The Bad Pack

Hmmmm, a small town of peaceful farmers is taken over by bandits who force them to do what they want, and give them all of their food and supplies.

No, I am not talking about Seven Samuri, nor the western remake The Magnificent Seven. I am not even talking about the Disney remake A Bug's Life.

Except instead of 7, there are only 5 or 6 heros in this movie. And instead of Yul Brynner we get Roddie Piper. He does an OK job of acting, but the tired worn out script was so bad, nobody could have saved it.

I can only say that I bought the DVD for $3 on sale, and the movie was worth the $3. But I would not pay anything more for this thing.

Might as well watch an episode of the A Team or Knight Rider, it looks so late 90s cheese action made for tv movie though it probably wasn't, think TBS on a Sunday afternoon type B movie. Roddy Piper did a fun job, Davi was his usual self, the Austrian guy I can't put a finger on, maybe he was in Beer Fest with the Super Trooper guys circa 2000s. It was a silly frivolous cheaply made quickie with chessy bad guys, a few familiar faces and the usual poor Immigrant folks who need help lol. Watch it for a laugh, I paid a $1 for it at a charity shop, worth about 50 cents of that but you can't beat cheese, it's no Tango and Cash, or Expendables or 7 Samurai but it is old school silly fun for 80s kids. Late night or Sun afternoon if nothing else is on. But 12 reviews says it all lol.

wow i saw this move on HBO (thx god i didn't buy it like the other guy) and i would have to say that this movie has the worst acting and stunts in it period. this movie sucked ass. but there is a upside to haveing a movie this bad. you can tell people to rent it and they will laugh all the way back to the video store and then tell you why the hell did you tell me to rent it. this movie is a must watch drunk tho, man it SUCKS!

Usually, these low budget affairs seek to cash in on a cinematic heavyweights popularity, here we have what could be considered the opposite. You could be forgiven for thinking that part of the production process of making 2010's The Expendables was watching 1997's The Bad Pack, given the similarities. Set in a small Texas border town, under attack by a local militia group, Mexican immigrants hire a band of mercenaries to protect them. Robert Davi and Roddy Piper provide the star names in what I found to be a very enjoyable low budget independent action movie, one which deserved more backing and perhaps even a franchise.

OK, let me start with the best (if not the only good) thing in this movie: Shawn Huff. I don't know if the word "WOW" is enough to describe her. Her portrayal of an expert markswoman / assassin is picture-perfect, and she delivers with conviction such lines as (after shooting two guys point-blank) "Hell yeah I think you're afraid of me!". I think she is Brent Huff's wife, but she's so good in her role that I don't care if she got it only because of that. The rest of the film, however, is one disappointment after another: Roddy Piper is an ex-wrestler. Does he fight in the movie? No. A big German guy is shown at first as an underground fighter. Does he have any more fights? No. The villains (a para-military group) are shown training during the opening credits. Do they get to put their training to use? No. And so on. The action (what little there is of it) is of generally poor quality, apart from a few decent motorcycle stunts. Ultimately, "The Bad Pack" is the poor man's "The Magnificent Seven" (*)