Strike Commando 2

Vietnam veteran Michael Ransom, now played by Brent Huff ('The Rookie'), is currently still living in Asia, where he is recruited for a mission to rescue his former commanding officer / savior Vic Jenkins (Richard Harris ("Orca"), in a classic case of "What the Hell is HE doing here?"). To help achieve his goal, Ransom hooks up with a feisty female bar owner, played by the gorgeous Mary Stavin ("House").

Exploitation master "Vincent Dawn" (a.k.a. Bruno Mattei) strikes once again with another amalgam of ideas and scenes "borrowed" from earlier classics like "Romancing the Stone", "Apocalypse Now", "Rambo: First Blood Part II", "Predator", and "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The whole thing is quite agreeably cheesy, with a ridiculous plot (involving diamonds and drug smuggling, among other things) and oh-so-tacky dialogue and performances. Given how tacky the movie can be at times, however, I'm inclined to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt, and say that this is *meant* to be portrayed as tongue-in-cheek.

The action is decent, there are explosions aplenty, and the sex appeal of 1977 Miss World Stavin is undeniable. The supporting cast includes such familiar faces as Ottaviano Dell'Acqua ("Rats: Night of Terror"), Massimo Vanni ("Robowar"), and the ubiquitous and always welcome Vic Diaz ("The Big Bird Cage"), a guaranteed presence in many a Filipino exploitation picture.

Frequently funny and never boring, "Strike Commando 2" is silly as Hell but impossible to dislike.

Seven out of 10.

Take one part Missing In Action and one part Romancing the Stone and mix it with total incompetence in front of and behind the camera and you get this junk. Painfully awful with some of the worst choice in score you'll ever see. They seriously use silent comedy music for action and dramatic scenes. It's almost funny how bad this is, but it never gets so bad it's good. Save 90 minutes of your life and avoid this.

The first one was a black comedy starring Reb Brown and Christopher Connelly, and it had numerous scenes that was lifted from RAMBO 2. But now, the sequel is more serious and headlines action star Brent Huff as a commando who is in search of his old old Vietnam buddy Richard Harris (!). Harris, a very masterful actor looks puzzled why he is even in this film (he said once in a interview he retired until they offered him THE FIELD, so this movie must have motivated his retirement!). Harris looks very ill in the film, and suprisingly he is most of the film unlike Mary Starvin who is second bills (Harris is 3rd billed) who seems to have little to do. Not bad action scenes, and even has Harris killing a giant fake bug. Huff is good as usual, but this film steals the ending of RAMBO 2 just like first STRIKE COMMANDO film. The film does looks depressing, and it's kind of sad to see Harris in a Philipeno shot cheap film, and on a role that Bo Svenson to Henry Silva usual does.

More like a collection of ripped-off scenes (just to name a few of the "sources": "Predator", "Rambo II", "Lethal Weapon") than an actual sequel to "Strike Commando". Not as enjoyable as that film, anyway, but still worthy of two stars, because for those who can enjoy "Strike Commando" this won't be so bad after all. However, the villains are too stupid to be considered a threat and Brent Huff is an actor with all the talent of, say, Lou Ferrigno.

Well, I would have hoped a director as mighty as Bruno Mattei might be one to break the curse of inferior sequels. Sadly not, but he does his best here with the odds stacked against him. This time around he doesn't have the incomparable Reb Brown, massive amounts of firepower and corresponding bodycount nor hysterical emoting, and his various "inspirations", tend to be lighter (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Romancing the Stone, Lethal Weapon as well as Rambo 2 and other jungle actioners), so really the ultimate product was bound to be flawed, and it is, but it still pretty much rocks so its all good. Brent Huff takes over the Mike Ransom role, and while he lacks the stately magnificence of Reb Brown does a solid job, a smart, rough and tumble tough guy who can come into his own when the going gets hard. Mary Stavin plays a bar owning partner and love interest of sorts, bold, brassy, badass and not to mention beautiful she proves an ideal counterweight to the macho end of the scale. Italian schlock regulars Massimo Vanni and Ottaviano dell'Acqua (Rats: Night of Terror) appear as well, but the most plaudits go to the great Richard Harris. The cosmos only knows what strange wheels turned to put Richard Harris in a Bruno Mattei film but he gives it his all, a turn of authority and dignity forged in total commitment, he plays the material as if it were Oscar worthy and the effect his marvellous, his scenes tremendously entertaining. The star power can't entirely distract from the fact that the film is a bit too light hearted, and doesn't have quite enough action, explosions, wannabe gruelling violence or deranged tilts at pathos to be truly great, there are certainly classy bits (often involving useless ninjas) but overall there's a slightly underpowered feel to things. Still, I can't say as this isn't pretty solid entertainment. You'll laugh, you'll roll your eyes, you may in some small moments feel your pulse start to quicken but most importantly, you'll likely won't feel bored. So worth a watch for fans of this sort of thing.