Mach 2 (2001) starring Brian Bosworth, Shannon Whirry, Michael Dorn, Cliff Robertson, Bruce Weitz, Andrew Stevens, Robert Pine directed by Fred Olen Ray Movie Review

Mach 2 (2001)   1/51/51/51/51/5


Brian Bosworth in Mach 2 (2001)

Blunt as an Old Razor

With the race for President going a candidate receives a disk detailing the underhand tactics of a rival who is trying to cause war in the Balkans in order to boost the US economy. But the rival realises that these dangerous details are in someone else's hands and arranges for the Concorde he is travelling on to be hijacked. Except the heroic Captain Jack Tyree (Brian Bosworth) just happens to be aboard and he is not going to let the bad guys win or the passengers to come to harm.

"Mach 2" opens with an introduction to our heroic Jack Tyree as he drops on to a moving train via a helicopter in order to stop terrorists who have a bomb aboard. Sounds okay but not only is Tyree one of those hilariously squared jaw all American hero types who's every over word is a cheesy cliche but it is all incredibly ridiculous. From a bomb which of course has a visible countdown timer on it to the round of applause Tyree receives from the passengers when he throws one machine packing bad guy of the train and says that next time he should have brought a ticket. Oh and of course Tyree has to mention that he hates flying when he gets on the helicopter just to set up the issue later on when he happens to be aboard Concorde.

Shannon Whirry in Mach 2 (2001)

That is just the opening and not the main story which can be summed up by saying bad guys hijack a plane and Tyree sets about preventing them. It sounds cliche and it is cliche but it is cliche with enough cheese to cause a heart attack. The annoying thing is that you half expect cheese when you are talking a low budget action movie but cheese only really works when all those involved are aware of the cheese and play up to it but here they don't. It makes it embarrassing to watch actors playing it seriously yet having the sort of dialogue which would have made Schwarzenegger blush with embarrassment.

As for the acting well the most surprising thing about "Mach 2" is that in a supporting role it features Cliff Robertson as well as some other recognizable faces such as Robert Pine and David Hedison. But the characters are poorly written and plenty of the acting is weak and not entertainingly weak. Of course there is Brian Bosworth who has the looks but lacks the range to make the character of Tyree anything more than a squared jaw cliche.

What this all boils down to is that "Mach 2" is not only a walking talking cliche action movie but it is one which is mainly cheese which doesn't realise that the cheese stinks. It is the sort of movie which could have been entertaining if those involved had embraced the badness of it all but because it takes itself seriously it is embarrassing.


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