When it comes to low budget action films, they're generally made or broken based on the strength of their main stars. In some cases, these main actors or actresses end up being the main saving graces of the film as they not only bring charisma to the scenario presented, but help elevate the film to being on the level of watchable depending on the strength of the script. In the case of Force Of Nature, the film relies on the talent of it's main star Mel Gibson in hopes of compensating for the films weaknesses regarding its script. As that film shows as well as other ones before it, some movies are just greenlighted and assembled with a genuine lack of enthusiasm and creativity behind their productions. Force Of Nature boasts an interesting concept but ultimately feels uninspired and poorly executed with Gibson's presence being wasted here. The end result ranks as being one of the worst films of 2020 thus far. 
As bad of an effort that Force of Nature turned out to be, the cast proves to be one of the very few, if not the only highlight of the film. Although given a weak script with poor character subplots, the main cast of talented actors and actresses do the best they can in making the most of their characters. The best performance comes from Mel Gibson in a scene-stealing performance as a retired officer named Ray Barrett, who refused to leave his apartment during a hurricane. Regardless of how one feels about Gibson as a person off-screen given his controversy over the years in terms of delivering both anti-Semitic and racist remarks, it can be agreed upon that he's the strongest element of the film despite his character having only roughly 15 to 20 minutes of screentime. Gibson excels at playing a foul-mouthed and bigoted retired police officer, who ends up helping protect the main characters from the films antagonists. Emile Hirsch does a decent job as Cardillo, a burnt out police officer who begrudgingly follows orders to help evacuate anyone refusing to leave their homes during the hurricane. Hirsch does a fairly decent job of playing a cynical officer, who doesn't care to help others but does so at the insistence of his new partner. Kate Bosworth adds appeal to the cast as Troy Barrett, a smart and strong-willed nurse and daughter of Gibson's character, who tries to convince her stubborn father to leave his apartment in order to seek shelter. Stephanie Cayo shines as officer Jess Pena, who pushes Cardillo into going out on the field and helping evacuate others. David Zayas proves effective as the films main antagonist John the Baptist, a brutal leader of a Puerto Rican crime syndicate who searches the apartment complex for a cache of artwork that's worth millions. Zayas gives audiences the menacing yet stereotypical villain, that the story requires despite his character coming across as being generic and cliched. The rest of the supporting cast gives notable performances with Jasper Polish as Cardillo's deceased girlfriend Jasmine, Will Catlett as Griffin, Swen Temmel as Hodges, Tyler Jon Olson as Dillon, and Jorge Luis Ramos as apartment resident Bergkamp. The cast of Force Of Nature does the best job they can in making something of the story with their performances standing out from the rest of the films quality. Although the cast as a whole succeed in delivering serviceable to solid performances, it's both Gibson and Zayas who deliver the strongest work in the film despite the former having a more minimal role than advertised.
The films directing by Michael Polish is serviceable at best with Polish attempting to give it the shot of adrenaline needed in hopes of overcoming the lackluster script. Where he succeeds at is nailing the look of a hurricane ridden Puerto Rico with strong and effective cinematography. The films hideout locations within the apartment complex as well as its action sequences are both well-shot and reasonably well-staged, despite never living up to their full potential due to the poor character decisions that the script calls for. The action sequences largely consist of rain filling the frame with the camera work being aggressively shaky in style. The editing keeps the film moving at a tight pace while attempting to add suspense to the story when things begin to slow down and become boring. The score by Kubilay Uner though effective, isn't anything particularly memorable nor commanding during the films intense action sequences or dramatic moments. With Force Of Nature, Polish attempts to create his own low budget Die Hard style action movie set in a rainy apartment building during a Category 5 hurricane. While it's debatable to audiences on whether the addition of a hurricane to the films script is handled in poor taste given that the story takes place in Puerto Rico given that it experienced an actual Category 5 storm in 2017, the director does his best to take what's essentially a scattered screenplay and make it engaging despite his efforts ultimately falling short. In balancing out the multiple subplots involving the main characters trapped in the apartments during the heist, Michael Polish does a fairly decent job of going back and forth in terms of showing what's happening with all the different faces and scenarios without making it too confusing for the audience to follow. Putting all issues aside regarding the films story, he does the best job he can in making up for the films shortcomings regarding it's script.
The plot for Force Of Nature centers around a gang of thieves plotting a heist during a hurricane and encountering trouble when a cop attempts to force everyone in the run down apartment building to evacuate. The film serves as being a classic case of its concept sounding better than the overall execution of the film despite the former being rather predictable at times. Force Of Nature could've been a solid heist thriller if it's filmmakers bothered to put in the effort to make it work instead of settling for a script, that feels extremely messy while relying on numerous tired old cliches lifted from other action flicks. The film lacks the energy, thrills, and excitement of other action films in the genre with it ultimately wasting its appealing and talented cast on cardboard characters, who come across as feeling both generic and stereotypical. It says a great deal about the effort put into the film by its filmmakers when both the crime itself, as well as the hurricane are not that compelling. That's a shame in itself as a story involving robbery, guns, a hurricane, and Mel Gibson as the films main star should be much more than just forgettable and messy entertainment. Force of Nature desires to be an action film in a vein similar to ones that were produced during the 1980's era, but lacks the gut-punch and enthusiasm behind its making to rank amongst those films.
The writing department is the main source of the films key issues and ultimately is where it falls apart as a whole. The script written by Cory Miller, attempts to establish several key subplots involving the main characters with nearly all of them coming across as being uninteresting and poorly handled. The audience doesn't care much about the father and daughter subplot involving Gibson's character and Bosworth because it isn't developed well enough for them to become invested. The audience also doesn't care much about the side characters, particularly William Catlett's character Griffin and Bergkamp with their back and forth subplot on whether Bergkamp's character is a Nazi or not feeling both out of place and awkward. The introduction of Griffin's character comes out of left field with him being arrested by Police after getting into a fight with another person over the purchasing of a large portion of meat in an effort to feed his bizarre pet (The latter the audience never gets the opportunity to see but is presented as being an aggressive beast that can hurt or harm others if left unchecked outside of his closet) in his apartment. Such a sequence has little to no influence over the story other than it leading all of the main characters back to the apartment complex so the heist can initiate. The romance between Cardillo's character and Bosworth's Troy, feels both tacked on and cliched like the film wouldn't be complete as both an action and heist film without some form of a conveniently cliched romance thrown in. Their relationship consists of dialogue that's mostly side talk with no genuine spark between them. As controversial of a subplot as the films use of a hurricane has become with audiences, it actually manages to work with the story as being both a creative and realistic reasoning for keeping the main characters trapped in the apartment complex while hiding from the films main antagonist during the search for the paintings. What could've been a slick and clever heist thriller is ultimately undone by the films incoherent and messy script, which lacks the effort required to make it effective or having the audience connect with any of the characters as they all feel bland as well as manifestations of racial stereotypes with examples being the main characters (Both young and old active duty and retired cops who happen to be Caucasian) battling Puerto Rican villains with Mel Gibson's character spewing out vulgar and offensive dialogue on top of refusing to respond to female authority with the audience being encouraged to chalk it up as a flawed character trait when he begins protecting the main characters against John's gang. The former is also portrayed as being a trigger happy retired cop, who appears angry and bitter with him not wanting to follow basic instructions given. The character of Cardillo is also showed as having a questionable past with his character bragging about breaking people's fingers with no signs of remorse. The script also contains dialogue that's full of jokes that misfire such as the main villain instructing Cardillo's character to remove his uniform with the latter responding by questioning why stating that they just met. The biggest problem with the script is the lack of thoughtfulness that went into it with the story lacking suspense and relying on recycled formulas and questionable character motives to make it work. The end result is an extremely messy and boring script, that should've experienced numerous rewrites before inevitably being greenlit.
The biggest disappointment with Force Of Nature is not that it turns out to be such a poorly written and executed action thriller, it's the apparent carelessness and lack of a creative drive that went into its making. The film at times feels as if it intends to deliver the middle finger at left-wing politics with its displaying of both racist and misogynistic elements rather than telling a compelling heist story with strong characters. If the film didn't come across so much as feeling tone deaf in regards to it's implicit stereotypical elements and instead managed to make its characters more interesting and distinct, the overall experience would've ended up being a more enjoyable and worthwhile one. Outside of the noteworthy attempts of the cast to add some flare to the blandness of the writing, there's almost nothing else about the film that's worth mentioning in a positive light. For a story that aims to take a Die Hard style action approach to it along with being a heist flick, the film ranks as being one of the latter's worst imitators as there's barely any life present to keep it from being completely unrecommendable. The cast stands as being the only interesting element of the film with their talents ultimately being wasted on material, that often feels beneath them. Gibson is easily the films strongest asset with his character often being sidelined in exchange for alternate character arcs that aren't that interesting nor engaging to begin with. Despite some reasonable production qualities and the casts effort to lessen the blow that audiences ultimately experience from watching it, Force Of Nature stands as being a grossly incompetent and forgettable action thriller that utilizes and wastes both its resources and talent on a plot that should've has more effort thrown into it, especially when mirroring real-life events with it's subplot involving the Category 5 hurricane inspired by 2017's Hurricane Maria. Given that the film dares to ground its story around reality, greater care and appreciation should've been spent on making it work rather than be an inadequate form of throwaway entertainment. For the talent that the film boasts in front as well as behind the camera, both parties deserve much better material to work with as well as a more rewarding popcorn experience for audiences. As an attempt to being Gibson's career back to prime status given his decades long blacklisting from Hollywood, the film fails miserably at doing so with fans of the disgraced star finding themselves having to wait once again for the role that'll give his stalled career a much needed revival as this doesn't help his case. Force Of Nature stands as being one of the worst films of 2020 released thus far with it being no surprise to those watching it on why it landed on straight to video with its overall quality being too poor for a standard theatrical release.
Final Verdict: For fans of both action and heist thrillers along with Mel Gibson, Force Of Nature serves as being uninspired and should be properly avoided and switched out with much stronger and more effective action heist thrillers.
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