I saw this on the program guide and knew it had to be good. It had DTVC Hall of Famer Rutger Hauer and Robert Patrick, two screen legends. To me, this was bigger than De Neiro and Pacino in Heat.
Tactical Assault is about an Air Force colonel, played by Patrick, who is movin' on up (Wheezy!) the ranks in the service. He's leading squadrons in Kosovo, and if he does a good job, he should be the man. Also, his wife is 8 months pregnant and living with him near the base (I have no idea why). Anyway, his old buddy Rutger was shot down over Iraq and spent the previous six years as an Iraqi POW. He's back now, and he blames Patrick. It turns out he's right to, because Patrick shot him down, but he only did it because Hauer's crazy, and wanted to shoot down a commercial air liner. After Hauer tries to sabotage Patrick's life, the two must fight it out to the death: dog fight style.
This movie was hot. Hauer and Patrick lived up to their billing. There's no Hauer bait-and-switch here. He's in the film plenty, and as always, he's great as the nut job. Patrick was surprisingly believable as the all American hero. He seems like a pretty good guy, even if he was the baddie in T2 and Double Dragon. It makes me proud to be a a citizen of the United States when we have film makers with the genius and ingenuity to make a movie with these two amazing acting talents. I feel pretty good about it.
Don't get me wrong, this film is pretty hilarious too. In one scene, Hauer steals Patrick's wife's purse. When she gets home, she finds her keys in the lock and the door open. Instead of putting the missing purse and the keys together and running for help, she goes inside to investigate. She was lucky it was early in the movie, but that was exceedingly dumb. At the end of the film, Hauer chases Patrick and his wife in a tank that's just chilling with out anyone guarding it. Patrick takes him out with some RPGs that are also well guarded.
The RPG to the tank death of course is only there to allow Hauer to escape so we can end the film with Patrick and Hauer settling things in the air. It's as if the film makers had a dart board with bad action cliches on it, and they just shot a few to see what each scene would have in it. And I must tell you, I liked it.
This film's kind of devoid of hot chicks. There's one who plays Hauer's psychiatrist. She meets an unfortunate death when he hangs her. I'm not sure I exactly need hot eye candy when I have Patrick and Hauer together, but every little bit helps.
This movie is so worth it. If you can find it on DVD for like $2, totally do it. If you see it listed on your program guide, definitely TiVo it. You don't often get two screen legends in one film like this, and here you not only get that, but it delivers.
For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127917/
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