misbegotten Hollywood has always been quick to react to new trends if it believes it can make money from them, and at the beginning of the current decade the movie studios responded to the increasing high profile of so-called 'extreme sports' by using them as the basis of a short-lived wave of action movies. Of course, the film executives failed to take into account that those interested in extreme sports are far more likely to be taking part in them, attending such events, or watching TV/internet coverage of them, instead of going to see movies in which actors pretend to take part in them. So while xXx (starring Vin Diesel) was successful enough to secure a sequel, Extreme Ops failed to make an impression at the box office, and the notion of extreme sport action movies died out as quickly as it had begun.Extreme Ops (which was filmed under the title The Extremists, but swiftly retitled before release due to the events of 9/11) is an international co-production with an appropriately international cast of American, British and central European actors. The storyline has a film crew, together with a pair of snowboarders and a female gold medal-winning downhill skier, travelling to an unnamed European ski resort off-season, to shoot footage for an advertising campaign. Unfortunately, a wanted Serbian war criminal is using the isolated resort as a temporary hideout, and the film crew eventually find themselves fleeing down the mountainside with the Serbian and his men in determined pursuit.However, that particular plot development doesn't occur until two-thirds of the way through the movie, so for the first hour we merely see the film crew, snowboarders and the skier hanging about in the empty resort, occasionally filming on the slopes, and bonding over bottles of beer while relaxing in a hot tub.It sounds deadly dull, and considering that the characterisations in the script are tissue-thin, it should be. But due to the efforts of the talented cast, these irresponsible risk-takers (the snowboarders and most of the film crew are die-hard adrenalin junkies) come across as surprisingly likable. As a result, despite being routine in practically every aspect, Extreme Ops is a remarkably engaging movie.

markst-1 Well... First to mention that I live in Belgrade, Serbia (former Yugoslavian republic).During this movie I realized that my intelligence and knowledge is way up higher than Hollywood screenwriters and filmmakers is. Up, so high, higher than the Serb's Alps! OOOPS! But Serbia is not Austrian neighbor country, and Belgrade is much more than 70 km away from Alps so HOW CAN ALPS BELONG TO SERBIA!? Have you people (screenwriters and filmmakers, producers etc) ever seen a map of Europe in your life?! I presume that you had F in geography in high-school and that your daddy or mommy paid teacher money to pass it. So, you should first visit http://encarta.msn.com/map_701510050/Alps.html or similar before you make another piece of crap like this (at least you'll be less stupid). AAhhh, yes, another interesting thing is that Serbs are building a ski resort AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN! YEAH RIGHT! I mean, hell yeah, we can do that, but we don't have Alps, ha ha! SOrry, you blew it a lot and someone has to say that...Other things in this movie are more or less lame. I really liked the blonde chick though.

jotix100 This is the perfect movie to have handy when there are a few friends around. It will bring a lot of laughs to the party by watching some of these well known actors doing things that will not add anything to their resumes. One only can hope they were all paid lots of money to be in this film that could have been much better, but only manage to be worth a look because of the action it packs.Director Christian Duguay must have had something else in mind than what we see on the screen. The plot, as it plays, doesn't make much sense because it defies credibility, but then again, it was probably done because someone in the production company wanted to have a nice skiing vacation in Austria and in Canada.Rupert Graves and Rufus Sewell are actors we have seen in better films. Mr. Graves' character seems something of an after thought since he doesn't have anything to do. Mr. Sewell's role, at least, gives him something to do. The rest of the cast seems to be having a great time.Watch it with good company.

cobitt This movie was so ridiculous I couldn't help from laughing hysterically, even if the director was going for serious anxiety. Let me lay down the final action scene in the movie because it's so hilariously bad.Spoiler*** The bad guy shoots a girl out of her snowboard binding from about 150 yards away (possible?). Another snowboarder puts her on his board and they continue down the mountain (possible?). They stop just in time from flying over a cliff, and the other teammates give them ropes as the cliff crumbles away beneath them (lucky). They're all hanging from ropes for a few minutes until one guy cuts himself loose and parachutes away (Why is he worried about falling and why don't they all parachute away?). Two skiers create a diversion while a third jumps over top of the terrorist helicopter, throws a rope in its propeller and blows it up. This creates an avalanche that the two diversion skiers now ski in front of while posing for the hand-held camera that they toss back and forth to each other.***End of Spoiler The fraction of a plot that existed made no sense. Why would people risk their lives like this for a freaking commercial? Couldn't they just use CGI to show a skier in front of an avalanche like they obviously did in this movie???! People who would like this movie would have to know nothing about snow, snow-sports, mountain climbing, and the laws of physics. So for all those retarded skateboarders with a 7th grade education, This movie is Xtreeme to the Max!!