Rating:

Starring Rufus Sewell, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Devon Sawa and Rupert Graves

Directed by Christian Duguay

Produced by Moshe Diamnt and Jan Fantl

Story by Timothy Scott Bogart and Mark Mullin

Screenplay by Michael Zaidan

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

93 mins.

Rated PG-13

If action sequences were given more weight than a script, then “Extreme Ops” would take the grand prize; however, each are given the same amount and one cannot survive without the other.

It seemed the plot was hidden underneath the snow and scattered along the only redeeming quality: the setting.

Set in the Austrian Alps, “Ops” follows a film crew who must capture footage of three extreme sports enthusiasts being chased by an avalanche for a television commercial. During some late-night fun, inadvertent footage captures a secret rendezvous between a Serbian war criminal and his girlfriend on a remote mountain hideaway. This leads to a game of cat and mouse as the extremists attempt to escape with their lives.

On the surface, it may seem slightly interesting and filled with excitement, but “Ops” is a 93-minute film that takes half of that time to establish itself and failed to convince me of becoming anything other than a group of actors and their director having some fun in the snow.Only two redeeming qualities survived “Ops”: the setting and action scenes. With chase scenes through the scenic mountain backdrop involving skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, white water rafting, helicopters, motorcycles, and base-jumping, it’s easy to overlook the faults.

I must admit that I was in awe of all the action in “Ops” but knew that it was a mask for everything it lacked: plot and character development. It felt like I was watching an unsuccessful sequel to “Vertical Limit”. Scenes that didn’t quite come together as planned, characters that contained zero development and an ending that left me scratching my head led me to believe that the writers checked their minds into a hotel at a vacation hot spot.Though “Ops” was not as bad as “3000 Miles To Graceland” or as atrocious as “Battlefield Earth,” it was a disgrace and embarrassment to all involved. Don’t get caught in the cold watching “Extreme Ops” because frostbite may not be far behind.