Strategic Command

THE STORY: I like Michael Dudikoff for some reason. He's been in some lame movies but at least they're usually exciting....except for this one...I mean, I'm suprised the producers of Executive Decision didn't sue him for this...its almost the exact same movie!

The evil terrorist Carlos Gruber and his gang of international bad guys break into a tip top secret lab containing chemical/ biological weapons. Well, "Break Into" is a little strong. Rather, they stroll into it. Once there they steal a [unwrite]load of this stuff called Bromex that's supposed to be the deadliest biological weapon devised by man. Working late there is former Marine, now FBI agent / Chemical weapons specialist Harding. Harding almost stops the terrorists but they get away.

Harding is understandably upset. This Bromex stuff is dangerous. But his boss, Rowan, tells him to go home and get some sleep and they'll work on finding where the crooks took the stuff in the morning. They find a hint pretty damn quick, too. The next day Michelle, Harding's wife comes to tell him something at work but he has no time to talk to her. She tells him then that she'll have to talk to him when she gets back from Washington DC. Michelle is a TV newswoman and she's going to be interviewing Vice President Baker on his flight back to the capitol.

Harding and Rowan get in a shootout with some thugs at a dock. I didn't catch how, but somehow this is supposed to be a lead on where the Bromex is. Well, its not that hard to figure out. Gruber has arranged an accident for Michelle's regular cameraman and taken his place. Gruber also has his crew hiding in crates that are put in the plane's cargo bay. Why the Vice President isn't flying on Air Force Two and a civilian airline isn't explained. Perhaps knowing they'd piss off Steven Seagal and Kurt Russell the director didn't want to add Harrison Ford into the mix.

Once airborne Gruber frees his men and then takes control of the plane (killing the pilots). Thus capturing the Vice President, Gruber makes an announcement to the FBI...free some terrorist guy they have in custody and shell out a few million dollars to some secret bank accounts or he'll detonate the plane over LA. Gruber has hooked a bomb into the plane and loaded it with the stolen Bromex. If it explodes over a city the Bromex will kill every single living thing in a 200 mile radius! (What sick bastard would even make this stuff?) Harding tells the authorities that the only cure for Bromex is a needle full of adrenaline shot in the back of the neck...but it has to administered within fifteen seconds. (can anyone say...."The Rock"? I guess Nick Cage wants a piece of Dudikoff's ass for this movie too)

The government sends in a special forces team led by Captain Radner. Radner acts more like a street hood than an army officer....he's also not pleased to find out that Harding has weaseled his way onto this mission. Harding's wife is on that plane and he somehow talks Rowan into letting him go. Now, this next part plays out just like Executive Decision. The team boards the 747 via a chute from a stealth bomber in flight. The chute has to disengage before all of them make it on board. Unfortunately we don't get to see Steven Seagal die this time. Only Harding, Radner and a bomb specialist, Ernie make it on board. Then nothing happens for awhile. The team look for the terrorists. The terrorist wound the Vice President. Harding argues with Radner. Ernie tries to diffuse the bomb without setting it off or alerting Gruber. We also find out that one of the Secret service guys assigned to the Vice President is a traitor...supposedly that's how Gruber got all this [unwrite] on the plane in the first place. His reason is that Gruber is holding his family hostage.

When something does happen its this....Harding and Radner burst into the cabin and fight the terrorist. Radner is shot and wounded. The traitor guy scuffles with a terrorist and they open the door and plunge out of the plane. Everyone else manages to grab something before they're sucked out. Gruber  tries to make it to the pilot's cabin where one of his men is piloting the plane but Harding catches up to him. Gruber tries to blow the plane up by his remote detonator but Ernie has succeeded in disarming it. Somehow Gruber produces a packet of Bromex and it gets busted open in his struggle with Harding. The pilot and Gruber die in seconds but Harding has a needle of adrenaline and gives himself a shot. The Bromex doesn't kill him and he then pilots the plane to safety. (With the help of radio instructions from Radner...Radner! No one said Radner was a pilot! He's a commando! He must have studied under Rambo!)

Once everyone is safe, Michelle tells Harding her secret. She's pregnant. The end.

The problem with this movie is that it was a plagiarists wet dream. It had elements of Executive Decision, Air Force One and the Rock, but none of it was original. No real action happened until the last ten minutes anyway! Harding was played by Michael Dudikoff. I still like him okay. Rowan was actor Paul Winfield. Winfield played Dr. Martin Luther King once and trekkers know him as Captain Terrell from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. I think he was an alien on the Next generation once, too.

Best Lines: "Start acting like a leader!"- Harding tells Captain Radner that he's tired of his [unwrite].

1.) Well you know if a movie has the military in it I'm going to harp on uniform discrepancies.

The MP's at the guard desk have no rank insignia on their uniforms. Only Private E-1's have no insignia and  buck privates usually make E-2 shortly after basic training. (They'd almost have to. E-1's get paid near to nothing.) They also have no name tags on their uniforms.

2.) For a facility that stores mega-duper chemical weapons it sure has some weak security. The terrorists pull up in front of the building and get out with rifles and guns. No one sees them. They stroll all the way inside and no one stops them. In fact no one even knows they're in there until one of them trips an alarm by dropping one of the containers of bio-weapons! Why isn't there a fancy pants locking mechanism on the vaults containing this stuff? The Terrorists get in there really [unwrite]ing easy! It looks like the chemical weapons are stored in ziploc sandwich bags and kept in the type of easy access refrigerators you see in the cold drink section of an average 7-11! I've seen malls with better security!

3.) When Harding shows Captain Radner the needle with the cure for Bromex poisoning in it, Radner says he's crazy if he thinks he'll stick himself with that thing. (Kinda like a ripoff of  "The Rock".) But Radner is a military officer so I know he must have had at least the same level of training in biological/ chemical warfare that say, I have. You know what they give us for the event of chemical attack? These big [unwrite]ing needles! Now I don't relish the idea of having to jam a needle into my body as much as the next dude, but Radner oughtta be fully prepared to do it, given his profession. I damn sure would if its going to keep me outta the grave.

4.) Has anyone else ever noticed how Michael Dudikoff kinda plays the same guy in a lot of movies? He's always a tough, former military guy that is the one dude that can stop a terrorist plot at the right time. Talk about typecast.

NUDITY AND SEX: None.

HUH?: Wouldn't the Vice President be flying on Air Force Two rather than a civilian airline? I thought the whole reason for AF2 was to protect the Vice President!

If this Bromex [unwrite] is so powerful than how come it doesn't infect the entire plane? When Harding busts open the container and spills it all over Gruber I'd expect everyone on the plane to die. After all when Gruber's flunky busted a pack of it Gruber slammed the airtight door fast before it could kill the rest of them! A bioweapon with a limited range of a few feet ain't much of a weapon.

Considering how the US is always trying to stop other countries from developing biological weapons its a little weird to see a movie that blatantly shows America developing super bio-weapons. Personally I think all bio-weapons should be banned and destroyed.

Stop me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a door open on a 747 in flight cause more problems than wind blowing through the plane? I don't know jack about aerodynamics but if anyone else does email me!

THE TALLY: A "terrorist has the US by the balls" movie is nothing new, but I think this one was pretty bland. Only really big fans of Dudikoff need apply. This was one of those movies that you watch and when its over you wish you had watched something else.