Force of Nature – A Generic and Forgettable Slog

If there wasn’t a pandemic currently ravaging the world, many would arguably not notice a film like Force of Nature, the latest VOD action film. The realm of VOD is an inconsistent playing field to say the least but with that being said, certain films still manage to break through every once in a while. However, in most cases these films basically fill out a proverbial quota as many fail to land any form of theatrical distribution. They have become the new straight-to-DVD for the most part and this one definitely fits that bill. This fact shouldn’t be interpreted as a death sentence, it is certainly on the higher end of this subgenre though that’s not saying much. It is a film that viewers can turn on in the background (while also turning off their brains) with pride before forgetting absolutely everything about it 90 minutes later.

Meanwhile, the big gimmick with Force of Nature was that the story takes place during a storm, like a Twister meets Die Hard of sorts. This weather element certainly had the potential to make it at least somewhat interesting but this was definitely was not the case here as it played a minimal role during the proceedings other than making certain characters wet for whatever reason. The circumstances with the characters and their respective backstories don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things (or make sense for that matter) as all the weather did was to set up all the characters in one central location for which the majority of the film took place, a San Juan, Puerto Rico apartment complex in the middle of a hurricane.

Cardillo (Hirsch), a broken down police officer with a troubled past, and his upstart partner Jess (Stephanie Cayo) believed they were simply tasked to evacuate a pair of stubborn residents, including a retired detective named Ray (Gibson) and his daughter Troy (Bosworth), as a hurricane approached but little did they know because obviously, their time would go much differently as they found themselves going head-to-head with a gang of thieves. From there, it was all about survival that never tried to be any more than that. While this was somewhat exciting to watch, there is absolutely nothing new or deep whatsoever about Force of Nature, not that it had to be. Though the action is definitely on a lower scale, perhaps limited by the environment, and is decently shot, it’s merely hard to care about any of it. Where the film fails is its unbearably generic nature, preventing it from truly standing out.

Force of Nature is also saddled with mediocre material (that is unintentionally funny at times) and bland characters which shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise to anyone. All of this make it a slog to watch, even with a short running time of 91 minutes. It should be abundantly clear that the film is in the end, a paycheque for these actors as they sleepwalk their way through it. When the actors don’t care, it’s hard to be invested in any film. That being said, Hirsch and Bosworth were okay as Cardillo and Troy but their lack of chemistry made them hard to watch. Though Gibson, and his no Fs, brought some energy as Ray, it wasn’t enough considering his little screen time.

At the end of the day, Force of Nature is surely destined to be another run-of-the-mill action feature to disappear within the crowded VOD action subgenre.

*still courtesy of Lionsgate*

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.