Freedom Strike

But I did work on it.

First off, Michael Dudikoff, heck of a nice guy. Not $40k/day nice but great to the crew. I was amazed at how cheeseball this production was. The USS Lane Victory (a WWII frieghter) was substituted for an aircraft carrier. And the carrier island scenes were shot in a parking lot next to a wall that was painted grey. For the flight scenes, they got the front end of a real Tomcat to stick the actors in. It wasn't gutted or anything so it weighed a few tons and we wound up placing it on a trash bins (that it crushed) so we didn't get the warehouse we were shooting in, in the shot. The F-14 wasn't secured at all and each actor was risking death being in the thing. Kudos to them. Then there was the nuke plant. A power generator in Sun Valley, just down the street from Babylon 5 actually.

I did try to watch it once but failed. But, I thought you all might be interested in what doesn't go into these straight to video wonders.

Even though I own the DVD and am a Michael Dudikoff junkie, I don't think I'd call this one of his bests. The story is average (U.S. forces fight against terrorists), the execution lackluster, with some limp direction (and editing) here and there. The quieter moments between Dudikoff and beautiful co-star Felicity Waterman are nice, showing a slightly-romantic side of Dudikoff that is rarely seen. I think he would do well in a romantic comedy. Tone Loc is okay, and the guy who plays the terrorist leader hams it up well enough. The action scenes are typical for these kind of low-budget movies (gunfire from ordinary machine guns seem to cause explosions upon impact, lots of bad guys die, some characters do stupid things like hesitate too long before firing, etc. etc.), the direction looks like it was phoned in, and it seemed like the writers changed plots twenty minutes into the film. Not among Dudikoff's best, but it would beat an infommercial late at night.

The fact that "Freedom Strike" was released by Royal Oaks Entertainment should tell you what this movie is like, but if not, let me enlighten you. The budget for this movie was rock bottom, with the filmmakers having to resort to techniques ranging from excessive stock footage use to Los Angeles locations used in a (failed) attempt to replicate Syria. But the biggest crime the movie makes is that it is incredibly dull. The action sequences are slow and clunky, and fail to raise tension in what should have been a nail-biting experience. (And I'm puzzled why the movie got an "R" rating, when the movie is clearly at a PG-13 level.) Dudikoff seems pretty bored, and second-billed Tone Loc is given very little to do. For some time, I have wondered why action star Michael Dudikoff had an over ten year gap on his acting resume where he didn't appear in any movies at all. After watching this movie, I have a pretty good theory - he was being offered nothing but garbage projects like this one.

This movie was so bad , that during the filming there was a change of director. Director Allan A. Goldstein left the project and was replaced by Jerry P. Jacobs. Goldstein's credits for directing, writing and co-producing the movie remained on the official cover and poster artwork.

This movie is also so low budget that they used a whole lot of unused aerial shots from the filming of "Top gun". I strongly suggest that you should watch that movie instead of this crap. It's nicely shot , acted , directed and has a good soundtrack.

This movie ? It's a completely forgettable garbage. Only for desperate Michael Dudikoff fans. I give it 1/10.

well this movie is so crap. The story was rubbish, the actors were all b rate. The only plus side is that they have used a whole lot of unused aerial shots from the filming of top gun. There was even one shot that was in top gun that they used. This was a highlight being a top gun fan and an f14 fan. The tomcat was the only thing that made me watch past 5 minutes. I believe the f-14 squadron who did the flying looks to be the red lightnings that were disbanded in the early 1990s. I would love to watch all the aerial cinematography that they filmed for top gun but didn't use. Does any one know of any way this can be done???

any way freedom strike was overall really really really bad. avoid it if you are not an f14 fan.