Since the days of “Vanishing Point” and Steven Spielberg’s “Sugarland Express,” Hollywood has been making movies about fugitives in fast cars who become media sensations as folk heroes. Companies like American International Pictures and Roger Corman’s New World Pictures were releasing films like this several times a year in the 1970s, while also offering a distinct set of exploitation stories about American veterans returning from Vietnam who were different from or in conflict with their civilian counterparts. Decades and countless copies of “Rolling Thunder” and “First Blood” later, we have “The Mongoose,” a film conceived in the spirit of these twin subgenres, but with no deeper thought in its script other than “honoring the soldiers” and showcasing the abilities of Shelby Super Snake.
Starring Liam Neeson as a war hero on the run from the cops, stunt coordinator Mark Vanselow’s directorial debut offers plenty of vehicular action, some of it quite entertaining. But despite the stellar supporting cast (including Marisa Tomei, Ving Rhames, and Michael Chiklis), Thompson Evans’ script is so intent on keeping the audience on the right side of the unfolding conflict that there’s never a moment to question the outcome of the story the filmmakers are telling.
Neeson plays Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, a Special Forces commander who was captured in Afghanistan in 2005. Although Neeson and his soldiers Tanker (Rhames) and Munch (Marcus Thomas) outsmarted their kidnappers, their escape cost the life of their comrade Wiz (Ryan Morgan). Still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder twenty years later, Fang’s marriage to Tara (Tomei) ended in divorce, although they were friendly. But when her current boyfriend calls her to the hospital after being harassed by powerful lawyer Todd (Brett Tucker), Fang offers to go to his Arkansas mansion to get her belongings.
Tara makes him promise not to take revenge on Todd, whom he insists won’t be home at the time. Yet when he shows up, brandishing a gun and asserting that he has the right to shoot Fang on the spot, the ensuing argument results in Todd’s death. Fang, whose tires are slashed by Todd and the police on the road, chooses a bright red muscle car for his escape. But although he is initially tenderly warned to surrender to the authorities by the ex-Marine James Tilton (Maurice Marvel Meredith), who is tracking him, Fang learns that when the chase takes him to Texas, he will face a less sympathetic foe: Major Walter Pope (Chiklis), waiting to capture him at all costs.
Carrying the only firearm Todd left in the car’s glove compartment, Fang enlists the help of Tanker and Munch, as well as Shelby’s AI assistant Helene (Stella Stocker), to find fuel and supplies and evade the police. But after CNN anchor Laura Coates (playing herself) begins covering Fang’s escape from justice around the clock, adding context to the circumstances of the crime and the backgrounds of the others involved, the public begins to take a passionate interest in his plight, offering support and assistance as the cops close in.
“Mongoose” begins in media res It follows Fang dodging an obstacle and then trying to return to the character’s wartime trauma, the deterioration of his marriage, and the circumstances that put him in Shelby’s driver’s seat. The flashback structure doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than delaying the audience from fully approving of a character who, while suitably grumpy, is clearly a hero and a good guy. (When Tilton asks at the beginning of the chase if he has a list of demands, “racial harmony” is among them.) The irony of his escape from justice is that, in the world Evans has created, almost everyone this decorated veteran encounters gives him flowers and believes in his innocence without knowing anything about what actually happened.
Despite the lingering emotional repercussions of his service (all shot using desaturated filters and pieced together in semi-intelligible montages), Neeson mostly portrays Fang as a cool, almost jovial guy, making his character easy to like and root for. (We can’t necessarily expect a scene where the actor gently tries to dig a stubborn tabby puppy out from under the bed, but Neeson’s got plenty of them.) But “I’ll never get caught again” declaration aside, this complicated past doesn’t mesh well enough with the character’s propensity to justify this cross-country pursuit. Fang is not a character you sympathize with, but a character the movie wants you to like, and this takes away from the emotional weight of the story.
Rhames has less to do here than in recent “Mission: Impossible” episodes; he and Thomas tackle Fang to stop military helicopters from blowing him off the highway. Chiklis, meanwhile, seems to revel in his character’s opportunity to use excessive force in the line of duty, but there’s something appealing about him playing an outright villain, being the only person in the film (other than Fang’s unintentional victim) who doesn’t have blind respect for the suspect’s military service. But like many of the roles he’s been given lately, it’s Tomei who over-fulfills a role he feels isn’t worthy of his talents. It’s during a flashback to their breakup that we meet Tara, and she makes the most of an efficiently written scene. But when she provides Fang with a sounding board as the chase continues, you understand why he continues to harbor affection for her.
Vanselow, who has previously worked with Neeson on numerous projects including “The Naked Gun,” understands how to design action sequences, but at some point they all start working together. In the second half, Coates exists as a narrator reporting what’s happening directly to the camera, and then interjects details about Fang’s past, his victim’s questionable business practices, and Walter Pope’s past professional misconduct, which again suggests we don’t care about anyone but him. In fact, the film doesn’t even bother to explain Fang’s ultimate fate; but he was still completely acquitted in the court of public opinion, so who cares? The “Mongoose” has plenty of muscles, but what’s missing under the hood is a heart. Honoring the sacrifice of America’s service men and women is noble, but there are better ways to thank them for their service than a soft tribute like this.