wearing Blanco, and Lexa Doig as the tough chica Jannard—gets some sort of tutoring from the FBI and is sent to an abandoned training facility at Big Bear Lake to take tactical training there with loose blanks. In the same spot, let two rival gangster gangs (an Eastern European/Russian gang and the mafia) be looking for a certain “item” that the weasel-like Kenny (Michael Eklund) seems to know more about.

Then an endless mix of Mexican standoffs, hazy brawls, bad guys who get the upper hand and that knows just as easily giving away again and unnecessary action scenes. There is hardly any plot development and as soon as the large hangar is reached, the rest of ‘Tactical Force’ takes place within that location. Probably due to a limited budget, but that shouldn’t be an obstacle. Also, a film that largely takes place in one location certainly doesn’t have to be boring, but here it is. Director Adamo P. Cultraro hardly seems to know what to do with his actors and the situation and fails miserably to produce a somewhat acceptable film. It seems like an endless (even if it takes “only” an hour and a half)

You usually watch a Steve Austin movie for the action and not for the acting talent of the muscle bundle. Now, the former professional wrestler from Texas doesn’t have too much dialogue, so Austin can’t really sound like an actor here, but in terms of action ‘Tactical Force’ isn’t anything to write home about either. Michael Jai White still has some nice one-liners and fighting moves, but otherwise there is very little to enjoy. It’s a lot of shooting, banging and very, very little wool. The screenplay also seems to have been pieced together on the spot, with more stereotypical than stereotypical crooks, with the messy action complemented by corny pranks that seem improvised by Austin and his friends.

Is it an action movie, or is it comedy? And in the latter case is the weak humor and are the events therefore intended by the makers? If so, then it’s failed satire, but it looks like it’s just failed action. This isn’t even a film for a rainy Sunday afternoon, but one that is dubiously heading for the C-movie designation.