Matty dissects Phillip J. Roth’s flaccid follow-up.

INTERCEPTOR FORCE 2 opens with a glorious blast of near psychedelic CGI, as a spaceship takes off from its home planet, soars through the galaxy, and vanishes into a wormhole. Sadly, the epic and imaginative vision initially demonstrated by this so-so sequel quickly disappears itself. While slightly more pleasant and sporting greater technical proficiency than its obnoxious and surprisingly ugly-looking predecessor, Interceptor Force 2 is just as slack for much of its duration. As with Interceptor Force (1999) 1.0, the film perks up at the back end, when the sexy Sil-ish extraterrestrial at the centre of its plot — essayed by German TV presenter Eve Scheer in its human form — starts chasing everyone around a bunch of colourfully painted corridors that are doubling for a Russian nuclear plant. Until then, though, producer/director Philip J. Roth works overtime trying to generate excitement when there is none, flinging the camera about; piling on the nods to The Thing (1982), Predator (1987), The Hidden (1987), and Species (1995); and soundtracking the resulting slop with a galloping score by Albert Pyun favourite Tony Riparetti [1].

Ordered by SyFy following the ratings success of the first flick, Interceptor Force 2 is nestled among the inaugural wave of projects that Roth’s shingle, the Unified Film Organization, would assemble for the channel on contract rather than a picture-by-picture basis. Marketed under the cumbersome yet quintessentially ‘00s moniker of ‘IF2: Interceptor Force 2’ and premiering on SyFy on Saturday 30th November 2002, the film is also among the earliest UFO joints to be lensed in Bulgaria (where, incidentally, Roth and UFO co-founder Jeffery Beach continue to ply their trade). Those familiar with UFO fare of the period will recognise locations and sets previously used in Antibody (2002) and another SyFy sanctioned sequel, Python 2 (2002).  

Featuring a pleasing amount of expository overlap — compared to, say, the lack of tethering found in peers such as EGM’s Project Shadowchaser saga — Olivier Gruner reprises the role of alien blaster Lambert, albeit tweaking the character’s forename from ‘Shaun’ to ‘Sean’. The Gallic bruiser’s actual performance, however, appears to have been influenced by Brad Dourif’s disinterested turn in the original. In Interceptor Force, Gruner was invested and passable. Here, he seems bored shitless, leaving the hero shtick to be carried by the much better Elizabeth Gracen: the breakout star of the Highlander TV series [2].  

Two further points of note:

Interceptor Force 2 was released in the U.K. as ‘They Have Returned’ due to British distro Third Millennium having already branded an unrelated Gruner caper, Extreme Honor (2001), as a sequel. A big proponent of retitling and no stranger to franchising unconnected movies, Third Millennium had issued Interceptor Force as ‘The Last Line of Defense’ and Extreme Honor as ‘The Last Line of Defense 2’.

Interceptor Force 2 is one of only two films to come to fruition via UFO’s deal with German outfit Advanced Medien. Advanced had acquired a majority stake in UFO in spring 2000, under the pretense of helping Roth and co. break into the European theatrical market. By January 2003 their union was souring amidst a $2.1million lawsuit filed against Advanced by U.S. bank Comerica. The suit was filed after four of the six UFO pics that Comerica supplied credit for were scrapped by Advanced, supposedly because Roth failed to deliver them on time — Interceptor Force 2 and production mate Deep Shock (2003) notwithstanding. Eight months later, Advanced handed UFO to Comerica’s German wing, Media Entertainment Funding, as part of their settlement agreement.

USA/Bulgaria/Germany ● 2002 ● Sci-Fi, Action ● 87mins

Olivier Gruner, Elizabeth Gracen, Eve Scheer ● Dir. Phillip J. Roth ● Wri. Patrick Phillips

[1] Of the few non-Pyun assignments on Riparetti’s CV, Roth’s Interceptor Force 2 and Dragon Fighter (2003) account for two of them.
[2] Post Interceptor Force 2, the former Miss. America temporarily retired from acting for a decade.