Toy Soldiers

This came as a huge surprise for me. I had never heard of this movie when I first saw it, and the title really pointed towards something else than a great terrorist/hostage situation at a high school. Toy Soldiers has the best from it's time period of the early 90's, where action movies were light-hearted and very enjoyable. The action is good, the plot is interesting and way over the top, the bad guy is a one-dimensional hateful douchebag (which is great), Louis Gossett Jr. is in it, it's simply a feel-good movie which I thoroughly enjoyed.

You can't go wrong with this one if you like action. I give it a solid rating of 8/10.

At the outset, what promised to be a mere Die Hard clone (the '90s were lousy with them), Toy Soldiers is a solid thriller in its own right. Marketed to the teen crowd, it has a good cast, genuine suspense and a reassuring father figure (Louis Gossett Jr., in this case) in this boy's school setting. I can honestly say I didn't know how these kids would get out of this (sadly, not all of them) and I was engaged throughout.

Much better than advertised.

Colombian terrorist Luis Cali is ruthless in trying to rescue his drug lord father Enrique Cali but he's been secretly sent to America. His group infiltrates into the US to take over The Regis School for boys run by the Headmaster (Denholm Elliott). One of the kids is the son of the judge presiding over Cali's trial but he's been taken into protective custody. However the terrorists find other sons of powerful men. One of them is mobster's son Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton). Dean Parker (Louis Gossett Jr.) is outside with the police. Billy Tepper (Sean Astin) is the lead delinquent in a school full of delinquents.

The terrorists release all the staff except the headmaster. Also they give the kids just enough freedom. All of it is aim to jerry-rig the situation where the kids make a plan to overcome the terrorists. I don't think any terrorist would just let their hostages walk around. It's a kiddie John McClane with a lot of unlikely twists and turns. The plot is unrealistic but it's still a watchable thriller.

We are kept on edge in many scenes as there is genuine danger if something doesn't happen just the right way. And this isn't one of those movies where everything is guaranteed to turn out all right, though the violence is not excessive or graphic. Innocent people die, though that' mainly in Colombia. There is a chance someone you care about might not make it.

At the same time, it is interesting to watch the teenage boys figuring out how to get out of their situation. And quite exciting when their plans turn into action.

This movie is not entirely without comedy. In fact, it is a comedy in the first scenes at the school, before the terrorists arrive. There are a few more funny moments after that.

Louis Gossett Jr. Shows why he he has won at least one Oscar. Although he could surely have been the man in charge, he was perfectly suited for the role of the strict but patient and caring Dean Parker.

Sean Astin does a good job too. Although not the smartest in some ways, he certainly comes across as the leader and the one who can figure things out.

It is to be expected that this movie's target audience was teenage boys, and even back then, the music boys liked wasn't what I would call music. But there wasn't too much of that. The background music was good, and I was almost certain I heard a few notes of a certain Martika song. Even though that song had the same title as the movie, her recording was not used.

Was this family friendly? Once cleaned up for TV, this had a TV-PG with a V when I saw it. I guess that was appropriate, though it does have this one funny scene where a telephone sex worker wants to take off her clothes. There were obvious substitutions of cleaner words. And I mentioned the violence wasn't graphic, though innocent people do die. That's more implied than anything else.

Formula? Maybe. I like the formula.

Colombian terrorists hold hostage a military school in the U.S. until their demands are met. The students decide to fight back. Will they be able to do it?

Silly premise but the film actually works. The group of kids who fight were all up and coming when this film came out in 1991: Sean Astin (looking very cute); Wil Wheaton (looking miserable); Keith Coogan; George Perez (the token Latino who is very handsome, very muscular and is mostly shown in nothing but tight underwear); T.E. Russell (the token black guy) and Shawn Phelan. None of them are very good actors (except Astin), but who cares? This is a mindless action film. The only other good performances are from Denholm Elliott (having a ball as the headmaster) and Louis Gossett Jr. as the dean.

Other than that--there's lots of action, suspense, explosions and little brains. In other words---FUN!

Only complaint (and this is minor)--it's a bit too long (there are THREE endings) and there is LOTS of casual, bloody violence (the R rating was well-earned). Still, I enjoyed it a lot.