Harry Alan Towers goes back to Africa to film another low-budget thriller in HIGH EXPLOSIVE, an Angola-set story about a UN team whose job it is to disarm the many land mines littering the countryside. Unfortunately their mission is put into peril by the threat of an imminent rebel attack, and the family ends up fleeing for the Namibian border in order to escape.
What this all boils down to is a fairly average chase movie, apparently filmed in South Africa. The whole UN/landmine/hospital set-up is quickly dispersed with in favour of endless footage of the characters driving, flying a plane, or generally trying to evade the rebels, who are trying their hardest to kill them. There's no more to it than that.
The workmanlike direction is courtesy of Timothy Bond, a seasoned TV director, while the cast is headlined by an out-of-shape Patrick Bergin, barely recognisable from his ROBIN HOOD days. Desiree Nosbusch - star of the cult '80s German film TRANCE - plays his wife, while lingerie model Nina Muschallik is his daughter, expectedly parading around in a tight-fitting, low cut top. The supporting cast is composed entirely of authentic African actors. Sadly, the general shoddy, cheap feeling of the production means that it's a film that's hard to like, although kudos for Towers for continuing to knock such films out in his elder years.
