Strike Commando

Summary

“JAKODAAAAAA! JAKODAAAAA!”

Recently I have been viewing numerous films from Severin Film’s catalog and I have been having a lot of fun doing it. If you start down the path of viewing films from the label you will eventually land on some of the collaborations of director Bruno Mattei and writers Claudio Fragasso and Rosella Drudi. Mattei was known for his reliance on proven ideas from other films to form the basis of his own films. I have already watched Zombie 3, and his epic sharksploitation film Cruel Jaws (which Mattei helmed without Fragasso or Drudi,) so I felt ready to tackle Strike Commando and Strike Commando 2. I have an affinity for films like this one – films that try to emulate big budget films but only have their own limited resources to work within and therefore make something that feels slightly alien yet still familiar. I am a tremendous fan of the Sylvester Stallone franchise of Rambo films, and it was a lot of fun to see what Mattei and his team did by borrowing liberally from Rambo: First Blood Part II. Both films were made in the Philippines less than a decade after Coppola had filmed Apocalypse Now. Fans of exploding hut films and ‘Namsploitation will definitely want to check out Strike Commando.

As the film begins, a unit of specially trained strike commandos are sent into a Vietnamese base with the goal of destroying an enemy bridge. One of the strike commandos involved is Sgt. Michael Ransom (Reb Brown,) a decorated and elite war machine. On the outside of the enemy base, Colonel Radek (Christopher Connelly) watches as the commandos make their way into the base to set their charges. Inside the base, the alarm is raised and the enemy combatants begin to attack the commandos. As they begin to make their retreat, Colonel Radek, against the advice of Major Harriman (Mike Monty) detonates the explosives before the commandos fully return. Ransom is thrown into a river by the explosions and his unconscious body drifts downstream. He is thought dead by his superiors. Ransom is discovered by a young Vietnamese boy who helps to nurse him back to health. The village where Ransom has landed is actually a small contingent of Vietnamese that disagree with the North Vietnamese agenda. They are led by a French expatriate named Le Due (Luigi Pigozzi,) who wants Ransom’s assistance to lead them out of the country. Le Due also lets Ransom know that the Russians are in the country and assisting the Viet Cong. Ransom bonds with a young boy over the idea of America and Disneyland. The villagers lovingly call Ransom by the name “American.” Ransom begins to make his way through the jungles with the villagers and makes contact with Colonel Radek. They set a spot for a helicopter pickup. On his way there, Ransom and his group are attacked. Le Due is killed by an extremely strong and brutal Russian soldier named Jakoda (Alex Vitale.) Ransom makes contact with his superiors and volunteers to return to the jungles to retrieve photographic evidence of Russian involvement. When Ransom finds that all the villagers have been slaughtered, including the young boy, things become personal. Ransom will stop at nothing to seek revenge.

Strike Commando is basically exactly what you would hope it would be, and a little bit more than you would hope. The storyline for the film is based heavily on First Blood Part II, but the film manages to create something more ridiculous with the material. 

Rambo was always a pretty ridiculous sequel in a way, given that the original ending of First Blood would have found Stallone’s character dead if they had followed the original script. In the second film, Stallone wants to go back to war to finish what he started. It’s ridiculous and it’s awesome. It encapsulated the Reaganite regret that Americans felt from the war we had truly lost (Korea had been a sore spot, but nothing like the stain of Vietnam) and the fallout from Watergate. It was the Eighties and America needed to kick ass again. Stallone was willing to kick everyone’s ass for America. If you’re a Russian named Ivan Drago, you better believe that Stallone is going to whip your ass and give an amazing speech about how we can all change and maybe someday work together. The Rocky films were Stallone at his most idealistic, and the Rambo films were Stallone at his most cynical. As a Stallone fan, I love both. 

Strike Commando’s filmmakers understood that what American audiences wanted was to see Russians and Viet Cong outsmarted and outgunned by a muscular and aggressive American. With a smaller budget they relied on their sheer audacity and lots of exploding huts. The production value is actually pretty impressive due to the ragtag Philippine film industry that had sprung up in the wake of Apocalypse Now. The craftsmanship involved is evident given the sheer amount of bridges and huts created with the intention of being exploded. The stuntmen in the Philippines were fearless and their work in the film is impressive. So what is lost in translation? Most of the dialogue and sound effects were dubbed, so it does not feel quite as immediate and real as in the second film. For me, that did not at all hurt the appeal of the picture. Hearing Reb Brown’s scream of “JAKODAAAAAA!” with amazing reverb actually helps the film. Much of the acting in the film is decidedly of the untrained variety. None of that matters when you see Reb Brown throwing handfuls of grenades into boats floating down unnamed rivers. This is a popcorn movie and proud of it.

Reb Brown is wonderful in the lead role of Michael Ransom. He is not as strong of an actor as Stallone, but he makes up for it in sheer force of his anger and physicality. Reb was in great shape and does physical things for much of the film and also screams for almost the entire movie except for brief sequences where he tells a young boy that Disneyland has trees that you climb to eat popcorn. I want to see more Reb Brown films, period. Alex Vitale is perfectly cast as the Russian super soldier Jakoda. He is an imposing villian. Christopher Connelly is definitely slumming in the role of Colonel Radek, but he helps to keep the film grounded. All in all, I liked the cast in the film. Bruno Mattei draws enjoyable performances from them, even if they are not totally convincing. The plot is ridiculous, but it is amazingly entertaining. Just wait until you see the finale. It is truly one of the most over-the-top gonzo and wonderful finales I have watched in awhile. 

The film is not Shakespeare and should not be held to any type of lofty standard, but for fans of exploding hut cinema, this film is not to be missed. 

Video

Severin Films has provided a very good looking transfer in 1080p of Strike Commando in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode from a 2K scan of the original negative. I was happy with the work that Severin put into the release. Fine detail for the most part is solid and the film stays well saturated. The film has some light specking at times, but honestly I can not imagine a fan of the film being anything less than thrilled to see what Severin did with the film. Given the budgetary constraints, the film looks pretty good overall.

Audio

Severin Films has provided enjoyable DTS-HD MA 2.0 tracks in dubbed English or Italian. The sound quality on the tracks is essentially reference quality, and the soundtrack by Luigi Ceccarelli is up to the task of matching the action onscreen. The canned feeling of the sound on the film is somewhat unavoidable, but Severin have done their due diligence.

Supplements:

• Two Cuts of the Film: Extended Cut (HD; 1:42:09) or Theatrical Cut (HD; 1:31:45)
• War Machine – Claudio Fragasso, co-writer and co-director of the film, sits down for an absolutely wonderful interview about the process of making the film on a light budget in the Philippines. His stories of the dangers posed from outside forces (a convoy of his protectors were killed by rebels) and the ways in which they secured helicopters and weapons through bribery was fascinating. Fans of the film owe it to themselves to watch this piece.
• All Quiet on the Philippine Front – screenwriter Rosella Drudi discusses writing the picture and the hints given to her by Bruno Mattei and Fragasso to borrow more heavily from Rambo: First Blood Part II as she wrote. This is another great interview.
• Strike Commando In Production Trailer
• Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 3.5/5

Supplements – 3.5/5

Overall – 4/5

Strike Commando is an incredibly entertaining popcorn movie that should please fans of ‘Namsploitation cinema, Rambo, and low budget Italian filmmaking prowess. The film is unintentionally hilarious, but also, just a lot of fun. Reb Brown is a joy to watch as he screams and fires off seemingly endless amounts of bullets, explodes bridges and huts, and throws bushels of grenades. I had a blast watching the film, and I think anyone who likes the genre will have fun watching it as well. I am extremely glad that Severin Films decided to bring this film to Blu-ray with their typical attention to detail. The technical specifications of the Blu-ray release are solid and the supplemental features are great. Fans of the film should definitely purchase this release without hesitation.