Chain of Command (2000) starring Roy Scheider, Patrick Muldoon, Maria Conchita Alonso, Michael Biehn, Ric Young, Sung Hi Lee, William R. Moses directed by John Terlesky Movie Review

Chain of Command (2000)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Patrick Muldoon in Chain of Command (2000)

Muldoon Takes Command

Secret service agent Michael Connelly (Patrick Muldoon - Starship Troopers) has no respect for President Jack Cahill (Roy Scheider - Evasive Action) a man of dubious morals and when he can no longer honestly say that he would take a bullet for the guy is moved to a new duty. That duty is known as 'football duty', being part of the team carrying the case containing the codes for America's nuclear weapons which must be kept no more than 40 feet from the President as all times. During secret negotiations with a Chinese businessman both the President and the Football are captured with all but Connelly from the Secret Service killed leaving him having to save the President and the Football.

Pizza, chips, nachos with cheese, popcorn, beer, coke what ever it is you like to eat and drinking when watching movies with the guys on a Friday night go and get it as "Chain of Command" is a Friday night with the guys movie. It has action, it has Roy Scheider, it has an easy to follow plot, it has cliches and it has more action which whilst 90% of it is implausible still manages to entertain.

Roy Scheider in Chain of Command (2000)

Now there is what feels like a surprising amount of build up going on in "Chain of Command"; we discover that despite having a female Vice President the President is a chauvinist, we discover that agent Michael Connelly doesn't care for the chauvinist President and his philandering ways, we learn all about the 'football' but we also learn about the issue with China. It gets to the point that whilst you expect at some point for Connelly to end up going "Die Hard" you are not sure how it will come about especially when all of a sudden we come across Michael Biehn and his character.

The thing is that whilst "Chain of Command" gives us the interesting idea of protecting the 'football' beyond that it is full of cliches. The evil Chinese who lurk in shadows, the scene where are hero crawls through an air vent, the would be assassin who looks like he has been watching "In the Line of Fire". And if it isn't cliches it is huge contrivances which there are far too many to go into. But for all which is wrong with "Chain of Command" it is entertaining even if you do end up getting drunk by taking a shot for every cliche you come across.

What this all boils down to is that if you are looking for a movie to enjoy on a Friday night with your mates whilst you knock back a few then "Chain of Command" should be on your list. It isn't a great movie, it is full of cliches but if you enjoy action movies then it is passable.


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