Missione punitiva

This yarn was supposed to take place in Moab, Jordan (erroneously mentioned as Moab, Israel but hey, that is par for the course for this flick !) . I have been to Jordan but never seen scenery like that ! And Russians living in "ancient" monasteries , crawling all over the Jordanian countryside in buggies and firing un-countable bullets AND at least 3 surface to air missiles ? Pull the other one !! I don't know whether the handful of "producers" got their investment back or not, but WHY waste money on a useless plot and a hopeless video film in the first place ??

Headache inducing with only three actual actors, John Ritter, Robert Culp, and Ed Lauter, who are all terribly wasted. The pace is so rushed that it could give you whiplash. The action scenes are filmed in extreme closeup to hide the lack of a budget. Explosions abound and of course the entire plot is ridiculous. This is one to avoid, I only wish I had done so, instead of wasting over an hour, before I couldn't take any more. You have been warned. Proceed at your own peril, unless mindless nonsense is something you enjoy. I actually feel bad having watched this, and hope you will take my advice ................... - MERK

Its entertaining. Not as bad as others have stated to me.

Olivier Gruner stars as Hawk, a commando who is hired by John Ritter(!) to take on Phoenix (Martin Kove) the Russian terrorist who killed Ritter's wife and our band of mercenaries have their share of problems since there is sabotage on the inside and Ritter goes the one man army route to get vengeance for his disturbingly (much) younger wife. This is probably the only time you'll ever see John Ritter as a one man army teaming up with Olivier Gruner kickboxing various people and jumping behind explosions. Truly this novelty is enough to give one the giggles but the biggest shock is that Mercenary is surprisingly well made. It's no classic and none of it is worth watching unless you're a fan of straight to video schlock, however this is probably the best movie i've seen from Olivier Gruner and the action sequences deliver the sufficient crunch that you would expect. Plus it's an action flick with John Ritter getting the lion's share of the action and that alone is something you won't see ever again. So Mercenary isn't as bad as I thought it would be, on the other hand this is movie reserved only for those who are fans of the genre. Hence why it's a two star rating.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

This was a remarkably BAD idea. JOHN RITTER, who we knew for so long as the main guy in the " Three's Company " comedy series, had made a step out to the big screen to play a great role in SLING BLADE. He could have stopped right there and let that performance be the standard he was judged on by his fans.

WHY he even gave this ridiculous film a second look is unbelievable. His role is ridiculous enough, but every other role is right down there too. After 8-10 minutes of watching this literally incredible mess, the thought came to me that it might indeed be a dark comedy -- even with the rat-tat-tat action scenes, and the seriousness (?) of his revenge. It's as if the director tells Ed Lauter "OK, all you gotta do is give me your best Dolph Lungren from beginning to end". The gangsters that Ritter's front man encounters early at the sleazy bar are so damn over the top with their evil schtick that they are indeed HILARIOUS. And this film is remarkable in how poorly the actors use curse words -- so dramatic, so overdone ..... sooooo WHATTTT ?

This entire production will not endure as a resume highlight of anyone who is In the closing credits. One hopes that everyone involved retired with this effort. To this film, PLEASE JUST GO AWAY ... RIP ....