January 2, 2026 21:27
Why is 2000’s The Alternate one of the greatest action films ever made?
Consider this: President John Fallbrook (John Beck) is scheduled to give a speech at a World Hunger Symposium, where he will be announcing legislation that will make it illegal for people not to have food. (I’m not sure how that would work but whatever. It’s a movie.) Eric Roberts is The Alternate, a former intelligence agent who has just been recruited to serve as a member of a team that is being used by Agent William (Ice-T) to test the President’s security. (Ronn Moss, of Hard Ticket to Hawaii and Bold and the Beautiful fame, plays the fake President.) The Leader (Bryan Genesse) tells the Alternate that the CIA actually wants to abduct the President for real in order to help boost the President’s reelection campaign. The Alternate agrees to help but then it turns out that the Leader is actually just in it for the money and he’s planning on holding the President hostage until he gets paid. While Agent Briggs (Michael Madsen) watches from the outside, The Alternate makes his way through a nearly deserted hotel and attempts to defeat the bad guys.
It’s Die Hard …. with Eric Roberts!
The plot is so convoluted that it borders on self-parody but director Sam Firstenberg keeps the action moving quickly and, to its credit, this is a film that fully understands how to embrace the melodrama. When the Leader tries to take out The Alternate, he doesn’t just pursue him with a gun. Instead, he picks up a flame thrower! When The Alternate gets into a gunfight at the hotel’s pool, he doesn’t just duck behind pillars and fire his gun. Instead, he grabs a banner and swings back and forth over the water, all the while shooting his gun. When the President says that he doesn’t like heights, it isn’t just a case of him getting nervous about being on the roof of the hotel. Instead, he’s so paralyzed that he literally has to be picked up and carried from one location to the next. When The Leader calls the police and gives them his list of demands, he doesn’t just make the usual threats. Instead, he speaks in what sounds like a French accent and claims to be a infamous (and possibly fictional) terrorist. When it’s time to kidnap the President, the kidnappers don’t just use guns. Instead, they also use blow-darts to paralyze the Secret Service agents. Everything about the film is gloriously and wonderfully over the top.
(I’ve always felt that, when it comes to low-budget action films, the best ones are the ones that are willing to just be as ridiculous as possible. Bring out the flame thrower. Fly the Money Plane. Cast Joe Don Baker as your lead. Just jump off that cliff and see what happens.)
The Alternate is definitely a film that deserves to be better-known. (It was also released under the title The Replacement.) In the realm of Die Hard rip-offs, it’s in a class by itself, a totally enjoyable thrill ride that manages to get more and more excessive with each passing minute. Bryan Genesse, who also wrote the script, gets to show off some stylish martial arts moves. John Beck is the wimpiest President ever. Michael Madsen never takes off his dark glasses. And, best of all, Eric Roberts gets to be the star!
The Alternate? Why, it’s just one of the best action movies ever!
Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:
Posted by Lisa Marie Bowman
Categories: Film, Film Review, Starring Eric Roberts
Tags: Brooke Theiss, Bryan Genesse, Eliza Roberts, Eric Roberts, Film, Ice-T, J. Cynthia Brooks, John Beck, Larry Manetti, Lisa Marie Bowman, Michael Madsen, movie, review, Richard Steinmetz, Ronn Moss, Sam Firstenberg, The Alternate
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