More Bargain Bucket than on the Counter
When terrorists hijack a Russian submarine whilst in Syrian waters the entire planet is put in danger as onboard the submarine is a doomsday device. But never fear Zach Silver (Michael Dudikoff) is here or at least aboard the nearby USS Springfield and manages to get aboard the Russian submarine through the pretence of being a medical officer on a goodwill mission. Now Zach along with Lt. Swain (Alexander Keith) who accompanied him must stop the terrorists before it is too late, not easy when you have no weapon at hand.
Watching "Counter Measures" was like stepping back in time to a period in my life when I was paid every Friday in cash and would immediately head down the shops to see what cheap videos were available. In fairness that period was a few years before this but "Counter Measures" would have been exactly the sort of movie I would have discovered in amongst the cheap videos and would have bought it despite it being clearly a cheap as chips actioner. But that was then and this is now and so whilst watching "Counter Measures" gave me a bit of a nostalgic feel it didn't blow me away, not that I expected it to in the first place.
Anyway "Counter Measures" is as basic as it comes with some nameless terrorists, a deadly weapon and are hero trying to save the day and in doing so crawling through air ducts and so on. Yes in this case we not only get the heroic Zach Silver but also a female sidekick in Lt. Swain but the various moments of action are not only typical of the genre but also typical of a Michael Dudikoff action movie and so there is little in a way of surprise here. Even moments of humour revolving around Silver and Swain fail to make this any more special or memorable.
But the daft thing is that "Counter Measures" is not completely terrible it, is what it is and exactly how you expect one of these late 90s action movies to be. In fact whilst stereotypical from start to finish there is something a little entertaining about it, mainly the cheesy stuff which there is plenty of.
What this all boils down to is that "Counter Measures" is nothing special, in fact it is a little below par when it comes to the action movies of the late 90s. But at the same time if you grew up watching these bargain bucket action movies this one is still watchable, just.
