The story is about a Brazilian police crew, composed of Federal, Military, and Civilian policemen (Brazil has different police forces). They try to take down an international drug dealer, called Beque. To do so they have the help of a DEA agent, played by Michael Madsen.
The plot scenery is Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, a city in the mid-west of the country. But Brasilia does not have the drug problem as it is in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and some shooting scenes seem quite unlikely.
Although the police has helped in many scenes, the production of the action scenes are not very realistic and aren't so exciting as the famous Brazilian movie Elite Squad. Federal is a smaller production and the technical details are not so sophisticated. In some scenes the image looses focus and some actors with smaller roles are not very well prepared to movies. Too bad that the superb actor Andre Amaro has only a small role, as the reverend.
Unfortunately the plot has some small holes, but the overall of the movie is good. In my opinion the end makes a counterpoint with the ending of Elite Squad I.
The original music, by the experienced Eugenio Matos, is very well done and works fine, with the use of some Brazilian sonority instruments.
