Strike Commando

Strike Commando (1987)

* (out of 4)

Reb Brown plays a Green Beret in Vietnam who is on a secret mission but gets screwed over by his team. Pretty soon he finds himself in a POW camp but he breaks free and then heads out to destroy a campy villain and an entire Army.

STRIKE COMMANDO was directed by the one and only Bruno Mattei and that should tell you all you need to know. If you're familiar with Mattei then you know he was basically a director-for-hire who would patch up movies or rip them off and form his own movies. Very few of them were any good but hte majority of them did fit into the "so bad they're good" category and that's pretty much where this movie is.

There's no question that the performances are horrid, the dubbing awful and the direction is laughable at times. The editing is even worse and it's really hard to understand what exactly is going on. The action scenes are poorly stages and at times you have to wonder who is shooting at who. The budget was obviously very low and this is apparently by the way people just drop dead without being shot. Yes, there are no bullet holes, blood or anything else.

This film was obviously an attempt to rip-off RAMBO. In pure Italian cinema terms, this is an awful film on so many levels but at the same time there's a certain charm to the badness. If you're a fan of these Italian war pictures then this here is pretty darn awful from start to finish but is that what fans want?

Strike Commando was it seems one of Bruno Mattei's most successful films of the 80's, bringing in enough cash for an further assortment of action trash in the latter half of that decade, including a sequel. 'Tis easy to see why it was such a success, being swift paced, simple minded and action packed. Also the main characters name is Mike Ransom, which makes it immediately a more awesome film than any which doesn't have a main character called Mike Ransom. The plot has Ransom and his men taking down a Vietcong munitions store, only to run across an imperilled village which Ransom vows to return and liberate. He does return but rather fails on the liberation front, as villains have offed the lot. And so like any red blooded soldier would do in the face of atrocity and impossible odds, Ransom sets off for some vengeance time... Apparently Strike Commando is in large part a rip off of Rambo 2. This wouldn't surprise me in the least as a good half or more of Mattei's filmography consists of ripping of other peoples work, but I can't say for certain as I've never seen Rambo 2. Frankly after Strike Commando I have little intention of even bothering, as rather than a lightweight like Stallone Strike Commando has Reb Brown, a man so irrefutably badass that he makes Stallone look like your elderly maiden aunt who has a steel pin in her hip from the time she fell over while gardening. Not only that but he brings a tragic grace to emotional scenes worthy of a five tissue weepie, especially when telling a dying child about Disneyland (where apparently popcorn grows on trees). Yep, he's an all round hero, crack shot, knife flinging maestro, dead on with a crossbow and handy with fists and feet, all this and still man enough to show his emotions. Well matched is the main villain of the piece, Jakoda (or Jaaakodaaah!!!!), played by Alex Vitale, a big brawny slimeball played by Alex Vitale who enjoys killing and torture but even worse makes fun of the hero by calling him Americanski (a sure sign of utter villainy is someone who makes light of God's one nation!). And the various other baddies are fun too, including a turn from trash frequent flier Jim Gaines. Altogether Strike Commando is the epitome of a pig headed good time. Things get blown up, countless goons are shot or knifed and downtime is minimal. The action is even reasonably well staged, at least as good as any mid tier American action trash from the same era. I wouldn't in the world recommend this to anyone who looks to cinema for insight and the higher qualities of man and art, but trash hounds will almost certainly get their kicks. 7/10.

When you rent a cheap Italian action movie from the mid-eighties, you more or less (should) know what to expect. So, aside from the cut-rate cinematography, it's hard to complain about anything else in "Strike Commando", because it delivers what it promises: non-stop action and mayhem, and a high body count. If you're in the mood for mindless commando-type violence, this movie is better than many similar American flicks. (**)

Directed by Vincent Dawn (ie Bruno Mattei) this is quite the shoddiest and worst acted war film in living memory. The plot "Ha!" is a direct steal from Rambo First Blood Part II with loser actor Reb Brown as a poor man's Stallone seeking revenge on a Colonel who deserted him and his buddies in Vietnam.

Brown continually shouts "Rah!" and "Die!" about a million times and good job too as when he is required to act, his lines are delivered in an atrociously wooden manner. I do feel (and hope) that director Vincent Dawn (Zombie Creeping Flesh) was taking the pi** slightly - if not then he is surely the worst film-maker in the entire world.

There are many hilarious moments such as when Brown awakes from a nightmare screaming and for no reason everybody else in the room stars screaming - including a small monkey. He then stumbles and falls backwards out of a raised hut!

I reckon this movie could have been made by a twelve year old. How on earth do such useless directors as Dawn get producers to waste their money on this crap? Can you imagine the premiere of this movie (well there probably wasn't one!) and to see the looks on the investors faces when they were shown what their money had been spent on.

No wonder Bruno Mattei has all these pseudonyms; Vincent Dawn, Norman Dawn(II), Bob Hunter(IV) etc - it's so he can pretend that he didn't actually make this hopeless mess of a movie. I also can't believe Dawn made a sequel to this - jesus, has the man no shame?

While boasting production values somewhat higher than usual for Italian war movies shot in the Philippines (the modelwork is kept to a minimum, and there are plenty of big explosions), and there are plenty of genre it takes somewhat of an effort to get through the first half. It's slow, dumb, and pretty devoid of action for the most part.

However, things do brighten in the second half of the movie... though probably not in the way the filmmakers intended. Starting at the halfway mark, the movie suddenly starts being funny - *unintentionally* funny! Whether is incredibly inept enemy soldiers being easily gunned down... the hero's screaming and flapping his gun around... or how the movie incredibly and blatantly rips off scene after scene of "Rambo: First Blood Part 2", the movie keeps finding ways to make us laugh. It seems the filmmakers did realize how utterly stupid the movie was becoming, since the last few minutes are made to be *intentionally* funny.

Had the first half of the movie been as funny as the second, I would have recommended "Strike Commando" without hesitation. As it is now, it's up to you if you are willing to bear with that first half.