JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

rooee You couldn't make it up. Except they did: it took two guys to write the story of Frank Ryan, a tough mercenary (played by the inimitable Brian Thompson) who's hired to rescue a foreign rebel leader, and does so by teaming up with a bevy of hot female agents and posing as a gay fashion photographer on a location shoot. Thompson even gets to kiss Oliver Reed and then shoot all his bodyguards.Every line is a classic. Random quote: "Murder, blood, and paranoia are going to make fine company where you're going." The direction is equal to the words. Nico Mastorakis (aided by Peter Rader) is a trash auteur of Albert Pyun proportions and aside from some okay Steadicam shots the movie is as flat as painted brickwork.Reed plays the bad guy, Bartos, with an outrageous Johnny Foreigner accent and that walrus moustache of his. He's keeping the rebel leader captive and somehow can't see through the good guys' ruse. Too busy molesting his female staff, perhaps. Meanwhile, Frank's boss is played by George Kennedy, who you'll remember foaming at the mouth in The Naked Gun.The editing is in a league of its own awfulness. There's a scene early on when Frank is creeping into Bartos's office, and we keep cutting back to the party downstairs for half a second at a time. It's not tense, it's just jarring. And in the final shootout it's virtually impossible to tell who's shooting who.All of this should add up to a dismal movie, but there's too much fun and conviction and energy for it to be wholly dismissed. Kind of like Plan 9 in that regard. And there's a legitimately great scene where Frank is reporting back to the boss on a bugged line, so he's having to convey his progress via fashion metaphors - "Cosmo are 'dying' to meet!" Unfortunately there's not enough action, and precious little peril, to achieve the Commando gold standard of 80s action movie rewatchability. (Well, it just snuck into 1990.) What there's plenty of is camp, including numerous big-haired fashion shoot/military training montages and more than one raucous female prison. Plus henchmen so stupid they make video game A.I. of the time look smart. Oh yes, and the worst sex scene in film history, complete with actual pan pipes.Put this one on your 'So Bad It's Good' shelf. It's objectively terrible but somehow irresistible.

disco_pigs1332 What can I say? This film has EVERYTHING! But most importantly, it has Brian Thompson, whose acting skills stand in good stead with the brilliance of Oliver Reed and George Kennedy... but for different reasons. His ability to make every line he utters seem completely unbelievable is sheer genius, one of my favourites being "Kiss Mother For Me!" It's impossible to dislike this film, but you can't watch it like you would watch any other film. You have to watch this knowing that what you're about to watch is utter balls, but at the same time it is THE balls! I implore you to watch this film, if only for the Oliver Reed and Brian Thompson kissing scene (yes, you read correctly). Oh, and also for the song "Doing It For The Money" that plays throughout the film. It's a bloody classic! WATCH IT!!!

HaemovoreRex Given his muscular frame and intense look, the always excellent Brian Thompson is usually found typecast in movies as the bad guy (Cobra and Mortal Kombat:Annihilation to name but two instances) so it came as a very pleasant and refreshing change to see him given the chance to play the hero role in this film.In it he plays Frank Ryan, a highly trained mercenary who is hired by a shady organisation (headed by George Kennedy) to rescue an imprisoned rebel leader from a (fictitious) country called Cypra, somewhere in the middle east.Sounds straight forward? Well that's what Ryan thinks at first to, fully expecting to go in with his guns a blazing to get the job done. However, the mission stipulates a more subtle approach and some undercover work involving of all things, a modelling agency! Much to his chagrin, Ryan is given the new identity of a gay fashion designer, whilst his beautiful female 'models' are in fact, recruited mostly from maximum security jails for their special (and very deadly) skills which Ryan hones to even deadlier perfection through a rigorous and brutal training regime.With his new soldiers now ready for action, Ryan takes them to Cypra, where they are greeted by the host, the head of the government's security services and acting leader (Oliver Reed sporting his mighty moustache!) for an exclusive fashion shoot.Of course, much action ensues with our hero's eventually locating their intended target to free him....but is this the real mission objective? Throw in a bit of double crossing, and at least not all of our band of liberators making it back home safely....So on to the quality of the film itself now; Well the good news is that Thompson certainly makes the most of his role as the chauvinistic, tough as nails hard man with a secret soft heart. The ladies to look lovely whilst simultaneously handling the action scenes well and it's always fun to watch the late, great Oliver Reed in action.The bad news is that very sadly, there just isn't nearly enough of the aforementioned action to enthral most action fans.Still, what there is, is admittedly handled with some not inconsiderable flair by directors Nico Mastorakis and Peter Rader including some nice BIG explosions during the climax and some great helicopter stunt work. I also really enjoyed the very end of this, wherein one of the films protagonists gets their just desserts in a very fitting way.Overall then, certainly not a bad film by any means, but it's also certainly not the all out action trailer that Brian Thompson deserves to headline. Come on Hollywood, give this actor some more roles!As a final note: Watch out for the hilarious scene where Oliver Reed's character grabs Thompson by the gonads to check if he's genuinely homosexual. Thompson, looking somewhat shocked, has to quickly act his part by kissing him!

valiomedia I love these old action movies with bad actors and all the cliches, they're simply just so funny. If you liked showdown in little tokyo or any of Arnolds action movies, then you'll like this :) Too bad this one wasn't shown in cinemas and I had to rent the DVD. So if you have a good sounds system and a thing for old action movies, then GET THIS ONE!!!