The Annihilators

I think this movie was hilarious simply because of how serious it was. from the heavy-handed acting to the comedically badly choreographed fight scenes, to the outlandish scenario to the completely unrealistic portrayal of city gang violence, this movie made me and my friends laugh our butts off. when Roy Boy shouts "YOU MOTHERRSSSS!!!" we couldn't stop laughing. the front of the box features a team of steroidal, rambo-type Vietnam soldiers wielding flamethrowers and assault rifles, and yet there is only maybe 5 minutes of Vietnam scenes in the movie. not to mention i never witnessed any real annihilation. maybe some destruction, a few murders, some depravity, but no annihilation. no sir. I'm not calling this a good movie. just an unintentionally hilarious time capsule of C-moviedom from the 80's. if you can find it, for god's sakes buy it. it's a good time.

A quartet of men who were buddies during their time in 'Nam reunite in the 80s to avenge a fallen comrade, and clean up the streets of Atlanta. Currently, gangs are running amok, and it's up to our team of heroes to eradicate this criminal scum. The main baddie is a swaggering yet aged punk named Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo, "The Omega Man"), while our title Annihilators are played by the likes of Christopher Stone ("The Howling"), Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs ('Welcome Back, Kotter'), Gerrit Graham ("Used Cars"), and Andy Wood ("Rambo: First Blood Part II").

This oddball cast (also including Dennis Redfield ("Dead & Buried") and Jim Antonio ("Outbreak")) ensures this slight but amusing urban action flick some sort of cult status. It fits quite comfortably into that "vigilantes vs. gangs" genre that was popular in the 80s. ("Death Wish 3" and William Lustigs' "Vigilante" being other notable examples.) It is pretty cheesy, amateurish, and laughable at times, but it still manages to push some buttons, complete with some effectively brutal violence and shots of ladies' breasts.

The actors are fun to watch, with the ever-amusing Graham in fine form as a guy who kisses the accounting profession goodbye in order to kick some gang members' posteriors. Stone is the cool-headed leader of the group, while Wood is established as a weak link given that he's descended into alcoholism. But this viewer would suggest that you watch this one basically for the late, great character actor Koslo, who sports an awesome hairdo, and threatens citizens while stalking the streets with flamethrower in hand. Roy Boy Jagger is simply a priceless character name.

You've likely seen all this before, but there's still fun to be had here provided that you don't take "The Annihilators" seriously at all.

Six out of 10.

One of a fairly long line of generic vigilante action flicks to emerge post Death Wish, this as with most of the others of its ilk, proves to be highly satisfying stuff. The plot which is virtually identical to the earlier and slightly superior Kill Squad, has a group of Nam veterans setting out to avenge the death of one of their friends and cleaning up the streets of the vicious gangs that are terrorising the neighbourhood.

The villains, led by a delightfully OTT Paul Koslo, are all wonderful 80's stereotypes of street thugs and crooks (ah, they just don't make cinematic scum like they used to!)

One thing's for sure; you'll be guaranteed left cheering as each one of the main antagonists in this bite the dust in style at the hands of our heroes. Hell, it's almost enough to make one want to form a posse and kick some criminal butt!

There were batches of such craps during the eighties, more or less DEATH WISH descendants but without any shade, predictable at the most. The scene in the grocery store, with the hoodlums killing the war vet in the wheel chair, this scene is brutal, gritty, for me the most worth seeing sequence. However, it remains an agreeable time waster if you have really nothing else to do. I regret to have wasted my time with this forgettable flick; I also regret the late seventies vigilante movies such as the William Lustig or Lewis Teague's programmers. Only for die hard fans for this kind of junk, also old timers and certainly not the new generations.

After their wheelchair bound brother in arms Joe is killed by a gang in Atlanta, Vietnam vets Bill (Christopher Stone), Ray (Gerrit Graham), Garrett (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Woody (Andy Wood) come to the city to teach the citizens how to stand up for themselves. Their main adversary is Roy Boy (Paul Koslo), who is working on a big heroin deal and tries to keep the local kids on his payroll. Our four Vietnam vigilantes also have to contend with Lt. Hawkins (Jim Antonio), who wants things done by the book. This is a serviceable entry in the citizen vigilante sub-genre. The problem is that there are so many classics in that field that this could never really compare. Director Charles Sellier had just come off of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT so it is surprising this isn't sleazier. The main characters are lazily outlined (we barely know each of their specialties a la THE A-TEAM) and we get a really amusing training montage for the citizens that lasts about a minute. There is also a really bungled mystery regarding a fifth member called "Holdout Harry." Still, I was never bored and the film did provide a few laughs (especially the random school bus hostage taking during the finale).