Sunday, November 18, 2018

Tara Macken in Intensive Care


Healthcare workers are not so different from commandos. Neither can afford to get squeamish at the sight of blood. You do not have to worry about that with Alex. No siree. The former elite Special Forces recon veteran is now giving palliative care to a dying rich lady, but her skills have not atrophied. A trio of villains will learn that the hard way in Jared Bentley’s Intensive Care (trailer here), which is now available on VOD.

If it were up to her former commander, Alex would still be part of his unit, but she had to leave after some really bad things went down during a mission in the Philippines (sounds like the stuff of a possible prequel). Wanting a quiet life, Alex mostly gets it with the terminal but still spirited Claire. Unfortunately, things will soon change when the elderly lady informs her deadbeat grandson Danny he has been disinherited. He takes the news rather badly, but he still keeps to his best behavior around Alex.

As a result, he will be able to distract her with an unlikely date while his two meathead accomplices try to plunder Claire’s cash. The problem is Grandma’s safe is way harder to crack than they anticipated and Danny is not nearly as distracting as he thinks he is. Before long, Alex is making like John McClane in Die Hard.

Basically, Intensive Care is exactly what you think it is, if not slightly less. Seriously, Alex versus three bad guys—really more like two and a half—is some pretty small ball. However, the important thing about the film is that it makes us total believers in its lead, stunt performer Tara Macken in her first starring role. She has done stunt work on dozens of Marvel productions and Wolf Warrior 2, so she obviously has the action chops, but she also has the presence to carry a feature film. Her turn as Alex suggests she could be a legit action star, bigger than Zoe Bell and maybe even bigger than Gina Carano (both of whom we also like just fine).

So yes, Intensive Care is about as straight forward as a movie can get. Still, Bentley deserves credit the way he clearly stages and films the fight scenes, so that we can easily follow the action (that is actualy higher praise than it might sound). It probably will not go down in cinema history as a film of towering importance in its own right (a little understatement for you), but it is enjoyable in a meathead kind of way and it just might be remembered as the film that started something for Macken. We certainly want to see her starring in more complex films, but still kicking butt. Recommended for fans of action B-movies, Intensive Care is now available on VOD.