ABSOLUTE FORCE (1997)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

Measuring the level of quality between this film and the previous entry by the same writer-director, TOTAL FORCE, is a little like an entomologist demonstrating whether a fly or a bee has a longer prong. But, being that I'm an amateur student of buggy movies, I'll attempt it.

Once more, Steven Kaman assembles a "total force" of a whole four operatives to take out a world-imperiling threat. Total Force consists of Timothy Bottoms, David Carradine's daughter Callista, and a couple others I've already forgotten, not counting one or two who kick the bucket. This time, instead of a mad scientist seeking to conquer the world with with a zombie-creating "neurolater" beam, we have a terrorist organization, The Alliance, seeking to create a "neurotron" bomb. What the bomb does is not mentioned, but I guess it counts as a marvelous device that just remains offstage for the whole movie, much like a lot of those cheapie Eurospy flicks of the sixties. If it weren't for the bomb, ABSOLUTE would just be a purely naturalistic shoot-'em-up.

Kaman improves things slightly in that this time there's no third party involved in all the fighting and shooting. If you can keep track of who the bland heroes are, then everyone else is a member of the villains' group, with the slight exception of some cops who get duped into thinking main hero Drake (Bottoms) is a fugitive murderer.

The only parts in TOTAL FORCE that were even slightly memorable were a few short "femme-fu" fight-scenes by Carradine and three other martial maidens. ABSOLUTE only offers Carradine in the fighting-female department, but she has one middling fight toward the end and an earlier scene where she shoots up some office full of computer nerds, presumably allied to the Alliance. Carradine, semi-stylishly attired in black leather, breaks in just moments after one of the nerds demands sexual favors from a vulnerable-looking young secretary. Most of the nerds flee Carradine's gunfire, but one guy comes up behind her with his own pistol. The secretary grabs Carradine's gun and shoots the toxic male in defense of the strange woman who just shot up the office. The sheer absurdity of this "girl power moment" makes it far preferable to any of the ones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Oh, and there's a little more skin this time out. Also, some chanteuse in a strip club sings some lyrics that were totally forgettable except for one line, where the singer asserts, "You ain't too tough to be my baby."