The pell-mell plotting of “Interceptor” remembers the Onion parody interview with the excitable, 5-year-old screenwriter of “Quick 5.” This nuclear thriller from Matthew Reilly — the Australian writer of quite a few journey novels — is clunky and barely coherent anytime there’s not a battle scene. However even probably the most stilted one-liner (“It’s the gig financial system!”) boasts the weirdo zeal of somebody having enjoyable throwing action-movie nonsense on the display screen.
The enjoyable will not be all the time contagious, even for somebody like me who grew up studying Tom Clancy’s wonky Chilly Battle fantasias. “Quick and Livid” franchise participant Elsa Pataky performs Captain Collins, a soldier on a missile protection rig within the Pacific. Sixteen rogue Russian missiles will hurtle at American cities if Alexander (Luke Bracey), a chatty terrorist, can disable the bottom’s management room along with his cronies. Owing to homicide and poor staffing selections, Collins should fend off the intruders almost single-handedly.
It’s a budget-conscious confined thriller with C.G.I. cutaways to missiles, a gradual chatter of halfhearted rants and a giant “LAUNCH” button. Pataky brings a steely dedication to felling goons and shutting down Alexander (who complains about being the son of a talentless billionaire). Chris Hemsworth has a recurring bit as a shaggy Los Angeles retailer worker following alongside on TV.
However nuke control-room suspense is more durable than it sounds. The place Robert Aldrich’s 1977 basic “Twilight’s Final Gleaming” pulls out all of the stops for over two hours, the standoff of “Interceptor” feels extended. You won’t thoughts an apocalypse if it meant a change of surroundings.
Interceptor
Not rated. Operating time: 1 hour 36 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
