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Reb Brown stars in an incredibly bad, yet still very entertaining popcorn action flick set in the jungles of Vietnam.

Brown plays Michael Ransom, a Green Beret sent on a risky mission which goes awry. He manages to get back to his own lines, only to wind up on another botched mission. While interred in an enemy POW camp, he discovers that his CO is actually working for the KGB, and escapes to seek revenge.

While the plot is rather contrived, the movie manages to deliver loads of cheesy entertainment - much more than you'll get from WHERE EAGLES DARE or any Hollywood action movie. The combat scenes basically consist of Brown firing his M-16, AK-47 or some other high-powered weapon in the general direction of the enemy, who all fall down. The VC are completely inept; none of them seem to know how to aim or fire a weapon or even turn around when fired upon. Brown manages to get away with just about anything - including sending radio messages to his own troops - while the VC just watch and appear helpless.

The acting is just as bad, especially from Brown. He manages to look strong and fearless, even after being beaten, burned and electrocuted by the enemy. He goes through every one of his scenes shouting at the top of his lungs - no matter what the scenario. Every time he fires a weapon he hollers "Whuaa" at the top of his lungs till your TV speakers will explode. In support, Alex Vitale is a scary-looking but never really frightening Russian bad guy, who's storming around the jungle helping the VC try to kick American butt. Luciano Pigozzi (TIGER JOE) is on hand in the first act as a witty French peasant. The supporting cast is pretty lame; one Vietnamese villager comes up to Ransom and says in fear: "We're, like, sitting ducks". Hmm, sounds a little on the side of American slang, doesn't it?

Add to the list of goof-ups and stupid stuff… one long, pointless scene involving Vitale and a snake; a real actor replaced in mid-scene with a child-sized dummy in a different position; some really bad-looking explosions; a man obviously clad in asbestos cloth as he's "burned" by a flamethrower; really, really badly edited Vietnam-era stock shots of helicopters flying around Vietnam … the list goes on and on.

On the plus side, the Luigi Ceccarelli score is crummy synthesizer material, but is pretty catchy and fast-moving. The jungle appears steamy and looks pretty lush and is very convincing (yet, none of the actors seem to be affected by the heat, bugs and such?). Mike Monty does a nice, appreciated turn as Ransom's commanding officer.

I saw STRIKE COMMANDO on a Brazilian videotape. The image was a little over-tinted, grainy and had occasional damage. The stock footage looks really worn out, too. The explosions are really, really bright - too bright - but this could be a fault of the film crew, not the video distributor. The cassette has slightly distracting Portuguese subtitles.

What the heck. It's a really bad movie - technically bad, badly written and badly acted - but it's an entertaining 2 hour trip into the world where the good guys always win despite insurmountable odds.

RATING: 5/10

Yes, the movie is bad. Tragically so. But I can't deny that I am overcome by a natural charm that movies this bad exude. Imagine a movie that cheerfully includes the hackneyed scene where the hero looks over the carnage wreaked by the bad guy and dramatically shouts his name out really long.

Special note should be made of our lead man's character-building scene where he tearfully brags about the food and candy at Disneyland to a dying Vietnamese boy. Simply priceless. For this kind of badness there should be a medal. If you see it, go ahead and try it for a lot more laughs than you'd get from a genuinely good comedy. Look for Reb Brown's "performance".

To think that a entire army failed and one geeky man could destroy my home country seems insulting to hear and impossible. After all who is this Reb Brown guy and i am sure that Amercanski is not really Russian for American added to that some of the most awkward one liners in the history of world cinema. The boy is also a stereotypical Vietnamese peasant. I would like to see more Vietamese cinema like (literal translation) Du Xing's lama. The only people who would enjoy this insulting mess is patriotic American idiot who believe America won in the Vietnamese war (i myself am Vietnamese and didn't support the war)

Watch out for the paddy field scene, my dad was one of the extras.

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. (**)

Shameless, yes, but STRIKE COMMANDO works as a beyond-insipid "unstoppable warrior with a vendetta" vehicle for the incomparably bad Reb Brown. Brown is so bad as "Michael Ransom" that he actually makes the movie more enjoyable; factor in Bruno Mattei's typically doltish direction, and you've got a movie that may make your brain stem separate from your skull. Thing is, you might enjoy it! I found myself laughing through most of it; perhaps it's best enjoyed at that level, or ignored altogether. Give Mattei credit, though--he had the cajones to make a sequel, as well. That's some cheek!

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.

This is an exploitative rip-off of the big budgeted and succesful mega-action thriller Rambo . Here Reb Brown stars as Michael Ransom a hunk soldier who takes on enemies to rescue prisoners or other trapped platoons . At a risked mission he meets a besieged group of local natives led by a French : Allan Collins . When things go wrong , Ransom seeks vengeance against a nasty Russian officer : Alex Vitale who is supporting the Nam guerrilla .

Cheap and exploitative movie taking parts here and there of classics as the expensive "Rambo" by George Pan Cosmatos with Sylvester Stallone and "Missing in action" by Joseph Zito with Chuck Norris . This Strike Commando 1986 packs thrills , chills , grisly tortures , shootouts , jungle outdoors filmed in Philippines Islands , lots of explosion and catching musical score composed by means of synthesizer by Luigi Ceccarelli . In the movie shows up some secondaries, ordinary in B-Italian fims , and most of them playing in Bruno Mattei films, such as : the prolific Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre , Christopher Connelli , Mike Monty , Massimo Vanni , uncredited William Berger , and Clyde Anderson or Claudio Fragasso himself who often appeared as cameos and brief interventions. Special mention for the extremely baddie Russian played by Alex Vitale giving a very sadistic acting following the wake of oriental villain hoodlums as Harold Sakata of Goldfinger and Professor Tanaka of Missing in Action. Followed by a sequel in similar style titled "Trappola Diabolica or Strike Commando II" 1988 with Brent Huff as Michael Ransom , Mary Stavin and a miscast Richard Harris himself .

The motion picture in medium budget was regular 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 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 , and some of them shot in Philippines as "Robowar" , "Strike Commando I" , "Strike Commando II" , "Double Target" and "Born to Fight" . Rating : 5/10, passable and acceptable , though very cheesy . The film will appeal to Italian Vietnam sub-genre aficionados.

Utter tripe, but worth viewing for:

1) The fight scene between the Russian officer and Strike Commando near the end - particularly the head clash after running at each other head on from 20 ft.

2) The Russian officer managing to utter his final word: "Amerikanskiiiii!!!" despite having already have had his head blown off by a grenade rammed in his mouth!

See it!

YES!!!!! THE ultimate Commando film!!!! Forget Stallone and Arnie, Reb Brown is the King, "there's no one who can touch him, not in your whole damn army!" This has all the necessary ingredients for a top notch piece of one man and a lot of weapons against an entire country of soldiers and mercenaries action!! Betrayed and left for dead by his superiors, our Reb sets out to escape from the POW camp and is taken in by some friendly locals who proceed to be brutally murdered by Russian monster Chacuuda!! After and excellent finding the bodies of massacred friends and screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to the sky scene, our hero sets off on the trail of Chacuuda and manages to kill an entire army before defeating the evil villain in hand to hand combat! This rules!!!! Watch it!!!

As a big Kampfgigant / Double Target fan, I wanted to finally sift through Mattei's similarly themed predecessor. And being in a similar context in all respects, I can only compare the two. Reb Brown is very likeable and fits as a Rambo knock-off, in terms of believability he even gets his voice in the German dubbing. Speaking of which, the film steals incredibly brazenly from Rambo 2, several times recreating scenes 1:1, which makes the sequel film more independent. Anyway, Reb, I prefer Miles O Keefe, a glorious, super-cool villain. The budget should be the same, but there are more explosions and shootouts here, but the crucial thing is that the battle giant has more charm, more memorable scenes and a better score. In addition, Strike Commando has one of the most ridiculous duels ever, Ransome against the Russian, the scene in the jungle. By the way, the annoying boy from Double Target is also there, as well as Luciano Pugozzi and Mike Monty in their permanent roles.

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.

Its just terrible, there is very little else to say. They describe it as an action/ war movie, but its as much a comedy as anything. I am fairly sure this is intentional. This was its saving grace, and the fact it was fast paced and action packed. Its not without its entertaining moments..

A soldier(last name Ransom) that is part of an elite squad gets screwed over by a commanding officer, mid mission, resulting in him being left for dead. Saved by a local village we find they are dealing with Russian(the ultimate enemy) backed Vietkong. Ransom then tries to save the village with the help of the military, who at the command of the captain continue to screw over Ransom and the villagers. Ransom ultimately settles for just going after the Russians on his own. Then the movie ends after what feels like the director forgetting to tie up loose ends.

There really isn't much to this movie. Paper thin plot. Action scenes involve Ransom standing in the open firing away while Vietkong jump and twist to show that they got shot(this movie could not afford any blood squigs.) There is some decent explosions and occasional good stunt work. Ransom constantly yelling things over and over(JAKOTA!!!!!!) will probably get a laugh out of most. There are also a few awesome deaths with fun practical effects but they are few and far between.

In the end it's a mostly boring action movie where half of it is shot of Ransom shooting followed by random Vietkong pretending to be shot. Makes for fine background noise but not much more.

In one unintentionally hilarious scene, Reb Brown, playing a rogue American commando named Ransom during the Vietnam War, kneels over a dying local boy and, while crying, promises the kid will visit Disneyland to meet Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and there will be an abundance of cotton candy, chocolate milk, and, most important of all, malteds...

But the rest of the time Ransom ain't weeping. He's roaming the jungle seeking his shady captain (Christopher Connelly) who left him to die in the prelude mission. Along the way he comes across all types of antagonists, mostly gun-totting "Charlie" and their villainous leader: a formidable bald Russian muscleman who takes part in one of the greatest head-smashing fights in the history of b-films.

But for a low-budget war venture, STRIKE COMMANDO is quite entertaining. Brown's performance, while not matching the genuine charisma of CAGE, BIG WEDNESDAY, or good war themed films like UNCOMMON VALOR... but stepping up the phoned-in delivery of SPACE MUTINY... is downright awesome: his brawny arms holding an M-16 like a baby doll...

And there's real stuff going on - in one scene Brown's running towards a departing Huey copter as bombs burst only inches away while Brown, unlike Sylvester Stallone in this movie's muse Rambo, does all his own stunts, and was almost blown up a few times.

I made the mistake of watching this on TUBI, without checking for the director. Bruno Mattei, one of the worst directors in film history. And then I noticed Reb Brown. Try as he might, he's one of the worst actors ever. The only good role he ever did was in Uncommon Valor, where his inability to act is covered by the rest of a fine ensemble cast. This terrible movie, taking place in Viet Nam, clearly a rip off of Rambo: First Blood, is so ineptly filmed, written, acted and directed, it's not even funny. The people who gave this more than a 1, had to be stoned while they watched it. Here's one example of how bad this is: Reb runs along a ride paddy while enemy soldiers try to kill him WITH ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADES. And they ALL MISS. So terrible a movie, I didn't even both to watch Strike Commando 2.

This is one of the most entertaining Italian films I've ever sat down to watch. And I really mean that. By the time Reb Brown and Jakoda were squaring up for the most half-arsed punch up ever committed to film, I was dragging my wife away from feeding our kids to see the randomly appearing waterfall, poking her in the shoulder with my finger, crying 'listen to Reb Brown's weird voice'.

Oh, to have been there in 1986 or 1987 when someone probably sneaked a bag of weed onto the set of Strike Commando, causing Bruno Mattei, Claudio Fragasso, and Reb Brown to say 'Ah, we're too stoned to carry this one out, let's just botch it!' turning Strike Commando into what started out as a First Blood 2 clone into something much more profound, and we the audience get to see the actors and staff involved struggle to deliver a coherent film as Brown continually gurns for the camera. No one involved in this film cared about the end product, and what we have is truly one of the funniest films I've ever seen.

Speeches about popcorn growing on trees in Disneyland. The aforementioned punch up which has zero continuity. The second punch up with the same guy which ends so stupidly I couldn't even spoil it here. Brown's err 'disclaimer' at the end of the film. The last half of the movie being totally insane. Brown shrieking 'Our father who art in heaven' in a weird 'hair-metal' voice.

Honestly, Bruno Mattei is just beyond crazy. He seems to tackle his films in the most lazy way, just hoping he gets to the end somehow and submits a film that lasts 90 minutes. For some reason, when he does that, we end up with greatness. I hail Bruno Mattei for Strike Commando, truly one of the greatest product to emerge from Italy.

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?