I must admit to being disappointed with this film. Normally I very much enjoy films starring Michael Dudikoff but this was not up to the usual standard, perhaps because he did not play as important a role as he might. Scientifically the film was complete rot, particularly regarding the nature of tsunamis, and this stretched the imagination beyond acceptable limits and required too many allowances to enable one to participate in the film. Instead I found myself listing the errors within it. It's a pity, since although not by any means an original idea for a movie, there is still sufficient mileage in it for there to have been a good, exciting and enjoyable film. Alas, this is not it!

Sam Garrett, an LAPD detective, is suspended from the force after claiming that a high-profile kidnap victim staged her own abduction in order to shake down her father for the ransom. But his captain gives him a chance to prove himself – all Sam has to do is to appear on a brand-new reality TV show called Treasure Hunt where he will earn a small fee & even a chance to win ten million dollars. Along with a group of contestants, Sam is dropped onto a deserted island for a week. But the host, who is facing a large debt, has hired a group of mercenaries to prevent them from winning. The mercenaries, led by ex-Navy SEAL Jared, decide to renege on the deal & kill the host & come after the players in order to keep their theft of the prize money secret. At the same time, a massive hurricane called Hurricane James is bearing down on the island, making escape all but impossible.

I'd never thought I would see the day Jim Wynorski, one of the worst directors on the B-grade circuit, would make a decent film. Sure enough, Gale Force, a 2001 effort from the infamous hack, would prove to be a passable film despite the theft of footage from other films (the opening car chase has been lifted from Last Action Hero – look closely for a glimpse of Arnold Schwarzenegger driving the car – and the helicopter insertion is from Predator). The cynicism that populates the vast majority of Wynorski's films is also here but actually makes a favourable impression given it is mostly about actors griping about reality TV shows. Treat Williams, who had earlier starred in another Wynorski flick Crash Point Zero, makes for a good hero here & actually has some fun. Supporting him are such B-grade action legends as Tim "Jack Deth" Thomerson, Michael "American Ninja" Dudikoff & William Zabka. There were some small details that made me laugh – the hurricane is named after James Cook, the explorer who found Australia & who died on an island in the Pacific, where the film is set. On the minus side, there were traces of the spectacular lack of fact-checking that infests Wynorski's films – everything from the insane idea of hoods tossing sticks of dynamite at the hero's car during the chase; the idea of said car escaping a minigun attack from a few metres away by driving off a bridge & the idea that a reality TV show host would hire professional killers to help him escape the country by killing the players. A reasonably action-packed & funny film that is one of Wynorski's better films.