The Annihilators

What can I say about the Annhilators. From the fine film editing (overlooked at the Oscars in my opinion) to the first rate in your face acting. The Annhilators is high caliber pure 80's cheesefest. This is one of the few movies that I've seen in which every single scene has an unintentionally funny scene. I could go on quoting and quoting, but it's really up to you and your friends to rip this puppy apart. 10 years after first viewing you still won't forget this movie.

Pretty awful but watchable and entertaining. It's the same old story (if you've lived through the 80s). Vietnam vets fight together as buddies against injustice back in the States. A-Team meets Death Wish, my favorite!

Time goes on, the soldiers go home, and years later a friend is in trouble. No, wait -- in fact, the friend is dead and it is his dad that's in trouble. Our first hero, Joey, is killed by an exceedingly horrifying (super pointy) meat tenderizer as he tries to defend his father's small store from the local "protection" gang despite being wheelchair bound from the war. Desperate for help, the father talks to Sarge, the leader of Joey's old unit from Vietnam, when Sarge shows up for the funeral.

Well, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the old gang saddles up for the city. You can pretty much imagine most of the rest of the movie.

The one thing that drove me crazy is that Sarge keeps haranguing his men about planning, and about how they're really good at what they do when they plan ahead. But Joey wouldn't have been put in a wheelchair by a gunshot in Vietnam in the first place if the unit hadn't been messing around! Then when things are going really well in the city as they battle the gangs, they do it again. For no reason at all, they completely bypass their plan and try to nail the gang without everyone being present. Phh!!!! I raise my hands in disgust. Foolishness!

There is also a suspicious moment when all present members of the unit make sure to try out the heroin they snatch from the gang to make sure it's real. EVERY single one of them. Hmm....

What are you going to do? Keep watching, I guess. The movie isn't too horrible to watch, but it IS a tease. There are all these climactic moments when nothing actually winds up happening. The most dramatic things that happen are those at the beginning of the movie -- the explosives in Vietnam, Joey's death battle, and the gang brutally kicking an innocent teddy bear aside (poor Teddy!).

I guess my main beef with this movie is that I feel let down by it. Even the confusing subplots with "mystery helpers" and their bizarrely cross-purpose motives wasn't enough to save it at the end. But someday maybe it'll all come right and they'll make a sequel. Ha ha ha ha!!!

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!

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.

The Annihilators has got to be one of the most inept films I have ever seen. Filled to the brim with everything a bad action flick could ask for, this "film" seems to have the worst of everything going for it. From the dull, mindless plot surrounding a couple of Vietnam vets who decide to take up arms against a street gang (really original) to the "film's" ending, which comprises something like ten minutes of shooting where nobody gets shot, this flick will have you laughing out loud. Of all the films in my collection, this one shall never leave. Pricelessly stupid!