Intensive Care is a 2018 action film about three low-life criminals who attempt to rob an elderly dying woman’s home, forced to deal with her live-in nurse.
A brief history on the astonishing film credits of Tara Macken, an actress you’ve no doubt never heard of, even though she’s got some impressive titles under her belt, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man 3, Furious 7, Westworld, Avengers: Infinity War … the list goes on and on. Okay, to be fair, she didn’t technically act in those films, she being a member of the stunt crew, but holy cow, that’s some deep Hollywood insider action there and I guess the works finally paid off. Director Jared Bentley casts her in her first starring role, and by no surprise, this ain’t no talky drama but a full scale punch fest, giving the spritely MacKen lots of room to swing her fists. It isn’t much else of course, but if anything, this little dynamo demands attention. The film she’s in, not so much.
Alex (MacKen) has just quit the special forces after a mission went bad, given a send off by her former squad that includes a secret attack in the team’s gymnasium. After besting the bunch of much bigger men, she retires and takes up a new job as a home caregiver for an elderly dying women named Claire (Leslie Easterbrook). Claire is quite wealthy, but keeps a whole lot of her cash in a safe locked in her home, something her estranged grandson Danny (Jai Rodriguez) is hoping to get a piece of, though receives some bad news when he learns she’s dropped him from the will. Thinking he can distract nurse Alex by dating her, he plans to rob the place with a couple of dollard friend, but Alex, catching what’s going on, has plans of her own.
By no means is Intensive Care meant to be taken seriously. I mean, read the title again. This is a vehicle to showcase the exuberant fighting talents of little MacKen, who makes a strong case that she’s probably more than capable of taking center stage in a much better movie. Combining the premise of Home Alone with the gritty kick-assery of Die Hard, the movie seems loaded for fun, but unfortunately, isn’t, the Z-grade production and predictable plot keeping this well out of reach of anything really significant.
Bentley is painting with a limited palette and as such colors the familiar landmarks of the genre in basic colors, the action the only reason to give this even the slightest of chances. The dialogue is hopelessly unconvincing and delivered without much weight, though once again, MacKen does what she can, her presence the only real spark of momentum. She wears a little black dress as well as she rockets a kick to the jaw. With impact is what I’m saying. I’m giving the movie a whole extra star just for that.
Still, most going into this already know what they are in for. It’s goofy, brash, poorly acted and heavy on the duke outs. Back in the 90s, this was the lifeblood of late night cable TV. MacKen deserves better and hopefully, this will at least blaze a trail for more opportunities. We need female action stars who can do what she does, so here’s hoping Intensive Care marks the start of new career with more top billing on the poster.