I heard an interview with David Bautista on the excellent Hawksbee and Jacobs radio show when he was promoting this film. He was keen to stress that this is a popcorn movie, not to be taken seriously, and after watching it, I can see why. He plays Michael Knox, an American ex-soldier on a trip to London. When he attends a football game at Upton Park with his niece, he finds himself in a middle of a terrorist plot.
This has drawn a lot of comparisons to Die Hard, but it reminded more of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s only decent film – Sudden Impact. In truth, it is not as good as either of those. It is nuts and bolts action stuff that does its job for most of the running time. The last 10 minutes, as characters improbably survive a huge blast whilst others find each other easily amongst the thousands of people felling the stadium, stretches belief a bit too much for me. However, if you can buy West Ham in a “European Cup” semi final, you will probably believe anything!
Bautista seems like a nice guy and he is competent enough at the action stuff. Pierce Brosnan appears as the man at the centre of the plot but he has virtually nothing to do and it is down to Amit Shah, as a steward, to bring some effective light relief.
Rating: 6 out of 10