Not pictured: the protagonists
Enemies Closer is an American/Canadian action movie released in 2013.Henry Taylor (Tom Everett Scott) is a former Navy SEAL who now works as a forest ranger at King's Island, near the U.S./Canadian border. One night, he is accosted by Clay (Orlando Jones), whose younger brother, Decker, died under Henry's command, for which he holds Henry responsible. During their face off, they are interrupted as a group of criminals, led by Xander (Jean-Claude Van Damme), attack a team of ICE agents searching a crashed plane full of heroin nearby. Caught in the middle of this, Henry and Clay have to work together to get out of the situation alive.
The movie was directed by Peter Hyams, who had previously worked with Van Damme on Timecop and Sudden Death, and written by Eric and James Bromberg.
Enemies Closer provides examples of:
- Cool Old Guy: Mr. Sanderson; when Xander and his crew surround his house, he opens fire at them with his rifle, and later sacrifices himself to allow Henry and Clay to escape.
- Defiant to the End: Mr. Sanderson, after being mortally injured and captured by Xander:"Kiss my geriatric ass!"
- "Die Hard" on an X: Die Hard at a forest ranger station/visitors' center near the U.S./Canadian border.
- Enemy Mine: Henry and Clay, the latter of whom wants to kill the former to avenge his brother, have to work together to escape Xander and his crew.
- Establishing Character Moment: Xander, posing as a Mountie, is introduced calling the ICE agents out for wearing leather boots, citing the environmental impact of cows, and proceeds to kill all of the agents by himself almost entirely with his bare hands.
- Evil Vegetarian: Xander is an environmentally conscious vegan as well as a homicidal criminal.
- Faux Affably Evil: Xander is superficially friendly, a vegan, sticks to organic food and coffee from peaceful countries and keeps urging his men to think of their carbon footprint - all the while happily killing and threatening people, sometimes his own men.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Clay says he knew he would become a good-for-nothing, like his dad, and worked hard to make sure Decker grew up to become more responsible.
- Foreshadowing: Xander mentions to one of his men that Henry, as the park ranger, was "covered" when they went in. It turns out that Kayla, who had gotten assistance from Henry earlier, is part of his team.
- Freudian Excuse: Xander attributes his veganism to a childhood incident when his grandmother made dinner out of a turkey he loved as a pet.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Xander reveals to Henry that he was a soldier himself before he became a criminal.
- Grumpy Old Man: Mr. Sanderson, the only resident on the island besides Henry.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mr. Sanderson sacrifices himself for Henry and Clay by distracting Xander and his men.
- Honey Trap: Apparently, Kayla usually fills this role in Xander's operations; according to her, she typically has to do way more difficult things than fake a hurt ankle, like she did with Henry.
- Mercy Kill: Xander kills his diver when he is badly injured by a gunshot since he can't help him.
- The Mole: Kayla works for Xander and was sent in early to keep an eye on Henry.
- The Mounties: When Xander and his crew approach the ICE agents, they are disguised as Mounties.
- Murder by Suicide: Clay tries to force Henry to shoot himself in the head.
- My Greatest Failure: For Henry, the botched mission that got Decker killed; even though it failed because he and his team were sent in on bad intelligence and he no longer holds himself responsible, his guilt drove him into drinking, ended his marriage, lost him the custody of his son and resulted in him taking the forest ranger job to find some recluse.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: When Clay first ambushes Henry, he points a gun at him while Henry pulls out a knife.
- Vapor Trail: Henry kills Xander by blowing up Xander's boat this way.
