Cop Game

Cop Game is an intriguing spy story, full of unexpected twists and turns that mislead suspects. As it happened in the classic films of the genre in the past. A well constructed thriller storyline. And the final twist, a surprise. The leading actors are well placed in the roles. The protagonist's jokes are funny and ironic, as was the fashion in the eighties (the film dates back to 1987. Released in 1988). Captivating the music. Too bad for the direction of Bruno Mattei who in this film is sloppy and hasty. It lacks the thriller atmosphere, tension, close-ups and details. Like the lipstick writing on the mirror. In short, the thriller is not his genre. A real missed opportunity, what a pity.

Bruno Mattei jumped on both the Vietnam and 80's cop genre (namely the Vietnam cop drama OFF LIMITS) with this utterly confusing actioner. Military police Morgan (Sam Huff) and Hawk (Max Laurel) are assigned by Captain Kirk (yes, Captain Kirk!) to find out why members of a unit called Cobra Squad are killing high ranking members of the military as the Vietnam war draws to a close. This is really a chore to get through. The film does offer a few bits of action and violence (explosions culled from Mattei's earlier STRIKE COMMANDO and a car chase done with miniatures from Antonio Margheriti's ARK OF THE SUN GOD), but it is so damn confusing to keep track of why characters are going here or there. The end twist - something involving Russians - comes out of nowhere. The film's opening scene with the Cobra Squad attacking in slo-mo while wearing gas masks is pretty effective though. Huff teamed up with Mattei the next year for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK riff STRIKE COMMANDO 2, which is much better than this.

Hell, it's no Strike Commando, but Bruno Mattei does a good turn here at producing something similar to that film Saigon, only with loads of action, madness, stupidity, blatant stock footage, footage cribbed from other films, and the usual crap that make up Mattei films. Basically, if you like Zombie Creeping Flesh and Strike Commando, you're bound to have fun with this one.

This time round, someone's killing high ranking US military personal and it's up to Brent Huff and sidekick whathisname to sort stuff out. They have the help of Werner Pocath and Romano Puppo. But who is behind the killings? To be honest, after watching the film, I'm still not too sure myself, but hell, you should see the cast in this one!

You've got (deep breath) Werner Pocath (Days of Hell, Ratman), Romano Puppo (Bronx Warriors 2, Street Law), Brett Hasley (Demonia, Touch of Death), Massimo 'GOD' Vanni (Last Hunter, Zombie Flesh Eaters 3), Jim Gaines (I think) (Zombie Flesh Eaters 3), Mike Monty (in some stolen footage from Strike Commando by the looks of it) (Zombie Flesh Eaters 2, Achtung! Desert Tigers)...I almost had a nosebleed when Massimo turned up.

Y'see, Massimo turns up, to put it a bit vaguely, at 1:02 minutes into the film, not that I was counting, as a kick arse bad guy hit-man who proceeds to waste most of the main cast. SO that's a good thing right there.

So - You either watch this one or not. Bruno fan? Kudos. Accidental tourist? Here there be tygers.

The NO LONGER HERE WITH US LIST: Romano Puppo, Mike Monty, Jim Gaines, Candice Daly, Werner Pocath...

Absolutely absurd action thriller from the absolutely inept minds of Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso. Starts off as the usual cop theme (heavily owing to the Gregory Hines/Willem Dafoe movie OFF LIMITS which came out earlier that year) with two unlikely partners seeking out some criminals, when suddenly they are paid by some military general (Werner Pochath) to kill some commander in Vietnam. The film deteriorates into a Vietnam shoot-em-up with obvious stock footage and terrible editing, culminating into a spy-thriller/ James Bond style conclusion. The music, cinematography, acting, and especially the direction were completely flat and horrible.

The filmmakers obviously had no idea how to film a movie. All action is filmed from the left side, all medium shots, and sometimes the camera isn't even pointed at the action or is too far away from the action for us to tell what's going on! Even a grade A supporting cast of Italian exploitation stars (Romano Puppo, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni, and Luciano Pigozzi...supposedly) and an unbilled cameo by Brett Halsey doesn't help this one. It makes no sense at all, but is able to stay so charmingly silly that this film is perfect for parties, Mystery Science Theater, or bad movie festivals. They honestly don't ever get any funnier than this.

A pacy, violent thriller set in in the sleazy red light district in the last days of the Saigon fall. A spree of murders involving Vietnamese people draws two cops Morgan (Brent Huff) and Hawk (Max Laurel) from the Army's criminal investigation department into de sleazy backstreets of Saigon and whose responsible may be one of their own top brass. In the final days of the Vietnam War, someone is killing officers, allegedly executed by the elite Cobra Force commanded by Shooman (Robert Marius) . Two undercover M. P.'s are assigned to the case by Colonel Kasler (Werner Pochath) . They whiitle the suspects down to five, but pressure from above squashes the investigation, forcing them to go it alone and helpless. The trail leads from the streets of Saigon to the war zone. Previous key witnesses have been frightened into silence or simply killed off.

Cheap and exploitative movie taking parts here and there of other films. Yet another Vietnam film in which there is a little mystery as to who the killer is in this tale that seems written more the sake of foul language and gratuitous gunfights than actual plot . Director Mattei fulls the film with plot twists and turns , and at times loses his sense of direction but sustaining the suspense and staging the action scenes with certain vigour including some tthrilling car pursuits made in Antonio Marheritti style; the result , although the Saigon set setting is simply a seedily exotic backdrop is frankly mediocre. The films rips off ¨off Limits¨(1987) by Christopher Crowe with Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines whose similar roles are played by Brent Huff and Max Laurel and following the wake of other Mattei films as ¨Strike Commando¨and "Trappola Diabolica or Strike Commando II". The film features some familiar faces from the 70s and 80s that appeared in a number of Italian B films belonging to all types of genres such as s Macaroni Combat, Spaghetti Western, Poliziezco, Giallo, Vietnam movies such as: Brett Halsey, Romano Puppo, Mike Monty, Massimo Vanni, Werner Pochath, Robert Marius, Roberto Dell'Acqua, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua and Luciano Pigozzi as Alan Collins, the latter nicknamed the Italian Peter Loree

The motion picture in medium budget was uneven but professionally directed by Bruno Mattei , assisted by his usual collaborator Claudio Fragasso who also wrote the script along with his wife Rossella Drudi . Deceased Bruno Mattei often used Vincent Dawn pseudonym, he is referred to in some circles as "The Italian Ed Wood" due to his constant usage of stock footage, soundtrack borrowing, bad acting and silly dialog within his productions. Even though several of his films have achieved cult status and are today are considered humorous due to overacting, unrealistic staging, and general absurdity, Mattei's films were never meant to be intentionally funny. Bruno made a large number of films in all kinds of genres as Vietnam wartime, terror , erotic , nunexploitation , Sword and Sandals , Spaghetti Western, Documentary , Mondo Cinema, Women in Prison or WIP, such as : " Rats" , "Cage Women" , "Seven Magnificent Gladiators" , "Hell of the Living Dead" , "Robowar" , "Scalps" , "Apache Kid" , "Cop Game" , "Terminator 2" , "Emmanuel in Prison" and several others . And some of them shot in Philippines as "Robowar" , "Strike Commando I" , "Strike Commando II" , "Double Target" and "Born to Fight" . Rating : 4.5/10, below average, a very cheesy and silly film. The film will appeal to Italian Vietnam sub-genre aficionados.