Gridlocked (2016)

Some famous moviestar named Brody gets himself arrested. His punishment: riding along with a cop. Of course they don't get along; the cop (Dave) doesn't want to babysit, but the actor tries to be friendly and eventually wins Dave over. Dave agrees to take him to the clubhouse--his former unit's station. Dave was SWAT but for some reason, that we don't find out, he's now assigned to low-level tasks. We meet his unit made up only of another guy, a little girl, and a rookie.Elsewhere some paramilitary guys are up to no good. They set up on someone's ranch after killing the owners.It's late at night but for some reason a network repair team arrives. Of course they are bad guys and detonate an EMP device that cripple the station's electronics. They are also forced to kill some security guards there. This is witnessed by Brody but no one pays attention to him. Eventually Dave and the rest of the unit realize what's going on and a shootout ensues. The bad guys are directed by the paramilitary guys off-site led by Korver.After SWAT takes control of the situation they finally get around to wondering what the bad guys were doing there to begin with. There's some underground rooms that include an evidence locker. We learn that Korver wants some bearer bonds stored there so he organizes an assault on the station. Our SWAT guys of course are undermanned and underarmed since stuff is being moved to another station.There are a couple of surprises and lots of exciting action. The main cast is very strong with Purcell, Lang, Glover, Jones. Some of the rest of the cast are weak. The other SWAT don't look the part at all. The story is good though as it goes beyond just action. But the action does shine here. There is no shortage of B-action movies with one or two big names, but Gridlocked is better than most A-action movies that are released in theaters.

"Gridlocked" is a watchable and mildly entertaining bromance/action film. Dominic Purcell's martial arts scenes are well executed and adequately choreographed. Stephen Lang does as well as can be expected with the lines that he's given. Cody Hackman plays a young actor with impulse control issues, but can't seem to decide whether to channel Robert Downey Jr. or Justin Bieber. In general, the performances fall a bit short of exemplary. One of the more memorable dramatic performance is delivered by an uncredited extra in a secretarial role who takes some documents and walks away without a word of dialogue. The bit of business has nothing to do with the plot, but she performs it convincingly, which cannot always be said for the rest of the cast. One significant shortcoming is a problem with which many males in its presumptive target audience can relate, a shortage of females. There are two female newscasters, one policewoman who claims to be a lesbian but may be involved with a male character, an old lady, a psychologist who speaks to a character over the telephone and an unidentified woman shown in a still image. Consequently, there is no heterosexual love interest to counterbalance the bromance. While diversity for its own sake generally detracts from a film, this film seems a bit unreal for its lack. There are a few black criminals in an early scene and Danny Glover milks a supporting role. There's a Jewish guy in a stereotypical role. Otherwise, it seems very male and very WASP-ish. For a low-budget actioner, it's entertaining enough. Some scenes seem derivative of "Die Hard 2," "Assault on Precinct 13," "Now You See Me" and other films. The acting isn't inspired, but isn't terrible. The plot is familiar and a bit contrived. Costumes, sets and such betray noticeable compromises to meet budgetary constraints. The entire film seems to have been shot without using a single tripod or other rigid mounting system, although the SteadiCam operator managed to keep the jiggle to a minimum. As a low-budget direct-to- video effort, it's a little better than average.

Former SWAT leader David Hendrix has failed medical clearance after taking a bullet on the job, and his efforts have been reduced to routine tasks for the NYPD. He's been forced to babysit Brody Walker, a Movie star that's been sent on a mandatory ride along as part of his probation. Obnoxious and irritating, Walker is the last thing Hendrix needs. But all of that changes when a police training facility comes under attack by a team of mercenaries. Now, Hendrix and Walker must band together with the remaining survivors to fight back and keep the mercenaries from overtaking the compound...When a film is mooted as 'the best action film of the year', one has a lot to live up to. So understandably, as a fan of B-grade action movies, my expectations were quite high, especially considering some of the 'talent' featured in this.But no, my worst fears were realised when its discovered that it's just another paint by numbers Die Hard rip off that features zero humour, lethargic action, and a lead that looks so bored, he may just shoot an unarmed person in cold blood.So on the one night he's escorting the equivalent of a 1992 Christian Slater, he stops by to see his old team, and they get infiltrated by a gang of nobody actors, led by special guest star Stephen Lang, and supported by special guest pain in the neck, Vinnie Jones.One of the team may or may not be a saboteur, Danny Glover cameos as a security guard, who embarrassingly references his 'too old for this ****' line from Lethal Weapon, and it all ends with Land and Purcell re-enacting the final fight from Under Siege.It's all tepid stuff, it's far too long, and the majority of the film just features one corridor and people shouting at each other.The high concept of having the main protagonist have an irritating sidekick could have made the film something different, having our hero save him from scrapes every other minute, and them quipping against each other, but no, the whole aspect of this is never used, and rather pointless.Just like the film.And to top it all off, after the siege is over, and everybody is safe, Purcell comes across the last bad guy, who is the token unarmed, bespectacled nerd, much like Theo in Die Hard, and literally kills him in cold blood.Words fail me.

David Hendrix (Dominic Purcell) is a toughened street cop who has been saddled with spoiled movie star Brody Walker who is serving community service for DUI's. David takes Brody to visit his home base, a protected training facility for the Strategic Response Team. Unknown to them, something of great value is being vaulted inside the facility and their visit is interrupted by a group of mercenaries that lay siege to the building.The film's premise shares some overlap with films like Assault on Precinct 13, it is the action film equivalent of a home invasion thriller; however Gridlocked has a tone and feel that is distinctly its own. This film is a sleek and fast paced actioner that ratchets up the stakes with every scene. Gridlocked only suffers a little when it crosses its core 'protect the building' premise with the buddy cop elements. Cody Hackman's fallen-star character Brody Walker seems strangely divorced from the main action once they come under siege and gets a little lost in the shuffle. It would have been nice to see him more involved and learning from his experience.