Woodyanders Amy Madigan is one of my all-time favorite unsung actresses: She's pretty in a modest, corn-fed sort of way, has one of those dry, throaty, worn-out alto voices which I personally find to be very sultry, and her often short, faded blonde hair ain't nothing to sneeze about, either. Furthermore, Amy also possesses a forceful, dynamic, wholly arresting screen presence, a goodly amount of fortitude, and has flair to spare. In short, Amy's my kind of girl, a gutsy, brassy and even sexy little spitfire who rarely (if ever) is given the full credit and attention she deserves.Fortunately, this bang-up action thriller features the terrific Ms. Madigan in peak plucky'n'punchy form as Barbara Cutter, the tough, but tender wife of marine helicopter pilot Rob (winningly played by Daniel Hugh Kelly). Rob discovers that faulty helicopter parts have caused two fatal chopper "accidents." Rob gets rubbed out by a pair of deadly thugs (one is nicely essayed by great, prolific, underrated fat guy character actor Maury Chaykin) who are in the employ of a ruthless, penny-pinching, cornering-cutting evil general (a perfectly detestable John Colicos; Balter on "Battlestar Galactica") who in turn is in cahoots with a bunch of illegal black market whirlybird thieves. Barbara and her son Johnny (a surprisingly strong and tolerable turn by child actor Robin MacEachern), the latter of whom has some incriminating evidence of the below-par helicopters hidden in his toy robot (!), survive the hit and hightail it into the woods, seeking refuge and protection from Rob's reclusive, tight-lipped Vietnam veteran survivalist buddy Ben (the always outstanding Michael Ironside).This surprisingly involving and exciting action thriller pip benefits substantially from Mario Azzopardi's proficient and energetic direction, a constant snappy pace, exceptionally stirring and well-staged action sequences (Barbara's climactic showdown with Colicos is especially rousing), top-notch acting from a sound cast, and a zesty, hard-driving score by the tireless Brad ("Just Before Dawn," "Fright Night") Fiedel. However, the glorious Amy Madigan clearly dominates -- scratch that, completely owns -- this film: Her gritty, explosive and thoroughly sympathetic portrayal of a courageous, take-charge, no-nonsense action heroine really hits the socko spot and makes this movie worth seeing for her superlative performance alone.

dn-14 Somebody wrote in a comment on this film, that it offers real suspense ("a real heart-thumper"). I didn't experience anything like that. The plot is so full of wrong clichés it almost hurts. The film really managed to lose it's believability right from the start. A married couple doing war games in an official marine training where everybody acts like in kindergarten and finally being "shot" while kissing each other - come on. The acting of the main characters is also awkward. though one must admit for their defense that they couldn't have done much better with such a script. Please don't let your kids watch this film, like recommended elsewhere. It's full of unnecessary scenes of brutal violence. I watched this film on TV (luckily i didn't pay for it) and it did a good job in bringing me to sleep. The only thrill I had was the hope the flick would get better to the end (where do the 5/10 stars come from?). Well, it didn't...

John McCulloch My one line summary of compelling was done tongue in cheek. The only compelling aspect of this movie was waiting for it to get better! Which it doesn't. Unfortunately this movie set low standards, then failed to achieve them. The concept is poor, the acting poor, the directing poor. Watch it at your peril.

igj-2 I read a few different reviews praising this movie as the thinking-persons action movie with a strong female hero. It did have a strong woman in the leading role, but it also had atrociously bad writing and a believability factor of zero. Stick to Ripley or even Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight to see women kicking butt with the best of them.