The opening titles of Interceptor feature a flood of information about so-called "interceptor" bases, U.S. military installations with the ability to fire missiles to intercept a nuclear attack from Russia. These title cards provide the necessary high-concept set-up for the directorial debut from bestselling novelist Matthew Reilly, known for his action-packed thriller novels. Reilly brings that same approach to Interceptor, a straightforward, no-frills action movie largely set in a single location. It's full of plot contrivances, unconvincing dialogue, and shaky performances, although Reilly stages some decent action on a relatively small budget. Reilly co-wrote the screenplay with Hollywood veteran Stuart Beattie (Collateral, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), but the feels similar to the dozens of low-budget, direct-to-video action movies released every year, some on Netflix like Interceptor.
Before those opening titles, Interceptor establishes that the interceptor base in Alaska has been compromised. That leaves only SBX-1, the sea platform in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where Army Captain JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky) is just arriving for her second tour of duty. As periodic flashbacks establish throughout the movie, JJ has had her promising military career cut short thanks to retaliation for accusations of sexual harassment she made against a commanding officer. Instead of being headed for a prestigious job at the Pentagon, she's been busted back down to this podunk outpost.
She arrives at just the right time, though, because she's barely had time to look around wistfully at her new quarters before her superior officer orders her into the base's command center immediately with her sidearm. Interceptor is the kind of action movie in which characters mention the possibility of events occurring mere seconds before they actually do. The dialogue relies heavily on either clumsy, unnecessary exposition or cheesy one-liners. Once JJ arrives in the command center, it's only another few moments before the sleeper agents at SBX-1, posing as janitors, initiate their own takeover, just like the one in Alaska.
Of course, these terrorists didn't count on JJ, who's a hyper-competent, nearly invincible warrior with little to lose. She's the John McClane figure in this Die Hard knock-off, and Luke Bracey is the Hans Gruber as terrorist leader Alex Kessel. He's a pretty ineffectual villain, though, and his taunts to JJ as they spend most of the movie locked in separate corridors are not particularly threatening, despite the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Kessel's terrorist associates have seized 16 nuclear missiles in Russia, which they are aiming at 16 cities in the U.S. The SBX-1 base is the only remaining line of defense, so Kessel needs to take it out before the missiles can be successfully launched.
That means he and his disposable associates need to defeat JJ, whose only ally is the timid Cpl. Rahul Shah (Mayen Mehta), a tech operator who says that he hasn't fired a gun since basic training. Obviously, Shah will have his moment of heroism when the plot calls for it, but for most of Interceptor's running time, it's up to JJ to devise a plan, fortify the command center, and single-handedly defeat any terrorist who happens to breach the doors. Reilly struggles to find enough variations on the same scenario in this cramped, contained location, and there are multiple reversals in the standoff between JJ and Kessel, which quickly exhaust the narrative possibilities.
Pataky, a Spanish actress best known to U.S. audiences for her role in the Fast & Furious movies, projects grit and determination, but JJ is such a one-dimensional character that it's hard to take her seriously. Interceptor's flashbacks to the abuse she endured earlier in her military career are meant to humanize her, but they come off as reductive takes on sexual harassment and bullying, and Reilly frames them with the kind of gauzy soft focus usually reserved for romantic reveries. Instead of sensitive and affecting, they're as over-the-top as the badass posturing between JJ and Kessel.
Pataky's husband, Chris Hemsworth, is an executive producer on Interceptor, and he dutifully puts in an extended cameo as a goofy TV salesman watching footage of the crisis unfold. However, the moments of silly humor mostly just undercut the attempted seriousness of the story, which is already on questionable footing. It doesn't help that Reilly presents a muddled political perspective, giving Kessel some standard-issue progressive talking points but then having his main ally express equally stereotypical right-wing ideals. There's a sort of patriotic, pro-military message, but it's as unbelievable as the prospect of nuclear Armageddon. Hundreds of millions of lives are supposedly at stake, but Interceptor doesn't live up to such stakes.
Interceptor premieres Friday, June 3 on Netflix.