Operation Delta Force 3: Clear Target

Watching "Operation Delta Force 3", it soon became clear that the filmmakers were trying extremely hard to deliver the goods on a small budget. The movie keeps jumping from one different location to another, and while the various locations (underground tunnel, nuclear submarine, Pentagon Headquarters, etc.) do look a little impoverished, you can tell the filmmakers really squeezed every last penny of their small budget. The action sequences jump from place to place as well, and you get more elaborate action sequences than you usually get from a low budget actioner.

But there are some significant problems with the movie. None of the characters are fleshed out or really stand out from each other. There is poor continuity at times. There are some glaring plot holes, like why don't the good guys simply blow up the hijacked submarine. And while the action scenes are elaborate, often they are executed in a sluggish manner.

Still, the movie is never boring, and it has that other stuff I described in the first paragraph. I recommend that you watch the movie while you are doing something else at home - sewing, chopping vegetables, doing your taxes etc. It's a movie that's best not examined very closely, which would reveal more of its weaknesses if you watched it in a straightforward way.

Mark Roper was one of Nu Image's golden boy directors in the late 90's. Hot off the high-octane spy romp "Human Timebomb," he was more than an appropriate pick for the second "Delta Force" sequel. His craft is in fine form with "Clear Target", displaying a tighter focus on pace and plot - as thin as it may be. His skill has always been at deploying limited resources to follow the trends of Hollywood action directors. Here, his influences are clearly Michael Bay and John Woo, and he delivers a product worthy of his ambitions.

A harbor shootout kicks the film off nicely, with all the heavy artillery and explosions one watches this kind of film for. Roper shows improvement with keeping things cohesive and accessible, more notably in the next big sequence, which involves a locomotive ambush. Crane shots, dollies, and quick pans are utilized very efficiently and the many dimensions of the layered action are captured with seasoned confidence. The stuntwork is top-notch, with the actors scaling locomotive cars with apparently no safety harnesses, giving the scene raw and perilous danger.

Roper's B-movie tendencies are not completely shed in this stage of his filmography, however. Some drab sets, costumes and props drag down too many scenes and he seems to have trouble coaching the actors. Some do a fine job, most notably Gavin Hood (six or so years before winning an Oscar for directing "Tsotsi"), but plenty of the scenes are cardboard and far off hitting their mark.

This is an enjoyable film if you watch it in the context of an independent actioner. Sure there's abundant stock footage and direct-to -video cheese, but there's also an impressive use of resources and genuinely good film-making. It plays like a comic book, with a simple story tying together sequences of great action. Army/navy buffs will surely get a kick out of it, as will die-hard action fans.

(3 out of 4)

The war against drugs will never go away. It exists and seems to repeat itself with every new generation of greedy drug makers and sellers.

This film takes the war against drugs to a whole new level. It is human nature to want to protect your family and friends against it, but when you are doing your job to protect...and you lose one of your buddies that is fighting along side of you, it pisses you-off. The experience is not primarily about shooting and blowing things up -- as described from the experience of other soldiers I know, it's largely about what happens between the battles...the growth of wisdom...and comradeship...fear, and the freedom that has to be fought for. It's important to realize that with terrorists training in other lands, we must go there and fight them there, otherwise they WILL come here again.

Delta III, is the perfect depiction of taking the fight to them. James Fitzpatrick is a terrific action film star, I don't understand why he's not bigger.

In a Delta III's storyline, Skip Lang (Jim Fitzpatrick) is embroiled in a personal agenda to cut off the Columbian Drug Lord 'Salvatore', and get "revenge" for the murder of one of his Delta Team, on the kid's Birthday.

The plot is very good - but I think it overplayed the whole "Skip Lang is a hero", way too much.

The action sequences are very well done too, but it tries too hard to be a suspenseful action-adventure movie by incorporating ideas and themes from several other films and putting them into one box. I thought this was a very good film about the world-wide war on drugs, but, it could have stood to incorporate one strong subplot, not three. Besides that, the acting, the action, and the music were all good.

I've lived in the Ontario Province of Canada all of my natural days. I'm not sure whether it's because we have so much snow and rain up here, or just because I enjoy them, but I have seen almost every action film that's available. I'm not a tomboy, I just enjoy action. The first time I saw Jim Fitzpatrick, I knew he had thing for action films too. I'm sure that he enjoys making them as much as we do watching them. It's like being a kid again and going out in the back yard and playing army, or in my case, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I'm also into martial arts, so I know that mister Fitzpatrick is no Chuck Norris. But, mister Fitzpatrick is a better actor than Chuck Norris is. Please continue to entertain us freezing Canucks up here in the Northern part of the continent. Thanks to you all.