Michael Connelly (Patrick Muldoon) is a secret service agent assigned to protect president Jack Cahill (Roy Scheider) during a flight on which there is an assassination attempt. The would-be assassin is foiled but an innocent crew member is killed. Connelly has had enough of this work and is moved to 'football duty,' carrying the the briefcase which gives the president control over the whole of America's nuclear arsenal. It must be kept within 40 feet of him at all times and officers guarding it have responsibility only for the briefcase and others protecting it - not the president himself.
The Chinese are stirring up problems, and Cahill has a meeting with a Taiwanese businessman to ask him to act as a go-between. While the meeting is underway, Connelly's team is systematically attacked and taken out. Both the Cahill and the briefcase are now in the hands of rebel forces who intend to unleash US nuclear weapons on Beijing unless they can get favourable terms for Taiwan. Only Connelly remains at large...
The ratings of this film are quite low but this is not any more implausible, or more poorly acted, than a host of other action movies with bigger stars and higher budgets. Actually I think the leads perform well. The lighting is poor but other aspects of filming are perfectly acceptable though the use of slo-mo was a bit random. Underrated action movie.
The Chinese are stirring up problems, and Cahill has a meeting with a Taiwanese businessman to ask him to act as a go-between. While the meeting is underway, Connelly's team is systematically attacked and taken out. Both the Cahill and the briefcase are now in the hands of rebel forces who intend to unleash US nuclear weapons on Beijing unless they can get favourable terms for Taiwan. Only Connelly remains at large...
The ratings of this film are quite low but this is not any more implausible, or more poorly acted, than a host of other action movies with bigger stars and higher budgets. Actually I think the leads perform well. The lighting is poor but other aspects of filming are perfectly acceptable though the use of slo-mo was a bit random. Underrated action movie.