Die Hard in a shopping mall with Cynthia Rothrock in the John McClane role and Stacy Keach as the I am too old for this shit cop as her partner or rather her sidekick. (According to Cynthia Rothrock, Stacy Keach was originally written as a sidekick character, with Rothrock's role being more prominent. Keach agreed to be in the production only if his character received greater exposure and storyline importance. Regardless of this situation, Rothrock claims Keach was friendly and agreeable to work with. Source: imdb.com.) Irresistible Force was meant as a pilot of a series that was never produced.
Don't let this fact fool you into thinking that this film is not any good. Since it surely is. One of the reasons is director Kevin Hooks who also directed Passenger 57. He has the skill to tell a story where things are kept to the point and told in an extremely fast pace so that it never gets boring. Another reason is Cynthia Rothrock. I just love watching her kick ass on screen. It never gets old. And here she does that more than enough in a very witty manner. Her interaction with Stacy Keach also is a good thing. They do seem to have some chemistry even when (as stated in the prologue) he wasn't happy having a minor role. I do understand where he his coming from. He is a good actor that deserves more and better. But to be honest, it is hard to take him seriously as an action hero. He was excellent as the old cop trying to stay out of trouble because his wife had asked him to. It was actually funny to see him request a female partner because he was under the assumption that female cops had less gung ho mentality and thus would keep him out of the cross fire. Thankfully we have the lovely Cynthia to prove him wrong. I think it was wise to let Cynthia Rothrock to do the majority of the action scenes. Since this is a TV Movie it obviously had a tight budget so you can't be expecting too much spectacle wise. But for what it offers it is quite decent. The main villain called James Barron played by Christopher Neame is exactly the kind of villain you need. He knows how to balance out when to take things seriously and when not.
Like Passenger 57 this also is one of the better Die Hard Clones. Unfortunately though it is very hard to get hold of this since it has not been released on DVD. So you will have to look out for VHS copies or to find it online somewhere like I did.
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