Written by: Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, John Bishop
Starring: Vin Diesel, Lauren Graham, Faith Ford, Brittany Snow, Max Thieriot, Carol Kane
Rating: [2.5/5]
Military training prepares our servicemembers for all sorts of circusmannaces where they need all of their senses and wits firing on all cylinders. It’s what makes the assignment in The Pacifier a challenge like no other, as it’s one area where the training does not reach, which involves playing a babysitter to five children, including two teenagers. No amount of training could prepare our lead character for this, as it poses as his most difficult challenge yet.
After his mission ends in the death of a highly prized government asset, Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) is assigned to protect his children as they work to retrieve a top secret file of his that was stored within the home. This poses a challenge as he needs to ingratiate himself into this family and, in turn, learn how to manage their behaviors and remain vigilant for the main mission.
Essentially operating as Mr. Mom, but instead of a man caring for his own children, it involves a Navy SEAL taking on the role. Shane has quite the task ahead of him. He must stand in for the mother of these children while she assists the military away from home. These kids then have lost their father, their mother has to spend some time away from them, and now they have this Navy SEAL taking care of them, who has obviously never cared for children before. A combination bound to have its issues, and there are certainly some rough patches along the way.
As you can imagine, Shane has spent much of his adult life in the military, and therefore his only source of knowledge in directing others involves barking orders at them, and they follow every word. That’s not necessarily going to work with these kids, especially the teenagers who will not even listen to their own mother. This sets the obvious comedy where they clash heads with each other and the children test how much they get away with under the care of Shane. Conversely, our lead character must also expand his approach in handling these children if he ever imagines having a peaceful household as he completes his mission.
With time they all learn to like each other more as the film gets into its heartwarming moments. When bad guys try to attack the family in search of the very thing Shane is tasked to find, they learn exactly why the Navy SEAL is there as not some overly strict babysitter but their protector. As they accept him, it allows for Shane to be a positive figure in their lives, as he helps them with their problems through his methods. He helps stand up to bullies and the boy scouts who end up harassing the girl scouts for some reason. They continue to bond together, marking the best moments the film has to offer.
That being said, some of the kids need more support than others, and the particular arc Shane has with the eldest boy, Seth (Max Thieriot) gets further fleshed out. Hit hardest with the loss of his father, Seth proves most difficult for Shane to connect with where he faces bullying by individuals in school, including the vice principal and wrestling coach portrayed cartoonishly well by Brad Garrett. Then you have the scare for a small stretch of the film where they fear Seth is somehow a Neo-Nazi even though the truth is he’s playing one in a local theater rendition of The Sound of Music. Truly a wild storyline that I never got as a child when I first watched this film given I had no idea what the Nazis were. Seth ends up being the one that needs the most support, and the dynamic he builds with Shane marks some of the best growth of any character in the entire movie.
Overly silly as one would expect with a film of this premise and produced by Disney, The Pacificer has the right ingredients mixed in with a bit of nostalgia to make for an enjoyable film. Vin Diesel does a great job in this role in bringing the unrelenting seriousness of this type of character for the majority of the film while also softening up when the moment calls for it. Things go bananas as we get to the end as they finally find what they are looking for, but at that point we’re all in on what this story provides us for better or worse.
