| Director | Andrew Davis |
|---|---|
| Genre | action film, vigilante film |
| Runtime | 104 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $85 million |
| Box office | $78.4 million |
A bomb detonates in the plaza of the Colombian Consulate building in Los Angeles, killing nine people, including Colombian officials in a caravan, and American intelligence agents. Among the civilians killed are the wife and son of an LAFD firefighter, Captain Gordy Brewer, who is injured in the aftermath. A video is sent to the U.S. State Department, in which the masked El Lobo ("The Wolf") claims responsibility, justifying it as retaliation for the US oppression of Colombia. The FBI believes El Lobo is a Colombian terrorist named Claudio Perrini.
CIA Officer Peter Brandt, the Colombia Station Chief, is harshly reprimanded for the incident by a Senate Oversight Committee, which promptly terminates all CIA operations there. Brandt angrily returns to Mompós and meets with his paramilitary allies to plan a major offensive to take down Claudio.
Frustrated with the political red tape regarding the investigation, Brewer travels to Mompós to personally hunt down Claudio, but is quickly arrested for illegal entry. The guerrillas stage a prison uprising to free their comrades and abduct Brewer, demanding a large ransom for him. Brandt's unit is alerted to Brewer's presence in Colombia but arrive too late. Brewer breaks out of the prison, evades capture, and secures a guerrilla zone pass from Canadian mechanic Sean Armstrong. Armstrong introduces him to drug runner Felix Ramirez, the manager of the cocaine distribution facility financing the guerrillas.
Masquerading as a mechanic, Brewer rigs several improvised explosives, destroying the facility. Felix is blamed for the drug plant's destruction, and so is executed in front of a hiding Brewer's eyes. Brewer infiltrates Claudio's headquarters and plants a bomb to kill him but is captured when he tries to prevent a woman, Selena, from being caught in the blast radius along with her son, Mauro.
At Claudio's home compound, Selena reveals she is Claudio's wife. She and Claudio once lost their own child during an American attack, which compelled Claudio to become a terrorist; Selena found and adopted Mauro, whose parents were killed in the attack. Regardless, Selena eventually sympathizes with Brewer and reveals Claudio is planning another bombing in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Brandt's unit locates Claudio's compound and launches an attack. During the ensuing shootout, Selena helps free Brewer and, along with Brandt, travels back to the State Department in Washington, D.C., to help the search effort for Claudio. Selena identifies Union Station as the target, and the FBI investigates.
Supposedly needing the lavatory, Selena excuses herself from the command room and becomes irritated when Mauro refuses to accompany her. After Brewer sees Selena make the same gesture as the masked El Lobo in the video, he realizes that she was the Wolf all along, with Claudio serving as her figurehead, and the entire motive behind their cause is personal revenge for their daughter's death at the hands of the US. Furthermore, Brewer surmises the real target is the State Department, and Selena had used him to get past the building's security. He quickly throws Mauro's bomb-laden toy dinosaur out a window seconds before it explodes. Selena then murders a federal agent, taking her duty piece and identification card. Brandt, realizing Brewer's suspicions, is shot and killed by Selena while trying to stop her from fleeing the building.
Brewer chases Selena to the building's underground parking, where she and Claudio ride off through the tunnels on a motorcycle. Brewer finds the tunnel control console and closes the gates, preventing their escape. He uses an axe to rupture some gas lines along the walls of the tunnel and, as they ride back, Selena shoots at Brewer, unwittingly igniting the gas. Brewer jumps through a doorway just as the entire tunnel explodes. The couple survives the blast, however, and attacks Brewer simultaneously. After a short hand-to-hand fight, Selena is electrocuted from being tossed on the control panel's exposed circuitry, and Claudio is himself killed by an axe thrown into his chest before he can detonate another bomb in the State Department.
In the aftermath, Brewer carries Mauro in his arms as they leave the State Department. A newscast voiceover explains that Brewer receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom for preventing one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history; however, he declines all attempts by the press to speak with him.