Freedom Strike

A cheesy but mildly amusing action thriller for straight to video star Michael Dudikoff. This one has a rogue Syrian leading a band of terrorists into action and our special forces hero going up against them. A few shoot-outs and sub DIE HARD scenarios go on here and there, alongside some bomb defusion and a welcome James Karen, of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. Hardly great, but as a timewaster it'll do.

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.

I enjoyed the movie. I like Dudikoff. Felicity Waterman was easy on the eyes. The plot was pretty much similar to all of the "bad guys have nucweps" movie plots. I strongly disagreed, however, with the way the bad guys moved so freely about the "carrier" after interrupting the peace treaty signing. I served in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club (U.S. Navy) for over twenty years -- and no one could ever get that kind of freedom. All the officer of the deck had to do was declare "General Quarters.". But, again, I still enjoyed it.

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.