The Librarians

Thank Zeus for B movies, a realm where the 80's never died. A place where elite do-gooder mercenaries, secret underground death-matches, and cops who play by their own rules all live on. I don't think Strike Force had any cops who played by their own rules, but then it wasn't a cop movie. I'm sure if it was, it would, if you catch my drift. It's that sort of flick.

Anyway, despite being terrible, I couldn't stop watching this movie. William Forsythe (who also has a writing credit for this one) manages to convey more gravity than the movie deserves, and the forgettable plot chugs along at a reasonable pace with such blithe absurdity that you can't look away.

Some guy: "I don't even know your names."

William Forsythe, with utter and complete seriousness: "We're called the Librarians."

I can't explain it. You'll have to see it. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. This inspired a bit of an exchange between my dad and I as we watched.

"We're... the Caterers!" "We're the Beauticians!" "We're called the Veterinarians!"

Anyway, if you find this on cable or you're hard up for something to rent, go ahead and give this a shot. It's dumb, but it's more amusing than it should be.

William Forsythe and his team of mercenaries call themselves The Librarians because their hair remains perfect while they run around being shot at by people firing machine guns. I suppose. They have just lost one of their small number rescuing a small girl and are commiserating with the satchel of money they got, when old friend Michael Parks reaches out to them. His grand daughter has been kidnapped by Nazi drug dealer Andrew Divoff, and he's not a nice Nazi drug dealer. He's from Argentina! They have to go to Miami, talk to Burt Reynolds and engage in mixed martial arts fights, because that's how you do it, apparently.

Forsythe not only stars in this, he helped write it. Co-writer and director Mike Kirton also includes lots of shots of young people dancing in very crowded discos, because why not?

"Strike Force" AKA "The Librarians" is strictly routine B-movie action fare about a team of mercenaries who are trying to locate a kidnapped girl (the granddaughter of the team leader's best friend) and bring down a powerful and sadistic crime boss operating in Miami. The locations are well-shot and the action scenes get as crazy as the budget will allow, however the good guys are just too outnumbered for the outcome to have much believability, and the fight choreography is nothing to write home about. Andrew Divoff makes a convincingly slimy and hateful villain, while Erika Eleniak is a knockout in more ways than one (I don't want to spoil her best scene, but it involves a barrel full of water). Nice to see Matthias Hues again - but is it just me or did they cut out his final scene? And why is Burt Reynolds - even if he appears in only 1 scene - not credited in either the opening or the closing credits? He shouldn't be ashamed of his involvement - he has appeared in worse films than this! (**)

I wrangled up this movie just to see William Forsythe and Andrew Divoff, who both performed wonderfully. Divoff is truly one of the most riveting villains ever! Granted, the movie itself has a beyond laugh worthy script, and some of the acting is putrid, if you like a good B-Movie after smoking a joint, then this will not disappoint (you will enjoy it if you like the actors, as I did.) Burt Reynolds fans flee, he is only in one scene and is terrible (worst Irish accent ever next to Dennis Hopper in 'Ticker' and Tommy Lee Jones in 'Blown Away').

There is also a great little cameo from Michael Parks.

Use your good judgment on this, though, half the people who will give it a chance, will probably hate it.

I heard the stories of the ravers in the movie and thats great but that is only 1/100 of the movie. The problem with this movie is the cheesiness. I never really got the plot or why the guy was stealing girls. That makes no sense but hey...why they were in a club randomly was curious also. Many parts of this movie make no sense but overall I was interested. It was confusing on many levels...maybe I am just not indie enough for this movie but judging from the B looking end scene they ran out of money, just cut some stuff in, and forgot about the plot. Its low budget and appears so. I like the fact that they used little special effects which were bad, but they used none that were quality. I would say this film is the quintessential bad script, with alright production. It is definitely not as random as many movies I have seen but the pieces of the puzzle just don't make sense together. In effects, I would give exception to the final battle when all the effects went 1950's on my ass. Sparks out of models and the like. Watch it if you like an unintentional comedy from an action movie. Mystery science theater has a candidate.