Mercenary Fighters

Big fan of the late Peter Fonda here, especially when he depicts stone-cold, merciless and downright nasty villains. In "Freedom Fighters" he plays such a character, more specifically a mercenary only interested in money and power, regardless whether or not the job demands innocent people to be slaughtered. He, Virelli, and his team are hired by a corrupt army general to wipe out a handful of small villages and native tribes that rebel against the construction of a giant dam in a Southern African country. Under the influence of a cute Human Rights Activist, however, one of Virelli's team members - TJ - realizes he's battling the wrong camp and switches sides. The cool thing is that Fonda's character also knows this, but he doesn't care about people, only money. I know you're supposed to cheer for TJ, but he's just a chomp of meat without charisma, whereas Fonda is a loathsome beast with greasy long hair and a walking cane. Apart from the cool cast (also starring James Mitchum, Ron O'Neal and Robert DoQui), "Freedom Fighters" is standard 80s jungle/mercenary action guff, with exploding helicopters, land mines blowing up jeeps, native tribes performing naked dance rituals and beefcake men firing with heavy artillery at unarmed women and children. Forgettable fun, if you are into 80s Rambo rip-offs.

My review was written in March 1988 after a screening on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"Mercenary Fighters" is a lamebrained action pic made in South Africa in 1986 under the title "Freedom Fighters" Cannon released it regionally last month, and dropped it in New York at a 42nd Street fleapit with zero advertising.

Peter Fonda toplines as a U. S. soldier of fortune hired by the government of the fictional central African nation of Shinkasa (an anagram for Kinshasa, ex-Leopoldville, capital of Zaire) to wipe out some rebels blocking a vast dam project which would force the Kurubu tribe off its homeland.

Of Fonda's motley crew of mercenaries, kindhearted beefcaker Reb Brown (after falling for a pretty white nurse, Joanna Weinberg) realizes he's fighting for the bad guys and takes up with the rebels. Dissension among the mercenaries pushes Ron O'Neal to do the right thing in the final reel but Fonda is a gammy-legged bad guy only out for a buck till the end.

Slapdash script and ineffectual direction (an explosion every once in a while) draint this programmer of any believability. Such is its miscalculation that miscast Robert DoQui as the heinous villain was mightily cheered on by the predominantly black 42nd Street audience when he viciously slaps down the nurse, who's only been trying to protect women and children in villages being murdered by DoQui's troops. Equally ridiculous is the scene of Brown named new leader of the Kurubu rebels by their dying chief, just after Brown in Rambo pose has mowed down Kurubus with a machine gun as he was hired to do.

Tech credits are acceptable except for the tinny musical track. A sloppy touch has erstwhile "Superfly" star Ron O'Neal misspelled as "O'Neil" in the opening credits.

MERCENARY FIGHTERS is a typical action flick from South Africa, made by the Cannon Group and about a group of mercenary fighters who are flown in to take down some rowdy villagers. Except, of course, it turns out that the villagers aren't that rowdy after all and the government aren't that nice either. Shades of Lundgren's later RED SCORPION, but for the most part this is a WILD GEESE copy with typically explosive but uninvolving action. One of the best things about it is the case, with Peter Fonda tackling an unusual role, Reb Brown being his usual wooden self, and Robert DoQui stealing his scenes, much as he did in ROBOCOP.

This is of the category of action films, and action is the yield with very little reprieve in this generic tale of contemporary mercenaries in central Africa, entangled with intratribal warfare as the party in power in an imaginary nation hires them to protect construction of a dam which will displace villages of the rulers' historical adversaries. The leader of the hirelings, Vitelli (Peter Fonda), assembles a group of individuals to his unsparing taste, including characters played by Ron O'Neal (listed as O' Neil in the credits), James Mitchum, and Reb Brown as D.J., among other stalwarts, and they decamp to the mythical nation where the stunt work begins. We are then privy to watching vicious attacks without stint by our heroes, with helicopter gunships and, of course, sophisticated ordnance, as croutoned bodies are sent flying by a seemingly limitless progression of explosions while one marvels at the determination to persevere of the luckless quarry. The type of creature who enjoys this sort of fare would undoubtedly be delighted if this course of behaviour were to continue, but the well-funded producers apparently prefer that a love element be present (with Reb Brown!) as well as a midstream shift of allegiance by D.J. which makes no sense at all. Brown obviously has a forbidding time with any dialogue, but does enjoy yelling, and does a great deal of that, making it, if possible, even more surreal that a collection of tribesmen, with a distinct cultural history, would desire that sharp shift of mores required to accept D.J. as their warrior chieftain. After all, being a mercenary is just a job, as we are notified often from the script; unfortunately, not a very capable job is evident in this production, with sloppy direction, flawed tactics followed by all combatants, and some very poor cast performances, although O'Neal tries to rise above it all.

If action is your genre, this film won't disappoint. The story never sags as it follows its band of mercenaries through a mine field of shifting loyalties and enemies. This movie has great visuals throughout and a solid ensemble cast led by Peter Fonda. Characterization is minimal, which is typical with this type of story, but the actors do a good job of keeping it real. The female love interest is especially good in her role as the nurse who risks her own life to defend the tribe. While it's true that nothing in this film stands out as truly memorable, it is definitely one of the better, older action films I've come across. If you're in the mood for something literary, skip it, this is pure pulp, but it's entertaining and delivers the goods the genre demands.