StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Leofwine_draca Bruno Mattei's most entertaining movie is a laughably bad Vietnam effort (read RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II clone), financed in Italy but shot in the Philippines, where film stock is cheap. The film is a so-bad-it's-good classic, which starts off pretty seriously before degenerating into chaos about halfway through. It's an under-directed, over-acted bad film masterpiece without an ounce of common sense in its head, and this is why I love it so very much. Every plot incident is directly stolen from the Stallone flick; as you watch it you'll be wondering why the heck they didn't sue. The setting is the effectively steamy jungle, the only other locations a crummy building at the end of the film. Helicopter shots are grainy stock footage, then there's a hilarious interlude with a ship which explodes (an obvious miniature).Taking the lead is wooden beefcake Reb Brown who overacts for all his worth. Brown is appalling, yet his attempts at acting give the film some of its most hilarious moments, like when he goes berserk firing his gun, shouting "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!". The dubbed dialogue is also particularly funny in this film, whether it be Brown running in the jungle shouting "JAKOOOOOOOODA!" or the cheesy Russian bad guys ("I'm going to kill you, Amerikana!").As the 'plot' plays out, Brown finds himself tortured on an electric fence (just like Stallone) before escaping and shooting hundreds of inept Vietcong. The bad guys in this flick are numerous but probably the same five actors used over and over again. Cheap huts explode, thousands of rounds are shot through the trees, and Ransom's trick seems to be throwing knives in the chests of his enemies – again, just like Stallone. In the plot 'twist', it turns out his superior, Christopher Connelly is corrupt, so at the end he goes in and explodes a small dummy supposed to represent Connelly! Absolutely hilarious entertainment. Other cast members include Alex Vitale as the exceedingly funny and non-threatening 'muscleman' villain (who gets a grenade shoved in his gob!), old-timer Luciano Pigozzi as a French priest (he gets bumped off after about five minutes screen time) and Filipino film regulars Jim Gaines and Mike Monty (the latter in the Richard Crenna role). For fans of pure schlocky cheesy entertainment, this awful Mattei flick takes some beating!

Coventry Bruno Mattei, may he rest in peace, undoubtedly was the uncrowned king of Italian exploitation cinema. Especially during the 1980's, he and his loyal buddy Claudio Fragasso fabricated nearly two dozen of hilariously incompetent, cheesy and most of all blatant imitations of famous Hollywood action/Sci-Fi blockbusters. "Predator" received a makeover called "Robowar", "Aliens" became "Shocking Dark" and this misunderstood masterpiece of cinema is a shamelessly flagrant "Rambo" knock-off. But still, even though the idea of a "Rambo" clone sounds totally uninteresting, you should definitely check out "Strike Commando" because this literally is a non-stop feast of dumb plotting, atrocious acting performances, grotesquely absurd action sequences and hilariously fake sentimentality. Reb Brown – according to the VHS cover the newest world star – plays the deadly one man Vietnam commando squad Michael Ransom. He lost the rest of his elite buddies when the cowardly Colonel Radek aborted a mission too soon and obviously he wants retaliation. He ends up among Vietnamese villagers and learns that the biggest enemies in the area are actually Russian KGB troopers led by the sadist Jakoda. Russians! Russians in the Vietnam jungle! What are the odds? And apparently they really do address to Americans by yelling "Amerikanskiiiii"! This is obviously just a description of the plot in a nutshell. There's a lot more going on, one sub plot more ludicrous than the other, but the best bits of entertainment are to be found in the details. Our hero's wide variety of outrageous battle cries, for example, like when the Vietnamese boy he befriended dies in his arms or when he jumps off an exploding boat right after he executed the entire crew. Another massive highlight – one that nearly brought my mate and I close to crying with laughter – is the bare knuckle fighting showdown between our hero and the beefcake Russian, which includes quotes like "I'll break your back, Americanski" and ends with a dive from a cliff even though there wasn't a cliff in sight at the beginning of the fight. Ultimately priceless is the "friendship" that Michael Ransom develops with a Vietnamese boy. When asked about life in America, Ransom tells the kid that in Disneyland popcorn grows on trees and he will take him there one day. Obviously the kid's mom is mad at him. She probably doesn't like popcorn. Apart from all the unintentionally laughable moments, "Strike Commando" is actually a very violent film, with countless explosions and people dying from machine gun artillery and/or knives randomly flying around. The bloodshed and cruelty is never too shocking, however, not even during the infamous torture sequence compilation, and you'll be too busy laughing anyway. Okay, once more and all together: Jaaaaaaaaakoooooooooooooodaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

HaemovoreRex Italian director Bruno Mattei is often accused of being one of the most inept directors working in the film industry today. However, having watched many of his films I am left convinced that the sly old fox must be actually in on the joke.Take for instance the film in question.....I simply refuse to accept that any movie that showcases such a lofty combination of hilariously bad acting, side splittingly awful dialogue, woefully inappropriate incidental music and a plethora of jaw-droppingly silly scenes can have ever been intended to have been taken at all seriously in the first place. The second half of this movie especially seems to play like an all out comedy, further proof surely that Mattei was parodying the film that this was copied - er- I mean modelled upon (Rambo: First Blood Part 2)Either way, intentional or not, the end result is the same; this movie is utterly hilarious!B-movie god Reb Brown, star of many a cinematic craptacular, appears here as Michael Ransom, a super tough commando who has a predilection for yelling at the top of his lungs whenever he fires off an automatic weapon (which as it happens turns out to be a frequent occurrence) In fact if one were to base a drinking game of one shot for every time our Reb starts screaming, then you can fully expect to be in a coma by the end of the movie!Actually there's a bit more to the plot than the above, not much mind you, but I'll reveal it anyway.... At the start of the movie our hero and his buddies are shown infiltrating a compound deep behind enemy lines in Vietnam. However, back in the relative safety of the jungle nearby, a slimy general pulls rank and orders the charges that our boys are laying to be detonated early. Say bye, bye to our heroes, all except our main man of course, who manages to narrowly escape. He is eventually discovered floating downstream by a group of friendly fighters.In gratitude, our hero vows to lead them to safety. However, things don't go according to plan and they find themselves attacked by hostile forces led by a sadistic Russian officer.In amongst such brutal scenes of carnage and destruction it must be sure hard to retain one's humanity, but our hero also has a tender heart it seems as evidenced in a number of touching scenes between himself and a young boy who wishes to escape the turmoil of the war around him. Inevitably, (but not unpredictably) the poor little lad gets killed later on in the film by the aforementioned Russian miscreant thus eliciting what surely must rank as one of the most painful scenes of bad acting I have ever had the joy to behold from our Reb as he tearfully cradles the dying child in his arms and relates to him the joys of Disneyland (!!!) Promptly after the ill fated youngster expires (whilst dreaming of Mickey Mouse and co) our Reb goes mental with his M-60 whilst repeatedly yelling the name of the murderer of his little buddy. ....Infact he goes on and on hollering the villains name and wasting bullets until he is finally captured!Various arduous torture scenes ensue (including electrocution, a blow torch to the back, and leaving Reb in a cell with a decomposing body!) as Reb's captors attempt to break his will.But our man, being the tough commando sort that he is just won't crack and eventually breaks free to wreck yet more havoc (whilst yelling loudly yet again!)Finally our man must face his Russian nemesis in hand to hand combat (having by now laid waste to pretty much every one else in the cast!) And what a fight!!!!! Truly some of the worst (and most amusing) choreography I have ever witnessed! At one point both combatants run straight at each other from about 20 feet apart only to collide in a mutual head butt!!!!!Eventually our hero manages to knock his enemy over a cliff after which he lets off the mightiest victory cry yet!However, there are one or two loose ends remaining.....The General at the start who ordered the explosives to be prematurely detonated is revealed to be in cahoots with the Russians! Understandably mightily peeved by this traitorous act our man resolves to track him down......with his beloved M-60!!! After blowing the living excrement out of everyone guarding the general, Reb finally blows the cowardly scum up with a grenade launcher! WOAH!But there's one last surprise in store! - As he is leaving the compound, our man is attacked by the big Russian who it seems did not perish in the fall off the cliff after all and in addition, is now sporting some steel dentures which he is determined to sink into our mans throat!!!!Fear not, Reb simply shoves a grenade into his eager chops and blows him sky high (and manages to fire off a great quip after the aforementioned modified dentures fly into his hands!)WOW! Now this is what I call a movie! I really can't understand many of the derisory reviews I've read about it for whether the director intended it or not, this film is without doubt one of the most hilarious movies I have ever had the pleasure to sit through.Funniest scene? Well there's so many to chose from but for me it's a bizarre bit where a Vietnamese soldier jumps out on our hero to kill him prompting our man Reb to utter the woefully misplaced line, 'Dammit, you scared the sh*t of of me!' before effortlessly knocking him out with a rifle butt!!!Forget the humourless, sickeningly and blindly patriotic Rambo, simply put, one can not say to have lived until one has experienced the wondrous spectacle that is Strike Commando!

Wizard-8 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.