Linea de fuego

Previous user commenters have been quick to attack this movie, so I thought for a change I would list the good things found in the movie. It was shot on actual jungle locations. The filmmakers managed to acquire military equipment such as helicopters and armored vehicles. And.... uh... ah... the movie was shot in color... and... uh... oh, who am I kidding? This is a terrible movie in just about every way you can think of. There are a lot of action sequences, but they have been almost totally drained of excitement, and the fact that sometimes you can't tell who are the bad guys and who are the good guys in these action sequences doesn't help. Reb Brown is pretty bland as the lead, and while Shannon Tweed does add a little eye candy, her one nude sequence is staged in a way that you don't really get to see anything. Since the movie has apparently fallen into the public domain, it's pretty cheap and easy to acquire, but you'd be better off saving your money and time to get a much better movie.

See this film if you are into lousy movies. The acting is terrible. Where did this guy Reb Brown come from. The action choreography is lousy. In some instances you could hear people scream before they is actually shot. Saw XXX the day after I saw this film. Took a point away from Firing Line and gave it to XXX.

In yet another case of misleading marketing, this film is included in a 10-movie DVD set called "Women Who Kick Butt", but even in its original cover it seems to promise Shannon Tweed in an action role. Actually, during most of the movie Tweed plays the typical whiny and prissy female character who has to be rescued by the male lead, and even when she's trained in jungle warfare she still has to be dragged around by him! There is one female rebel who is a stronger character, but she's mostly kept in the margins of the movie. The male lead is Reb Brown, and he does have some (unintentionally, I think) funny moments (like when he gets electrocuted). The action scenes are badly directed and poorly acted: some of the stuntmen needed a few lessons on "how to get shot and die convincingly". I suppose if you're in the right mood you can find some things in "Firing Line" to laugh at (at one point, we can hear Tweed speaking but her lips are not moving!), but mostly I was just bored. (*)

This '80s action film is set in a fictional country in Central America. The protagonist, Mark Hardin, is an American military advisor working with the government forces. A successful operation leads to the capture of a rebel leader but when he is murdered rather than put on trial Harbin starts to think his employers might not be the good guys. Events lead to him fleeing with fellow American, Sandra Spencer. They soon run into trouble and are captured by the rebels. His actions during a government attack persuade them that he can be trusted; soon he is helping them in the fight back against the oppressive regime.

Amazon Prime gives the impression that this is a new film but I doubt anybody will get more than a second into it before they realise it is really a straight to video film from the eighties! The 4:3 picture ratio is the biggest clue but it is backed up by the less than perfect picture quality, obtrusive music and acting that is adequate at best. The plot is pretty basic but does at least serve to deliver plenty of low budget action. You know the sort: 'good' guys shoot from the waist but still manage to hit every time, explosions cause people to fly through the air and nobody appears to bleed significantly! It is trashy and there isn't anything really good about it but it is strangely entertaining if you aren't trying to take it seriously. At least the jungle looked good. Overall this is one for fans of low budget, straight-to-video '80s action; not worth paying to watch but okay if you have a Prime account.

A Pentagon man working in Latin America ends up siding with rebel forces when he discovers that his own side have been carrying out a series of atrocities. He ends up with an innocent woman on tow. I watched The Firing Line a couple of weeks ago and already I am struggling to remember anything much about it. What I do remember quite clearly though was that I thoroughly disliked it. It's a low budget action movie that seemed to be similar to the Commando (1985) template. But the problem is that, while there is a lot of action, it was very poorly delivered indeed. There's lots of shooting and explosions. But it was all very tedious, that much I can say with some certainty.