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Chain of Command AKA Echo Effect
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (14th October 2015). |
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The Film
 Home from active duty, Special Operations agent James Webster (Black Dynamite's Michael Jai White) discovers that his older brother Walt (Ken Early) is in deep trouble. Walt promises to explain everything to James but he is brutally murdered. His widow Sally (Shyra Thomas) can offer no leads about Walt's life outside their marriage, but a desperate call from special ops buddy Cliff (Jon Osbeck) before he too is murdered has James looking for a connection between the killings. His only lead is a man named Bill O'Brien who called Cliff before he was murdered. His former CO Ross (Max Ryan), now the local SWAT commander, advises him to let the police handle things but James sees the assassination of his brother as an act of war. Of course, Ross is just as implicated in the "cleanup" of a botched operation and under pressure by professional hitman Ray Peters (Steve Austin sans "Stone Cold") to tie up any loose ends. While James and one-eyed former operative Sam Thorn (Ian Short) search for O'Brien, who James believes was a friend of Walt's while Sam thinks he may have murdered him, Ross sends skilled agents to take them out. When the attempts on James' life inevitably fail, Ross and Peters know they will have got get personal to break him. Not to be confused with the earlier Cannon Pictures effort with Michael Dudikoff from 1994 – which looks like a classic in comparison – Chain of Command is bad in every respect (although any of the Cannon "auteurs" probably could have made something decent of it). Although the film teases the audience throughout the first half with repeated shots of the SWAT vehicle being unloaded of dubious contents that look like body bags, the drawing out of the nature of the illicit activities in a series of vague exchanges between Ross and Ray is so contrived and does not have much of a payoff. White is in great condition but the fights are badly choreographed and the gunfire, bullet hits, and blood splatter are rendered in comical CGI (even in close-up). However well-trained Webster is supposed to be, all of the supposedly skilled operatives sent after him seem staggeringly incompetent and easily dispatched. Although Barnett is threatened at knife-point early on, her "love interest" is so peripheral to the film that her character name is never uttered and Thomas' widow character turns out to be the damsel-in-distress during the climax. White and Ryan give decent but noncommittal performances (and who could blame them) but Austin simply cannot act, and this film hammers the point home by giving him two painful monologues. The supporting performances also range from decent to simply dire (with quite a few less successful examples of stunt performers making the transition to thespians). Director Kevin Carraway was also responsible for the equally execrable Seven Below.
Video
LionsGate's single-layer 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen transfer is technically fine but the film itself seems more likely to get most of its HD viewings in streaming formats with few actually wanting to own it on physical media. I'm surprised LionsGate didn't just go DVD/Digital HD combo on this one.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is serviceable but lacking in overall atmosphere so gunfire really sticks out from the general ambience when not slathered with music. Optional English HoH and Spanish subtitles are provided.
Extras
There are no extras other than previews for other uninteresting action films.
Overall
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