Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
A gang of thieves plan a heist during a hurricane and encounter trouble when a disgraced cop tries to force everyone in the building to evacuate.
Force of Nature (2020) is a largely forgettable action thriller that squanders its promising premise—a heist during a hurricane in Puerto Rico. The plot is thin and riddled with clichés, relying on stock character archetypes including the disgraced cop, the reluctant partner, and the ruthless villain. Emile Hirsch and Mel Gibson deliver performances that feel phoned-in, constrained by a weak script that gives them little to work with. The cinematography is functional at best, capturing the storm setting adequately but never using it to dramatic or atmospheric advantage the way a better film might. The concept of a hurricane heist has some novelty, but the execution is so by-the-numbers that any originality in the premise is wasted. The ending resolves predictably with minimal tension. Across the board, this is a below-to-average genre entry that fails to distinguish itself in any meaningful category.