G-Force (film)

Not to be confused with G-Force: Guardians of Space.

G-Force (film)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hoyt H. Heatman Jr.
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Screenplay by	Cormac Wibberley Marianne Wibberley
Story by	Hoyt Yeatman Uncredited: Ted Elliott Terry Rossio
Starring	Bill Nighy Nicolas Cage Zach Galifianakis Penelope Cruz Tracy Morgan Jon Favreau Dee Bradley Baker
Cinematography	Bojan Bazelli
Editing by	Jason Hellmann Mark Goldblatt
Studio	Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	July 19, 2009 (2009-07-19) (Hollywood premiere) July 24, 2009 (2009-07-24) (United States)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$150 million
Box office	$292,810,686

G-Force is a 2009 spy-fi comedy film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Walt Disney Pictures in Disney Digital 3-D. Written by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, the film is the directorial debut of Hoyt Yeatman, whose earlier work includes contributions in the area of visual effects. It was released in the United States on July 24, 2009 and reached number 1 in the box office with $30 million. G-Force was the first live-action Disney film to be produced in Disney Digital 3-D, not including two concert films, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The film was shown in competing 3-D technologies like Dolby 3D and RealD Cinema.

Plot

The film revolves around a special FBI organization of trained secret agent animals, equipped with advanced tools that allows the mammalian members to talk to humans. The primary field team consists of Darwin (Sam Rockwell) (team leader), Juarez (Penelope Cruz) (martial arts), Blaster (Tracy Morgan) (weapons/transportation), star-nosed mole Speckles (Nicolas Cage) (cyber intelligence), and fly Mooch (reconnaissance) (Dee Bradley Baker). The unit's leader, Ben (Zach Galifinakis), orders an unauthorized infiltration of the residence of home electronics and appliances magnate, Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy) - Owner of Saberline Technology, who has been under FBI investigation. The team is able to retrieve sensitive information about a sinister scheme that is set to occur in 29 hours. However, when Ben's superior arrives for his evaluation, his astonishment at the team's capabilities and technology is overcome by his indignation at Ben's unauthorized mission and the fact that the downloaded intelligence appears to be useless information about Saber's coffee makers. As a result, the government agent orders the unit shut down, the equipment seized and the animals to be used as experimental subjects to be killed. With the help of their human compatriots, Darwin, Juarez, Blaster, Mooch, and Speckles escape with hopes of stopping Saber's scheme, but find themselves in a pet carrying case bound for a pet shop.

Trapped in the store's pet rodent display case, G-Force meets Hurley (Jon Favreau), Bucky (Steve Buscemi) an irascible hamster and three sycophantic mice. Although Blaster and Juarez manage to get themselves sold to a family with plans to return to extract their comrades, Speckles' own attempt to escape by playing dead ends disastrously when he is thrown into and apparently crushed in, a garbage truck. Meanwhile, Mooch manages to return to Ben to tell him where his mammalian agents are, but Darwin escapes with Hurley before he can arrive to collect them.

While Blaster and Juarez escape their new owners to return to Ben, he and his partner discover that the discredited intel has a destructive computer function that apparently hid the scheme. At this time, Darwin and Hurley make their own way to their superior. On route, Darwin sees a Saber coffeemaker and decides to investigate it, but his examination of the machine makes it come alive as a dangerous fighting robot that he and Hurley are able to defeat. Later Darwin and Hurley transport the wreckage to Ben by a skateboard. However, upon arrival, Ben confesses the shattering information that they are not special genetically enhanced animals as previously told, but ordinary ones Ben took in and trained for the team (Juarez has a delicacy in a unknown location, Blaster was found at a hair and cosmetics place where a hair gel was being tested, Speckles was found before his home was destroyed, and Darwin's parents abandoned him because he was the runt of the litter) However, Hurley lifts them from their despair by reminding the team of the astounding feats he has seen them do and the fact that they obviously made themselves extraordinary on their own.

Emboldened but with little time to stop the scheme, Ben provides the field team with the means to infiltrate the Saber residence and plant a virus in the computer mainframe. Unfortunately, FBI agents are ordered to capture the animals dead or alive, forcing the team to elude them with an extended pursuit thanks to a high speed vehicle especially designed for them called the Rapid Deployment Vehicle (dubbed the RDV by Darwin). After that is accomplished and the team infiltrates Saber's mainframe, the plan is put into motion, and the resulting battle separates the group, only leaving Darwin and Mooch to take the mainframe down. At the same time, Leonard Saber is shocked to discover that his appliances have become killing machines, expecting them to simply be able to effectively communicate with each other, while FBI takes advantage of this obvious pretext to finally openly move against the industrialist. When Darwin reaches the mainframe, he finds out that Speckles, whose home and family had been destroyed by humans, is the mastermind of the plan, whose masterstroke is to cause a massive planetwide bombardment of space junk pulled from orbit to make the planet surface uninhabitable. Speckles promptly amalgamates the various appliances in the vicinity into a giant walking robot like being, which, combined with a localized bombardment of orbital debris, soon overpowers the police forces gathered at the mansion. Darwin manages to persuade Speckles that his new family is with the rest of the team and Ben, who had taken them all in. Speckles concedes, and realizing that he has gone too far, tries to shut it down. However, Speckles finds he's lost control and the machines continue their onslaught. Darwin uses the computer virus on his PDA to take it down.

At the end of the film, the guinea pigs are personally commended by the FBI Director who also appoints them special agents of the FBI. Furthermore, G-Force is reinstated as a unit of the Bureau and expanded with Hurley, Bucky and the mice inducted as new recruits. Meanwhile, Saber makes the largest product recall in history, Speckles is given the punitive duty of personally removing the malicious chips from all Saber products, which number into the tens of millions, and Agent Killian was relocated to an FBI base in the South Pole.

Cast

Live-Action Cast

• Zach Galifianakis as Ben
• Kelli Garner as Marcie
• Will Arnett as Agent Boss Kip Killian
• Gabriel Casseus as Agent Carter
• Jack Conley as Agent Trigstad
• Bill Nighy as Leonard Saber
• Mini Anden as Christie
• Tyler Patrick Jones as Connor
• Piper Mackenzie Harris as Penny
• Justin Mentell as Terrell
• Loudon Wainwright III as Grandpa Goodman
• Niecy Nash as Rosalita
• Vincent De Paul as Mr. Bates (uncredited)
• Helen Tucker as Mrs. Bates (uncredited)
• Arne Starr as Barney (uncredited)

Voice Cast

• Sam Rockwell as Darwin (FBI Special Agent)
• Tracy Morgan as Blaster (FBI Special Agent)
• Penelope Cruz as Juarez (FBI Special Agent)
• Nicolas Cage as Speckles
• Steve Buscemi as Bucky
• Dee Bradley Baker as Mooch
• Jon Favreau as Hurley (FBI Rookie)
• Hoyt Yeatman IV as Mice
• Max Favreau as Mice

Reception

The film has received negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has a 22% "Rotten" rating, based on 116 reviews with an average score of 4.4/10. Similarly, Metacritic attests the film has received an average score of 41 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of four, saying that "G-Force is a pleasant, inoffensive 3-D animated farce about a team of superspy guinea pigs who do battle with a mad billionaire who wants to conquer the earth by programming all the home appliances made by his corporation to follow his instructions. It will possibly be enjoyed by children of all ages." However, the film was the number 1 film at the box office for its opening weekend, making $31.7 million total, replacing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The film has ultimately grossed $292,810,686 worldwide.

Video game

Main article: G-Force (video game)

The video game based on the film was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows on July 21, 2009. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions come with 3D glasses.

External links

• Official website
• G-Force at the Internet Movie Database
• G-Force at Rotten Tomatoes