Special Forces

[Note that there are 2 different direct-to-video movies named "Special Forces". One of them stars Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport sequels, Matrix Reloaded) and has a black & white cover. This one stars Marshall Teague and is a bit newer.]

I cannot believe it. Isaac Florentine's "Special Forces" may be the first low budget, direct-to-video action movie to succeed in satisfying the military/gun nuts, the martial arts fans, and general action fans all at once. It's even fairly well-made in terms of direction and production value.

First, there is plenty of gunplay and it manages to look vaguely authentic. The soldiers use proper shooting stances, keep their fingers out of the trigger guard, move & cover semi-relistically, and, unlike most low budget 'spec ops' movies, it looks as if the firearms were chosen because they were credible as US special ops weapons and not because they were the only ones available to the production. I wonder if this is due to Marshall Teague? On the special features of the Criterion Collection DVD of "The Rock", Teague is seen with a real Navy Seal demonstrating realistic weapons handling. Perhaps he brought this knowledge & training over to this film? On an even more pedantic note, several of the scenes where the soldiers were undercover in town reminded me of the fictional novels of Dick Marcinko, the Navy Seal legend turned best-selling author (Rogue Warrior, etc). Playing mind games and staredowns with the goons, evading tails, etc. A bit of a nice touch if you're familiar with Marcinko's work, though obviously it may be a completely unintentional similarity.

Second, the martial arts fights are very good! The final battle is blazing fast, energetic, and brutal. Whoever choreographed it certainly knows the specific rhythms and timing of a good Hong-Kong-style fight scene. The hand-to-hand fights are kept mainly to the latter half of the film. Before that, there are some quick takedowns and exchanges where you can see glimmers of this HK-style flair, but they are kept low-key so that they simply add a bit of energy to the proceedings without constrasting too much with the realistic gunplay.

Lastly, Florentine's direction is solid. He knows how to shoot and edit an action scene for both clarity and excitement. Thank goodness that he's not one of those MTV directors who feels the need to cut every half-second, chopping up every action scene into an incoherent blur. When so much work has gone into staging the action scenes, it's nice that he lets them play out clearly on screen. The non-action scenes are handled competently as well. There's an occasional bit of visual style here and there, but basically he just keeps things moving along and rarely if ever looks amateurish. You could call it a smooth professionalism. They also make great use of their Eastern European locales. It's scenic and absolutely believable for the story.

Overall, "Special Forces" is an enjoyable action flick featuring an unusual amount of detail & competence dedicated to the staging of its action scenes. If you're familiar with the direct-to-video military action genre, this is certainly one of the better ones.

Director Isaac Florentine who also created other classic flicks, Undisputed 2 2006, Undisputed 3 2010, Ninja 2009, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear 2013 and another classic special forces flick, US Seals 2 2001 has created another gem in Special Forces.

It stars Marshal Teague who has also been in another classic special forces flick, The Rock 1996 and the classic flick, Armageddon 1998 and Isaac Florentines US Seals 2.

Also starring is Scott Adkins who has also been in other classic flicks, The Tournament 2009, Bourne Ultimatum 2007, Pit Fighter 2005, Re-Kill 2015, Jarhead 3: The Siege 2016, Hard Target 2 2016, El Gringo 2012 and other classic special forces flicks, The Expendables 2 2012 and Zero Dark Thirty 2012 and Isaac Florentines Undisputed 2, Undisputed 3, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear and Ninja.

I enjoyed the action and violence.

If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check other classic special forces flicks, Air Strike 2004, Sniper 2 2002, Commando 1985, The Expendables 2010, Direct Contact 2009, GI Joe: Retaliation 2013, Outpost 2007, Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden 2012, Act of Valor 2012, Special Forces 2011, Wolf Warrior II 2017, American Assassin 2017, Sniper: Ultimate Kill 2017, Mile 22 2018 and Marines 2003.

Because here is everything what Special forces soldier can show.Great shooting and good cover from bullets cover,excellent martial arts performance tragedy about getting as Hostage and be scared for live!OK the best what I liked it is the operations what was planed in night as cover of the dark.It's like real Special forces team.And they also disarmer the bad guys with martial arts because they are economic their bullets .That's cool.Bud thing what I unlike is enemy soldiers bad shooting technique's and bad choreography.But only of them only was good Zaman(Vladislavas Jacukevicius) and Hasib(Eli Danker) they showed some good shoots to the enemies but other soldiers can not hit any shoot.And Talbot(Scott Adkins)who arrived with impressive shoots and martial arts performance.It's looked excellent!! But here was Isaac Florentine one of the best of his films.He got old and known action stars.Who do't know Marshall Teague or also Tim Abell.But most best job in martial arts showed famous English action star Scott Adkins.Who's one of the best action stars today.Also I liked how stuntman Vladislavas Jacukevicius showed athletic moves in the film.But he can not get be famous maybe later.But in Special forces all mentioned or not guys showed excellent film about Special forces!!

Unbelievable shoot-outs where all the bad guys poured fire at the good guys, missed, the good guys shot back and killed everyone, the bad moaned dramatically the same when hit. Bad guys in armoured vehicles with cannon faced the good guys behind logs with small arms and never-empty weapons, good guys won. Amateur script, awful direction, with every stereo-type on screen, from all the bad guys speaking accented English, being brutal and callous whilst the good guys played with kids. Factual errors; a normal SAS team is 4-man, not 2-man. Only saving grace was Scott Adkins final fight, which showcased his extraordinary skills but went on for too long.

The only reason i've watched this badly filmed, cheap military action, is that another IMDB member said that there is "an unusual amount of detail & competence" in this movie. Neither detail, neither competence however can be found in it! There's total lack of realism, behaviour of the special force squad is against all army regulations and common sense! Weapon handling is comic, and ballistics are absolutely fake. This is an brilliant example of cheap millitary style movie! The only thing that deserves attention is the brilliant martial arts performance by Scott Adkins /SAS agent Talbot in the movie/. This guy is something serious! Overall, one of the worst military movies in terms of filming, scenario and realism i've ever seen.