Frogmen Operation Stormbringer

I am proud to say that somebody finally produced a U.S. Seal movie (there have been 3 of them now!) that was actually worth anything. The first one was a complete sham and the second movie was absolutely the worst movie I have ever seen. But don't kid yourself, this is still a terrible movie.

The fascination with beginning the movie with a LONG underwater scene has apparently not changed. The underwater fighting was bad in many ways, so lets go ahead and get it out: the audio was obnoxious at best, and was obviously the same clip of "I've got him!!! I need help!! (grunt, grunt)" on a loop for about a minute. You also couldn't tell who was on what side nor was the action particularly interesting - characteristics VERY COMMON with the original two. Pay close attention and you'll notice they go into the same hatch they went in the second movie! The whole reason the team fought underwater was because they were spotted from shore, well here's an idea - next time don't use a HUGE boat with 5 motors to "silently" approach the target.

Somehow they end up in Albania and shoot a few UN soldiers (you would think that might anger the UN) and steal their truck. They then decide to raid a camp using the worst tactics - instead of attacking at night, they wait until broad daylight and about half the team dies. I won't bore you with the rest of the plot but honestly this movie had the LAMEST ending of all 3 movies. It is HILARIOUS to watch a small rubber boat blow up an entire tanker (akin to the jeep blowing up half the port in the second movie, or the car exploding in midair in the first).

More problems:

-The whole "Senators Son" plot simply did not work, not to mention it is hardly original.

-When the head SEAL tells his commander he won't take the Senators son, he keep lowering his head between his shoulders until he looks like a complete moron, and he keeps saying "suh. no suh, I won't take him suuuuhhh.) VERY ANNOYING.

-A problem this movie shared with the second one was VERY POOR DVD quality. Everytime a truck goes by it JERKS by, you can clearly see it go frame by frame in an unrealistic manner. The dubbing was also poor and frankly most of them had annoying voices in the first place.

At least the second one was funny - this was just stupid. DO NOT WATCH

Apart from the improbable and shallow plot, it is painfully obvious that no military technical adviser had a hand in this movie. Here are some duds;

The leader of the Seal Team addressed as captain (yes he would be called a captain in the army) when he should have been addressed as lieutenant since this is the US Navy; his superior is referred to as commander and a reference being made towards the end of the movie that this commander will be a 'general', a totally non-existent rank in the US Navy.

The mission was supposed to be covert and deniable, yet one can notice in the laughable daylight raid that dog tags were evident, clanking around noisily like cow bells I might add.

The M4 being fired left-handed but with a right-handed ejection port.

For a covert mission like the one portrayed, every member of the team spots regulation military crew cut, they would have stood out like sore dicks in reality...

The team was totally non-tactical from the insertion right through to the botched raid - faces not blackened, bunching up like ants at the landing point and the questionable choice of weapons in general used for the mission.

The fate of the entire free world is threatened by unfriendly "Casper", a mysterious and resourceful terrorist seen only in blurry photographs. Only the U.S. Navy Seals can kill him. They immediately go underwater on a mission, but are on dry ground mostly. Tyler Christopher (as Rick) and John Simon Jones (as Miller) give the U.S. Seals a soap opera hunk look. Red-haired Gary Murphy (as Baker) has to prove himself. All things considered, Mr. Murphy performs well. Robert Mitchum's grandson Bentley Mitchum (as Andreas) has a plum role. They get involved with a lot of shooting and explosions.

*** Frogmen Operation Stormbringer (12/3/02) Franklin A. Vallette ~ Tyler Christopher, Bentley Mitchum, John Simon Jones, Gary Murphy

First of all, this is a movie with semi-realism, people actually die from bullets and on both sides. There's probably more "friendlies" dying in this movie than in any other U.S. stereotype-film.

The movie is pretty straightforward, there are some weak attempts at trying to write subplots (ie. the world's most dangerous terrorist manages to be a part of the Seal Team (don't ask)) there's also the occasional "My wife got killed by americans"-whine, and "America is a murderer"... really strong motives.

As for cinematography this is pretty bad, there are lots of jump-cuts, and there are some beginner's mistakes that make it look like a B-production. One thing that's pretty hilarious is that they've done a voice-dub when the seal-team is diving, I don't know, but when you're scuba-diving I find it hard to believe that you're able to speak in a radio, and the mindless things they say "Oh yeah!, I cut him", "I'm coming to help you guys" (when they're in the same cramped area.

The acting is really subpar, which considering the really vivid imagery of explosions tells of a costly setup. There's namely LOTS of explosions in this movie, the pyrotechnicians really had a great time.

Some of the shots show really expensive effects (ie. they drive a couple of trailers off a cliff, one blows up, another one goes under the water), they sink a really big boat, etc.

If you're really BORED and out of war-movies to watch, this can maybe (worst-case-scenario) be something to see. Otherwise, avoid it. Just fast-forward to the scenes with the explosions, and you might get 3-4 minutes of enjoyment from this.

ps.

The reason the rubber boat exploded, was because there was a case full of explosives in it.

I really do get the feeling that the producers of FROGMEN OPERATION STORMBRINGER haven`t been doing their current affairs home work . A navy SEALS team is sent to capture Casper " The world`s most dangerous terrorist " . First of all what self respecting terrorist calls himself " Casper " ? It conjures up images of a friendly ghost . I guess the producers were aware that having an Arab terrorist might be a little too near the knuckle so they`ve gone out of their way not to make this film too realistic which explains the errors of having Russians and Albanians on the same side , of America being involved in UN peace keeping in Bosnia before the Dayton peace accord etc . This isn`t a film that`s marketed as realistic and probably isn`t as bad as the big budget BEHIND ENEMY LINES farce , but even so I`d have thought America`s finest would have recognised the world`s most dangerous terrorist when they spotted him which gives an indication of how dumb this film is

Something I wish to point out is that the version I saw on Sky movies must have been re-edited in some way . One commentator mentioned a UN patrol being ambushed by the SEALS . The version I saw has them landing at a destination where a truck is waiting for them and no point do the SEALS jump a UN patrol . There also seems other bits missing which leads to some plot holes like how can a small rubber speed boat cause a massive explosion

As I said , a very dumb thriller