''Irresistible Force'' is a 1993 American thriller starring

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...

and

Cynthia Rothrock Cynthia is a feminine given name of Greek origin: , , "from Mount Cynthus" on Delos island. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 1600s. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbreviated to Cindy, Cyndi, Cyndy, ...

as a pair of police officers.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p89

Plot

A police sergeant (Keach) who is trying to avoid any trouble before his upcoming retirement receives an enthusiastic young female agent (Rothrock) as a new partner.

Cast

as Harris Stone *

as Charlotte Heller *

Paul Winfield Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an American stage, film and television actor. He was known for his portrayal of a Louisiana sharecropper who struggles to support his family during the Great Depression in the landmark fi ...

as Commander Toole *

Kathleen Garrett Kathleen Garrett is an American actress, author, and voice-over talent. Career Kathleen Garrett recurs in the series '' Power Book II: Ghost'' on Starz! and ''Inventing Anna'' on Netflix. She is also in ''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' directed by ...

as Arla Stone *

Michael Bacall Michael Bacall (born Michael Stephen Buccellato;: "Le petit Michael Bucellato qui a choisi le pseudo de Michael Bacall..." April 19, 1973) is an American screenwriter and actor, known for having co-written the films ''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ...

as Jesse Delvechio *

Jerome Ehlers Jerome Ehlers (20 December 1958 – 9 August 2014) was an Australian actor and writer. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1987. Ehlers died in Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New Sout ...

as Kurt *

Nicholas Hammond Nicholas Hammond (born May 15, 1950) is an American-born Australian actor and writer who is best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film ''The Sound of Music'' and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 1970s television series ''The Am ...

as Lieutenant Nash *

Christopher Neame Christopher Neame (born 12 September 1947, London) is an English actor now living in the United States. UK career Neame's UK film credits include appearances in two Hammer Horror films: ''Lust for a Vampire'' (1971) and ''Dracula AD 1972'' ( ...

as James Barron

Production

The outdoor scenes were filmed on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

while the interiors were shot at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Pacific Highway in

Oxenford, Queensland Oxenford is a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , Oxenford had a population of 11,842 people. Geography The suburb is bordered to the west and north by the Coomera River, to the east by the Pacific Motorway and to ...

Reception

Film critic

Adrian Martin Adrian Martin (born 1959) is an Australian film and arts critic. He now lives in Malgrat de Mar in Spain. He is Adjunct Associate Professor in Film Culture and Theory at Monash University. His work has appeared in many magazines, journals and n ...

wrote:

Filmed in a part of Australia that masquerades as America, ''Irresistible Force'' is in many ways a minor and derivative action film. Stacy Keach plays an old cop who battles a group of ''
Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Ale ...
''-style neo-supremacist baddies occupying a high-tech shopping mall. African-American director Kevin Hooks (''
Passenger 57 ''Passenger 57'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Kevin Hooks. The film stars Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne, with Snipes portraying a security consultant who finds himself forced to foil a plot to free a captive terrorist during ...
'', 1992) expertly throws in every conceivable cliché, right down to a mismatching buddy-cop for Keach. But this is where the film gets interesting, for the partner is none other than
B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
legend Cynthia Rothrock. Rothrock is one of the most exciting and engaging icons of contemporary
exploitation cinema An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or Exploitation fiction, lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical ...
. Her persona is an unsettling mixture of classically feminine traits (such as a chic
martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
wardrobe) with an unstoppably masculine aggro. Most often presented as the 'angel of rage', Rothrock routinely murders or severely mutilates the men who have raped and tortured her. In her previous B movies, this amazing Rothrock persona is never explained, either psychologically or sociologically. She is simply an almighty, irresistible force to be reckoned with. This film introduces her to a mainstream audience rather more delicately. The script gives her lines about her unconventional family upbringing, her "bad attitude" towards authority, and her ability to "do the girl thing" when required. Keach functions as a dour father-teacher figure, taming her wildness.

References

External links

*
Review: Irresistible Force (1993 TV Movie): Die Hard in a shopping mall with Cynthia Rothtrock in the John McClane role. It's good!
(''Chrichton's World'' - Sept 2015) Australian thriller films 1993 films Films directed by Kevin Hooks Films scored by David Michael Frank 1993 thriller films 1990s English-language films 1990s Australian films English-language thriller films {{1990s-thriller-film-stub