He eventually enlists the sympathy of rookie FBI agent Nick Memphis (“Crash’s” Michael Peña) by convincing him that he just might be the victim of a vast right-wing conspiracy. He also gets much needed-help from Sarah Fenn (Kate Mara, who played Heath Ledger's daughter in Brokeback Mountain), the widow of his Marine buddy who was sacrificed on the Ethiopian mission. She manages to appear in her lingerie in every scene, of course.

The paranoid action-thriller is a bulldog torrent of testosterone, with rugged locations, high-tech artillery and helicopters buzzing like wasps. Fuqua keeps heads exploding and the action moving so efficiently so that no thought is required. The film is intermittently preposterous, drawn-out, and, when it comes time to depict governmental betrayals, completely ridiculous.

But it's also a hoot if you can hold your disbelief in abeyance and just go along for the thrill ride. Throw in some beautiful locations and great cinematography, and you have a damn good action movie.