Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Comeuppance Reviews A group of disgruntled Vietnam vets, led by Mike (Wayne), Roger (Connelly) and James (Steiner) decide to go back to 'Nam and find, then free, missing POW's. Once "in country", they get their guns and ammo from Father Lenoir (Pleasence) , a priest willing to help the "five men against all", to quote the Italian title of the film. Once loaded up with their supplies, it's like the war never ended, as Viet Cong soldiers battle them every step of the way to protect their camps, seemingly unaware that there had been a ten-year break in the action. Naturally, the discovery of the POW's leads to a government conspiracy that goes all the way to the top - and is the gruff Colonel Mortimer (Mitchell) involved? Will the men free the hostages and make it back home? And if they do, what then? Operation Nam (or Cobra Mission) is a standard jungle action/drama you've seen before, but it does have its moments, as well as a cast familiar to anyone who loves Italian exploitation films. Besides familiar faces Steiner, Connelly, and Luciano Pigozzi (AKA Alan Collins), we also have cameos by Enzo G. Castellari and Ennio Girolami, and the whole affair was directed by Fabrizio De Angelis (the infamous "Larry Ludman") without much panache. He's a better producer than director, most people would agree.While the idea of moody, misfit Vietnam vets adjusting to a changed society is a fascinating idea for a film, these ideas are only touched upon in the first half. The second half is the mindless shooting, guard tower-falling, hut-exploding, grenade-throwing , bar-fighting action expected of this type of film. It would have been nice if the psychology and emotion of the men was explored more, but perhaps I'm asking too much of a churn-'em-out genre film such as this.In the plus column we have the fact that the film was made pre-political correctness, a character plays Pole Position on his Atari 2600, and one character insults another by calling him, and I quote, a "Suckfish". Speaking of awesome dialogue, we also get an interesting glimpse into the future: right before one of the protagonists throws a grenade at a baddie, he says "You've got mail". This comment, which precedes AOL by many years, must have served as an inspiration to that company. Not to mention inspiring the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan crapfest, as that was a "bomb" as well! Ha! In the minus column we have the silly, Southern yokel-y dubbing for John Steiner's character, and some overall malaise. But John Wayne's son is in it! Anybody? Anybody? If you liked American Commandos (1985), you'll also probably like this film, as it has a similar concept and execution, but this is not a prime example of Italian action.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Volstag Boy, oh boy. This movie came very close to becoming my favorite unintentionally hilarious b-movie ever. The first half was priceless (after a slow start). The 2nd half, however, prevented this movie from enjoying a spot in my Bad Movie Top 10.What makes the first half of this movie so awesome? Well, to put it bluntly, it's so inept that it's nothing short of (unintentional) comic gold. Basically, we have four Vietnam veterans who become increasingly agitated by the fact that there are known POWs still languishing within prison camps inside of Vietnam. They develop a "plan" to return to Vietnam to rescue the aforementioned POWs. What's insanely amusing about their "plan", is that there really isn't a plan at all. They simply up and leave their families and jobs and fly to Vietnam. Once in 'Nam, they walk around until they bump into someone who has sensitive information concerning the whereabouts of POWs. If this movie is any indication, just about everyone in Vietnam knows sensitive information about POWs and POW camps.Our stalwart veterans keep bumping into folks with sensitive information, and keep referring to their nonexistent plan. Through a series of nearly incomprehensible, and comical, events, they obtain a large cache of weaponry. Now suitably armed, they begin their trek into the jungle via boat and truck.From here the movie becomes standard action movie fare. Like most action movies of similar ilk, our heroes display remarkable... nay, supernatural... abilities when it comes to open combat. They never miss, they're never hit, and they have no problem even when grossly outnumbered. The "ambush" segment is priceless: our heroes waiting in the brush, clearly visible to the horde of advancing enemies (who, apparently, thought they were merely approaching foliage eerily shaped like Vietnam veterans armed with M16s). At the decisive moment, one of our heroes yells "Fire!". The end result: 30+ dead assailants, and 4 unscathed Vietnam veterans.This begins the desultory second half of the movie. From here, our heroes encounter more enemies, refer to their mystery plan, and, ultimately, locate a POW camp -- which they summarily destroy, rescuing all the POWs in the process. In a surprising twist, one of our main characters, Mark (Ethan Wayne), is killed by a jilted Vietnamese woman.Our heroes, with POWs in tow, begin the process of extracting themselves from Vietnam. As you can imagine, this involves several combats involving imbecilic opponents, and super-human accuracy on the part of our heroes.Near the very end, our heroes are informed that all their work was for naught -- due to some bizarre political arrangement, the POWs must remain in Vietnam, and know one can know about their existence.The end.Bad movie score: 7/10 Good movie score: 5/10.

Michael A. Martinez Perhaps the main appeal in watching De Angelis's films (for me) is in coming in with low expectations and every now and then being surprised by how well some of the elements work. COBRA MISSION is a weird example because it features an excellent cast of B-movie stalwarts and even some cameos by Enzo G. Castellari, Luciano Pigozzi, Gordon Mitchell, and possibly Dardano Sacchetti. Francesco De Masi composed a moving, yet jarring and unmemorable orchestral score for the film but it is seldom used in favor of stock music from De Masi's previous films with De Angelis (a good call maybe, but distracting).There's lots of action and explosions but most of the time it's ruined by veteran producer Fabrizio De Angelis's budget-minded approach to filmmaking. At times the film is edited and shot in a very hands-off and lazy fashion. For some reason De Angelis likes to end his scenes with something exploding, but unlike in THUNDER WARRIOR uses his slow motion really infrequently. Some of the non-slow-mo explosions don't look very dramatic at all, and it seems like an incredible waste considering how much De Angelis must have dished out on the transportation and production costs associated with making the Philippines look like Vietnam.Maybe the most surprising aspect of the film is its fairly well-done downbeat ending. Christopher Connelly does some pretty hilarious scenery chewing, but in the end the audience really does feel sympathy for Ethan Wayne as the soldier that got left behind. The final shot of Wayne kneeling in the field while the camera pulls away from him to reveal a huge army of advancing Vietnamese soldiers surrounding him is one of the best and most memorable shots I've seen in a low-budget action movie.As is the case with DEADLY IMPACT, THUNDER WARRIOR, and THE MANHUNT, it's a mid-80's De Angelis film which I know is bad, but for some reason I just love watching it over and over.

Sic Coyote This is one of the movies that I'm attatched some affection for, it is quite gritty and shows the fact that it is quite low budget but this doesn't harm it to much. It has a nice healthy amount of action and only a small amount of gore which is justified. The acting is acceptable and competent although some of the lines just stink "you've never seen an american before, this close". But if you can get through that it's a nice if quite bleak action adventure about (quoting from the EIV trailer) 'Vietnam, ten years after. The war is officially over, but the fight for freedom continues. The veil of secrecy that blinds the truth is about to be ripped apart. The soldiers that didn't return are soon to be avenged, while those remain alive at last taste freedom. Four men in a private army. Four men with one ideal. Four men who will change the meaning of bravery. They will bring their own kind of justice, they will bring their own kind of hate, they will bring freedom, they are Cobra Mission. The war is over but the fight will continue' At least that's the plan. I would certainly recommend that you see it, if you can find it. Also to any distributors out there, any chance of a double bill DVD of Cobra Mission 1 & 2 with audio commentaries and stuff?