"Chain of Command" isn't the most convincing or credible routine B movie out there, but it offers up a passable number of thrills, and it does manage to avoid some of the clichés of its genre. It's a political thriller starring Patrick Muldoon ("Starship Troopers") as a young secret service agent who doesn't think much of his president (a slumming but very welcome Roy Scheider), a real Bill Clinton type. So he requests a change of position: protect the "football" (a briefcase with nuclear launch capabilities) instead. He also turns out to be the only hope that America has when a Taiwanese fanatic and his team of goons eliminate his fellow agents and take the president hostage. Yeah...it's "Die Hard" on an ocean liner. In addition to this watchable and forgettable movie throwing some surprises into its mix, it's going to come off as pretty amusing to any fan of the monster movie "Deep Rising" who will recognize stock footage from that film being re-used here. The story is reasonably absorbing, and the movie capably directed by John Terlesky, a man who got his start acting in B movies such as "The Naked Cage", "Chopping Mall", and "Deathstalker II". The main reason to watch it is to check out a sterling group of actors. Muldoon is no Bruce Willis, but we could all guess that and he is likable, to be sure. Michael Biehn is solid as always as a traitorous agent, Ric Young is a flamboyant hoot as the conniving bad guy, and Maria Conchita Alonso gives a creditable performance as the vice president trying her best to deal with an untenable situation. Also among the actors are familiar faces such as William R. Moses, Tom Wright, John Putch, Pat Skipper, the lovely Susan Blakely (who's regrettably written out of the story early), John Capodice, and an uncredited John Beck and Jayne Brook. One performer people are likely to remember is the super sexy Sung Hi Lee as a Chinese operative. All of them make this tolerable enough to watch, if never terribly exciting. Overall one could do worse than this. At the very least it doesn't end quite the way one would expect it to. Six out of 10.
Review of Chain of Command
