Frogmen Operation Stormbringer

Apart from the improbable and shallow plot, it is painfully obvious that no military technical adviser had a hand in this movie. Here are some duds;

The leader of the Seal Team addressed as captain (yes he would be called a captain in the army) when he should have been addressed as lieutenant since this is the US Navy; his superior is referred to as commander and a reference being made towards the end of the movie that this commander will be a 'general', a totally non-existent rank in the US Navy.

The mission was supposed to be covert and deniable, yet one can notice in the laughable daylight raid that dog tags were evident, clanking around noisily like cow bells I might add.

The M4 being fired left-handed but with a right-handed ejection port.

For a covert mission like the one portrayed, every member of the team spots regulation military crew cut, they would have stood out like sore dicks in reality...

The team was totally non-tactical from the insertion right through to the botched raid - faces not blackened, bunching up like ants at the landing point and the questionable choice of weapons in general used for the mission.

The fate of the entire free world is threatened by unfriendly "Casper", a mysterious and resourceful terrorist seen only in blurry photographs. Only the U.S. Navy Seals can kill him. They immediately go underwater on a mission, but are on dry ground mostly. Tyler Christopher (as Rick) and John Simon Jones (as Miller) give the U.S. Seals a soap opera hunk look. Red-haired Gary Murphy (as Baker) has to prove himself. All things considered, Mr. Murphy performs well. Robert Mitchum's grandson Bentley Mitchum (as Andreas) has a plum role. They get involved with a lot of shooting and explosions.

*** Frogmen Operation Stormbringer (12/3/02) Franklin A. Vallette ~ Tyler Christopher, Bentley Mitchum, John Simon Jones, Gary Murphy

First of all, this is a movie with semi-realism, people actually die from bullets and on both sides. There's probably more "friendlies" dying in this movie than in any other U.S. stereotype-film.

The movie is pretty straightforward, there are some weak attempts at trying to write subplots (ie. the world's most dangerous terrorist manages to be a part of the Seal Team (don't ask)) there's also the occasional "My wife got killed by americans"-whine, and "America is a murderer"... really strong motives.

As for cinematography this is pretty bad, there are lots of jump-cuts, and there are some beginner's mistakes that make it look like a B-production. One thing that's pretty hilarious is that they've done a voice-dub when the seal-team is diving, I don't know, but when you're scuba-diving I find it hard to believe that you're able to speak in a radio, and the mindless things they say "Oh yeah!, I cut him", "I'm coming to help you guys" (when they're in the same cramped area.

The acting is really subpar, which considering the really vivid imagery of explosions tells of a costly setup. There's namely LOTS of explosions in this movie, the pyrotechnicians really had a great time.

Some of the shots show really expensive effects (ie. they drive a couple of trailers off a cliff, one blows up, another one goes under the water), they sink a really big boat, etc.

If you're really BORED and out of war-movies to watch, this can maybe (worst-case-scenario) be something to see. Otherwise, avoid it. Just fast-forward to the scenes with the explosions, and you might get 3-4 minutes of enjoyment from this.

ps.

The reason the rubber boat exploded, was because there was a case full of explosives in it.

Shot in English with a largely Bulgarian crew, "Frogmen" is a fair medium-budget commando-type action film. The script has one good plot twist in the middle, and tries to make the main villain at least two-dimensional, by giving him a motive of personal revenge (instead of mere greed) for his terrorist actions. The cast is largely unknown (though apparently the lead has been a regular in "General Hospital" for 13 years!), but they do their job. The action itself is mostly by-the-numbers (and the underwater sequences suffer, as usual, from the limited visibility), but the film certainly doesn't skimp on the explosions. Passable if forgettable fare. ** out of 4.

I enjoyed this movie. Lots of action, explosions, guns... Fun guy stuff. Acting by Bentley Mitchum (lead bad guy) and the red head seal(gary murphy) was the best. Movie has twists and fun. Don't take too seriously and you'll enjoy the evening if you like guy films.