Word About Biehn

Secret service agent Mike Connelly (Patrick Muldoon) is ready to resign, unwilling to risk his life for President Jack Cahill (Roy Scheider), a womanizer he cannot respect. But Connelly is a top agent, so to keep him aboard, his boss reassigns him to guard the "football," the mobile nuclear command unit contained in a briefcase that's never more that 40 feet away from the president. It is in his new capacity that Connelly is along on the president's trip to meet with campaign contributor and Taiwanese businessman Ken Fung (Ric Young) to enlist his aid to negotiate with the Chinese who have threatened Taiwan. The tête-à-tête takes place in the South China Sea aboard the Su-Maru, Fung's luxury boat. It is there we meet Fung's own security guard headed by Craig Thornton (Michael), a former secret service man who quit rather than work for the immoral Cahill. However, Fung's own agenda is much different than Cahill's, and executing his plans requires possession of the football. While he and Cahill discuss matters, secret service agents begin dying throughout the ship, and ultimately, the football itself is captured. Only Connelly escapes the carnage and is left alone to retrieve the football and to prevent a nuclear holocaust.

There's nothing particularly original about Chain of Command, but its contemporary elements do give it an air of immediacy and help the viewer accept the central plot idea. However, some story points strain credibility. For example, one wonders if secret service agents are as vulnerable to threats as is depicted here. And I certainly hope a navy commander would never follow an unconfirmed and unverified order to blow a ship out of the water. Plot problems aside, though, the low budget film does use locales such as the Queen Mary to good effect, and the computer graphics for the destruction of Washington and Beijing are pretty well done.

There's really not much to say about Michael in the film, because he doesn't have a lot to do. He's a bad guy, at Fung's bidding directing the murder of men who may once have been his colleagues. And we don't know why. Though we do learn that he dislikes Cahill, that hardly explains his radical decision to turn traitor. For the few scenes he has, though, Michael is just fine, and it's always fun to watch him ooze evil: "Oh yeah; I'm set." But beyond offering us a chance to see him on screen, Chain of Command serves as only a minor Biehn vehicle.