Dolph Lundgren plays a military pilot who accepts a job working for the president (Roy Scheider) to avoid court martial. You know the guy with the black briefcase handcuffed to his arm who's always following the president? That's Dolph. Here's the story on the black briefcase. It's a mobile missle command center. In other words, it's the button that the president pushes to nuke someone, in case the president's away from his desk. It even has a nifty security feature. If someone attacks the carrier of the case or tries to take the case away, the carrier will activate the self-destruct, sacrificing his life and the briefcase to prevent World War III. Not a bad idea. Of course, the person who carries the case agrees to this when he takes the job.
But then, Dolph Lundgren is an idiot.
When the president stays in a hotel, the security is tight. Really tight. Statistically, president has the highest mortality rate of any job in the US. The secret service is the to prevent it from increasing. In real life, they do a pretty good job. In the movie world, they don't. Bad guys get past the lazy security pretty easily, and they try to get the briefcase. Of course, Dolph, who knows his job and what it entails, and who is greatly concerned with national security and the welfare of others, rather than sacrificing himself like he's supposed to, decides that it would be a good idea to let them take it so he can chase them down and get it back before any innocent people die.
There's a big rooftop car chase and a shootout, and Dolph kills a bad guy and takes his clothes, sneaking into the bad guy club. They all fly to a missile base which is about to close down. It is there that Dolph meets up with his sidekick, the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the base, who's played by, I swear to all that is holy and good that I am not making this up, Montel Williams. Yes, the talk show host. Yes, I am serious. How did this happen? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it was something like this:
Exec 1: Well, we've got Dolph. He's our star. And we have Scheider for the
recognition factor. Who do we get for the sidekick?
Exec 2: We could go for the diversity angle and get a negro.
Exec 1: Show some respect. They're called Differently Colored.
Exec 2: Fine, we get a token Differently Colored guy. How about the guy from
Pulp Fiction?
Exec 1: Sam Jackson? We could never afford him.
Exec 2: No, the other guy. Marsellus Wallace.
Exec 1: We can't afford him either. How about the guy who played Marvin?
Exec 2: Marvin?
Exec 1: The guy who got shot. He was on Mad TV.
Exec 2: Oh, him. No, he's too respectable. We need someone who's firm but
gentle. Someone people will recognize but who will work for next to nothing.
Someone like... like....
Exec 1: Montel Williams!
Ok, back to the story. The main bad guy has a personal vendetta against the president. Now, he also has nuclear weapons at his disposal. Plus he's insane. So, he nukes Mt. Rushmore, killing hundreds of innocent people instantly, poisoning and injuring thousands, and ruining many many lives. He just made life hell for people. This was a warning. (I'm not going to mention the fact that nuclear explosions cause mushroom clouds, but the one in the movie wasn't at all mushroom-shaped. Nope. Not gonna mention it at all.)
So, Dolph and Montel fight the bad guys and win. The dialogue is horrible. The end.
This movie was actually painful to watch. And here's another thing. Dolph is the hero of this movie. He's played up as some big heroic patriotic American. First of all, he's not American. Second, if he'd done his job, none of this would have happened. The lives of thousands of people were ruined because of him, and he's the hero? I guess if you're Dolph Lundgren, anything is possible.