Granted, GALE FORCE isn't going to win any Oscars or even be mentioned in movie guide books years from now. But it's a fun low-budget movie for those looking for a film with at least competent actors and a hair-thin story. Treat Williams headlines the cast as a maverick L.A. detective (what else?) who reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on a SURVIVOR-like show in order to make ends meet. "Treasure Hunters" places a group of people on an island, and branching into two teams, they must follow clues and find the buried treasure before the other. When a group of mercenaries infiltrate the island to take the loot for themselves, the game show quickly turns into a deadly cat and mouse game of survival. Williams carries the film pretty well considering he didn't even want to do it, but had to due to contractual obligations. B-movie action star Michael Dudikoff does a rare performance as the bad guy, leader of the mercs, and displays a fair amount of menace that might have been more intimidating had the direction been tighter. Rounding out the cast is B-movie veteran Tim Thomerson as a rugged ex-Navy SEAL; Susan Walters, the girl with a name that rhymes with a part of the female anatomy from a classic episode of SEINFELD; Cliff DeYoung, in his stock weasel character; and Cliff Armstrong from the REVENGE OF THE NERD movies. The film also borrows scenes from LAST ACTION HERO, PREDATOR, and BAT-21 to save on cost and time. On the DVD commentary, director Jim Wynorski and the cinematographer joke about their usage of pre-existing footage and acknowledge the fact the film is dumb but fun. I wouldn't necessarily call it a dumb movie (I bought the DVD after all because I'm a Dudikoff junkie), but it's certainly not a great movie. The concept is definitely a great starting point, and though this film handles it decently, I can just imagine what a big-budget studio film could do with it.
Review of Gale Force
