David Stratton: Liam Neeson and Mel Gibson? Have they still got it?

Mel Gibson plays an ex-cop with a formidable arsenal of heavy weaponry in ‘unusually silly thriller’ Force of Nature.

Ray (Mel Gibson) is the proud owner of a formidable arsenal of heavy weaponry

Force of Nature (MA15+)
★★
Limited release

In September 2017 a devastating hurricane, Maria, killed over 3000 in Puerto Rico, mainly in San Juan, where it was later recorded as the third-costliest tropical cyclone to hit the area. Force of Nature uses that disaster as a backdrop for an unusually silly thriller in which – at the height of the storm – a villain who calls himself John the Baptist (David Zayas) leads a gang of heavily-armed thugs on a raid of the secure high-rise apartment in which an elderly German named Bergkamp (Jorge Luis Ramos) has hidden away some priceless works of art. Is it possible that he’s one of those Nazis who escaped Europe with stolen treasure after World War II? Surely he’s not that old?

The Baptist’s nemesis will be Cardillo (Emile Hirsch), a cop who has been demoted because of a recent miscalculation that had fateful consequences; when we first meet him he’s suicidal, sitting in a bathtub in his apartment with a gun in his mouth. But he can’t go through with it, pulls himself together and reports for duty, whereupon he’s assigned, with partner Jess Pena (Stephanie Cayo) to evacuate the area before the hurricane hits and specifically to clear out the high-rise apartment buildings that are in the path of the storm. While carrying out their duties, Cardillo and Pena come across Griffin (Will Catlett), an African-American who is buying a suspiciously large amount of meat from a supermarket. He reveals that he is keeping a large and hungry man-eating feline in a room in his apartment. This curious pet will, of course, prove to have a significant effect on what happens later on.

Griffin just happens to live in the same apartment building as the one targeted by The Baptist and his gang, and the high-rise is also the home of Ray (Mel Gibson), an ex-cop, and his daughter, Troy (Kate Bosworth), a doctor who has been treating her sickly Dad. When the bad guys arrive on the scene it’s fortunate for the good guys that Ray is the proud owner of a formidable arsenal of heavy weaponry. Thus the stage is set for a series of violent gun battles and a great deal of running up and down stairs, while the rain and the wind pound the building with massive force. Did I mention that Troy is not only a doctor but also a crack shot?

I remarked that Force of Nature is unusually silly and so it is, but to be fair it doesn’t make any attempt to be taken seriously. It’s just an excuse for boys – and a couple of girls – to wield cumbersome but deadly automatic weapons and to be one step ahead of the villains. Though Gibson is the most celebrated name among the cast, he receives third billing, below Hirsch and Bosworth, and his grizzled, pill-popping veteran occupies a fairly marginal role, though he seems to be enjoying taking part in the mayhem.

Mayhem is the film’s raison d’etre and director Michael Polish doesn’t let up for a moment. Bullets fly, blood flows and Jason Crother’s mobile camera fetishizes the enormous weapons when it’s not careening about all over the place, zooming and panning in a rather vain attempt to give the proceedings a semblance of veracity.

Force of Nature is a movie for those who enjoy non-stop action and don’t much mind whether it makes sense or not.

-

Made in Italy (M)
★★★
Limited release

Made in Italy is one of any number of emotional relationship dramas that are attractively photographed on spectacular locations. In this particular case the setting is Tuscany and there’s an added element of poignancy given that Liam Neeson and his real-life son, Micheal Richardson, play a father and son who are still coping with the death of their wife/mother in a tragic accident twenty years earlier. Micheal is the son of Neeson and Natasha Richardson, who died in a skiing accident in 2009, a sad fact that imbues James D’Arcy’s film with both an element of unexpected reality but also a whiff of exploitation.

Apart from this significant element the film charts a fairly unexceptional course. Jack Foster (Richardson) manages a London art gallery that, unfortunately for him, is owned by his wife, Ruth (Yolanda Kettle). The marriage has broken down, and Ruth has decided to sell the place. Jack desperately wants to acquire it for himself, but he’s short of funds; pleading with his ex to delay the sale for a while until he can raise the cash, he seeks help from his estranged father, Robert (Neeson), a philandering artist. Father and son jointly own a house in Tuscany, the former property of Jack’s mother, Raffaella, who was Italian; if it can be sold, Jack, who hasn’t been there since he was seven years old, is certain that his share will be enough to help him acquire the gallery.

Robert is reluctant to be wrenched away from his comfort zone in London. When Jack visits his father it’s painfully obvious that Robert doesn’t even know the name of the much younger woman who has evidently spent the night, and his first reaction is to resist returning to a place that holds bitter memories for him. Despite his misgivings he agrees to go along with Jack’s idea and the pair are next seen driving through the glorious Italian countryside.

Reality takes over when father and son arrive at the villa which, though beautifully located and with a wondrous view, is in a very dilapidated condition, not really surprising given that it’s been unoccupied for twenty years. The local real-estate agent, Kate (Lindsay Duncan) advises some speedy renovations (“The plumbing seems to work and I like its bones,” she says) and so, with a little help from some local craftsmen, father and son start to fix the place up – and, unsurprisingly, find themselves bonding during the process. One wall of the main living room is dominated by one of Robert’s own works, an abstract in overpowering red that he painted in the immediate aftermath of the death of Raffaella in a car accident when Jack was seven.

Before long Jack has befriended Natalia (Valeria Bilello), a divorcee with an eight-year-old daughter, Anna; Natalia owns and operates the local restaurant and, fortunately, speaks good English because she lived for a year in Britain. She has problems too; her ex-husband, Marzio (Gian Marco Tavani), is seeking custody of Anna.

As the renovations proceed, and Jack re-discovers his childhood memories in what was once his bedroom, father and son – for the first time – are able to talk about what happened on the fateful day of the accident. Given the real life back-story of the actors involved, these scenes feel almost too personal, though the performances, especially that of Neeson – who is taking a break from the sort of tough guy roles he’s been cast in of late – are pretty affecting.

But on almost every level the film is predictable. “People are no good at seeing themselves,” proclaims Robert at one point, and that’s about as deep as D’Arcy’s screenplay is willing to delve. A gorgeous setting and some attractive characters can’t compensate for the by-the-numbers screenplay.

A scene from Made in Italy, starring Liam Neeson