Synopsis

U.S. Air Force Major Frank Cross is assigned to protect the President's nuclear launch briefcase after becoming a public-relations hero. On his first day, mercenaries steal the device and seize control of a missile facility. Pursuing them from Chicago to the silo, Cross joins the surviving officer inside and races to stop a renegade colonel from forcing the President into a deadly televised ultimatum.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was shot in Montreal, Quebec, although much of the story is set in the United States.

• Dolph Lundgren described the production as heavily studio-based, saying that almost the entire picture was filmed on indoor sets.

• Lundgren injured his back during a stunt. He later recalled needing painkillers and assistance between takes so he could continue performing action scenes.

• The film circulated under the alternate titles "Hellbent" and "Red Zone" during production and in some markets.

• The production involved Filmline International, Millennium Films, Nu Image and Phoenician Films, placing the movie within the action-oriented Canadian-American film industry of the 1990s.

• The movie's nuclear-crisis premise arrived in the same year as the similarly titled political thriller "The Peacemaker," which led to confusion between the two 1997 releases.