Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Force of Nature Blu-ray Movie Review

A Category Poor Movie.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 16, 2020

Force of Nature joins a short and not so-distinct list of action-heist films set during stormy weather, the king of which might very well be Hard Rain, a good little film starring Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman. A few years ago, Hurricane Heist promised something similar but turned out to be a dismal exercise in over amplification and under development. Now enter Force of Nature, a limp-noodle and borderline unwatchable movie that is structurally inept, tonally dour, poorly performed, and sloppily written. Its rightful destination is the storm drain to drown with cinema's other flotsam and jetsam. Here's hoping the storm passes and sunny days return. And fast.

It's going to be a dark and stormy -- and bloody -- night in Puerto Rico. A strong category four, pushing category five, hurricane is bearing down on the island. Most everyone has evacuated, and the island is sure to be without power and fresh running water for weeks. With nobody in sight and ample opportunity for Mother Nature to clean up the evidence, its the perfect time to stage a crime. Several heavily armed men, led by the mercilessly violent "John the Baptist" (David Zayas), arrive at an apartment building in search of a pricey work of art. What they don't expect to meet are four heroes. Hotshot young cop Jess Peña (Stephanie Cayo), with an appetite for action, is paired with suicidal veteran Cardillo (Emile Hirsch) who once accidentally shot his girlfriend, also a fellow officer, in the line of duty. They are tasked with evacuating the stubborn holdouts from the building, which include an aging, frail man named Ray Barrett (Mel Gibson) and his daughter Troy (Kate Bosworth). The group is separated; Cardillo finds himself with Troy and Jess with Ray as they must battle the elements, armed gunmen, and a few other surprises along the way.

Force of Nature is best described as a collection of moving images and loud sounds assembled with little care for cohesion, drive, purpose, anything that usually makes a movie worth watching. The heroes make their way through the building, in pairs, doing whatever doesn’t really need to be done, and they occasionally face off against a random bad guy who is nothing but proverbial cannon fodder to allow a few shots to fire and the heroes to wrestle with said bad guy in a series of barely coherent action scenes. It’s like video game design of the worst kind, charging the player with progressing through rote stages and battling random bosses until the big kahuna shows up at the end.

The movie pauses with some frequency to build back stories that define the characters but don't really add anything of consequence to the movie or to the audience's ability to enjoy it. They're mind-numbingly generic, partially the fault of a tired script and partly the fault of actors who do little to bring life to the material. The primary backstory involves Cardillo and some incident a year or so back in which he accidentally gunned down someone he loves. Now, he’s suicidal, tired, on the job because he must be on it not because he has any verve for it. There’s no sense of connection to the character anyway, so it’s only another layer of dim and dour content to bog the movie down. Perhaps it would have worked in a movie that was better scripted and better acted (think a suicidal Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon or desk jockey Al Powell in Die Hard), but here it’s just another lame distraction on the way to the end goal of the end credits, the best part of the movie.

As it is, the movie is painfully slow. The particularly putrid flow is helped along by a series of transparent sidebar stories and characters, such as that of a man who was trying to buy an excess of meat at the grocery store only to find himself in a fistfight with another customer. Turns out he keeps a wild animal with an appetite for human flesh locked up in his apartment (and its purpose is as predicable as the day is long). Ray and Troy find an apartment full of guns conveniently hanging on the wall. Ray knows the owner, of course, and has his key, and the man was nice enough to a) evacuate and b) leave all of his guns behind, both unlikely for a “survivalist” type. A little over an hour into the film, the eye of the storm passes over the building. "is it over?" one of the nameless henchmen asks. If only. If only.

Force of Nature Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Force of Nature was digitally photographed and generally looks fine. The picture is quite sharp in the aggregate, holding even in the dreary low light interiors during the storm but well evidenced in the brightest scenes, such as partway through the film when the storm's eye passes over the building. Viewers will see fine skin details, hairs, clothing textures, and various other elements with great clarity. Colors push fairly hot. Contrast has been boosted for effect, making blue police uniforms, for instance, really pop from the background. Punchier tones are borderline aflame, and the entire palette often looks unnatural and practically cartoonish. The picture is rife with noise, too, frequently red in color and permeating deep into the image's very essence. Fortunately, no other major source or compression artifacts are to be seen. The movie is way too punchy and noisy but it's otherwise solid within its parameters.

Force of Nature Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Force of Nature is very loud. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack assaults the sonic senses with regularity, pushing loud, immersive rain and thunder effects into, through, and around the stage with regularity; there are but a few moments when chaotic natural din is not the signature sound component of any scene. The surrounds and subwoofer are certainly active throughout as they carry these effects, and music, too, which is boisterous and pushes hard through every speaker. Prioritization is usually handled well amongst the competing large elements, but dialogue, otherwise clear and center positioned, does sometimes get lost. Nowhere is that more obvious than right out of the gate in the in medias res flash forward to one of the random action scenes from mid movie; Ray's mumbled speech is almost entirely lost to the competing elements. Gunfire hits plenty hard throughout, both as it pushes out of the gun and impacts surfaces, be those surfaces flesh or solids around the complex. Positioning and aggression are never in question. The track is loud and energetic, no doubt about it, and the single best thing this disc has to offer, imperfect though it may be.

Force of Nature Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Force of Nature's supplemental selection is limited to the film's Trailer (1080p, 2:31) and previews for other Lionsgate films. No DVD copy is included but Lionsgate has bundled in a digital code. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

Force of Nature Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are one or two passably good moments in Force of Nature, including a touching father-daughter moment during a key scene, but the movie is otherwise just about a total loss. An empty story is only further hindered by a poor script and subpar acting even from several notable actors who just cannot elevate trite, lifeless material. Add in substandard technical assets and the movie simply never gets off the ground. Lionsgate's release is without any meaningful extras, no surprise, and the technical qualities are solid but could be better, the video in particular. Skip it.