If lots of carnage, casual police brutality and macho posturing in the furtherance of justice is your idea of fun, you could do worse than MAXIMUM FORCE, an inconsequential yet diverting direct-to-video crime story. There is scant distracting social commentary or vexing moral
ambiguity--just solid disposable entertainment.
The fun begins as Detective Rick Carver (Jason Lively) observes an illicit firearms transaction in a remote locale. Discovered, the bearded long-haired cop races to secure his precious surveillance equipment as the gun-toting bad guys approach in their helicopter. Carver loads some fancy weapon
and runs off with the chopper in hot pursuit. Eluding the machine-gun fire, Carver takes aim and blows away the offending craft both in self-defense and to avenge the wanton destruction of his high-tech hardware. ("I was having a good day until you blew up my stuff! Goodbye," he whines as he fires
his weapon.)
The criminal mastermind of this unnamed metropolis is Mr. Max Tanebe (Richard Lynch), an old fashioned gangster who speaks adoringly of the freedom and the business opportunities that America provided him when he was just a poor immigrant. Dealing in drugs, weapons, stolen goods and prostitutes
has earned him an office atop a spectacular skyscraper. He even has the mayor and chief of police (Mickey Rooney) in his big pockets. Nonetheless several obsessed cops have repeatedly risked life and career to strike blows against Tanebe's evil empire. Captain Fuller (John Saxon) summons Carver,
Detective Michael Crew (Sam J. Jones) and Detective Cody Randel (Sherrie Rose) to a rundown loft and offers to supervise them in a special force exclusively devoted to battling Tanebe.
Each cop has a personal score to settle so they agree to eat, sleep, live and train together so as to function as one well-oiled machine--a Maximum Force. After a musical training interlude, they proceed to impede Tanebe's criminal operations. Infuriated, the gangster strikes back and the newly
formed team incurs some heavy losses before confronting Tanebe in his lair.
With generous helpings of cartoon violence, quick personality sletches that pass for characterization and an essential silliness at its core, MAXIMUM FORCE feels like an extended episode of some lost minor Stephen J. Cannell cop show. Lacking the goofy charm of "The A-Team" or the moral gravity of
"Wiseguy," this is a briskly paced succession of crime-film cliches edited in a slickly competent manner designed to deliver maximum impact for minimal budget. Ironically, topbilled star Sam J. Jones (best remembered as Dino De Laurentiis's FLASH GORDON) made a much stronger impression on TV last
year as the seemingly invincible villain, Victory Smith, in the premiere episode of "The Hat Squad." As Crew, Jones, usually a clean-shaven blond, is brown-haired, unshaven, gravelly voiced and dull--a poor man's Don Johnson circa "Miami Vice."
Cheapie veteran John Saxon fares better than most of the undistinguished cast with his small role as the courageous Captain Fuller (a bow to "B-plus" auteur Samuel Fuller?). Cool and dignified, he deftly sketches in backgrounds for each of the characters during their first meeting. Motivations
aside, capability is character for this crimefighting trio: Crews is the gruff hunky cop, as skilled in hand-to-hand combat as he is with his hefty hand gun; Carver is an oddball weapons specialist with a penchant for remote-controlled devices; and Cody, the female member (that is, love interest),
is just one tough cookie who excels at undercover assignments. Personalities, interesting or otherwise, are not this film's main appeal with the notable exception of Mickey Rooney in a memorable cameo as the corrupt chief of police. Prowling the streets in his shadowy limo (the production probably
couldn't afford an office set), Rooney delivers an overwrought lament about lost innocence that is unintentionally hilarious. This film is a long way from the ANDY HARDY series but the diminutive star remains a trooper.
MAXIMUM FORCE clearly aspires to be a stylish comic-book version of film noir. It's a dark, dark movie in which daylight is relegated to the pre-credit action scenes and, much later, a brief nightmare sequence. This is certainly for the best; the absurd old-age makeup on Richard Lynch looks
terrible in bright light. The modest interior settings include a dimly lit nightclub, an oddly lit loft (a blue key light competes with a yellow and the shadows win), and a yellow-tinted conference room. The exteriors are mostly rather attractive shots of urban streets illuminated with lots of
colorful neon. At times, all the smoke and tinted lights almost suggest a low-rent Ridley Scott.
There is nary an original idea to be found in MAXIMUM FORCE. In addition to the undeniable influence of TV cop shows, gimmicks and imagery are culled from THE DEAD POOL, Sam Fuller's UNDERWORLD USA and countless crime melodramas. Still, it is satisfying for exactly what it is: a modest, colorful
action movie that delivers its unremarkable thrills with aplomb. (Violence, profanity, sexual situations.) leave a comment
