Interceptor (2022)

Directed by Matthew Reilly. Starring Elsa Pataky, Luke Bracey, Mayen Mehta, Aaron Glenane, Paul Caesar, Colin Friels, Rhys Muldoon, Marcus Johnson, Zoe Carides, Belinda Jombwe, Ingrid Kleinig. [TV-MA]

Bargain-priced military action thriller in the Die Hard and Tom Clancy traditions set on a U.S. Army installation in the middle of the Pacific designed to intercept nuclear missile attacks. The site is infiltrated by rogue operatives intent on leaving the country vulnerable to nuclear attack, and Pataky’s recently-reassigned officer is forced to become the last line of defense against the bad guys. Nothing wrong in principle with a compact, unambitious programmer so long as it’s competently crafted and entertaining, but it’s not always the former and almost never the latter. Derivative plotting, limp stakes-raising, by-the-numbers fight choreography, stilted dialogue, and tedious by-play between Pataky and chief heavy Bracey make for too many dreary stretches; the film’s lone “novel” touch is the hero’s backstory as a victim of sexual harassment and slut-shaming, but neither the characterization nor performance is ever compelling past the line drawn by the B-movie action gals from a few decades ago. Pataky’s husband, Chris Hemsworth, co-executive produced and has a recurring cameo role as an electronics salesman.

37/100