The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Strike Commando (1987) * (out of 4)Reb Brown plays a Green Beret in Vietnam who is on a secret mission but gets screwed over by his team. Pretty soon he finds himself in a POW camp but he breaks free and then heads out to destroy a campy villain and an entire Army.STRIKE COMMANDO was directed by the one and only Bruno Mattei and that should tell you all you need to know. If you're familiar with Mattei then you know he was basically a director-for-hire who would patch up movies or rip them off and form his own movies. Very few of them were any good but hte majority of them did fit into the "so bad they're good" category and that's pretty much where this movie is.There's no question that the performances are horrid, the dubbing awful and the direction is laughable at times. The editing is even worse and it's really hard to understand what exactly is going on. The action scenes are poorly stages and at times you have to wonder who is shooting at who. The budget was obviously very low and this is apparently by the way people just drop dead without being shot. Yes, there are no bullet holes, blood or anything else.This film was obviously an attempt to rip-off RAMBO. In pure Italian cinema terms, this is an awful film on so many levels but at the same time there's a certain charm to the badness. If you're a fan of these Italian war pictures then this here is pretty darn awful from start to finish but is that what fans want?

Reb Brown (of "Uncommon Valor" fame and "Space Mutiny" infamy) stars as Sgt. Mike Ransom, a member of a commando unit which is betrayed by their superiors while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Ransom is the sole survivor, linking up with a group of Vietnamese refugees and attempts to link up with his superiors, in order to get back home.At this point, the story starts to get a tad bit familiar...so he's betrayed by his rescuers, is captured by the Russians, is tortured, is told to speak into a microphone and doesn't say what he wants his captors to say, escapes, takes down the enemy one by one, has a female acquaintance who gets blown away, and runs around screaming while stuff blows up...hmmm...now where have we heard this before? Oh yeah! Rambo II! Yes, this movie pretty much becomes a Rambo II ripoff after the end of the first act. The only thing it was missing was a showdown with a Russian helicopter at the end (I doubt they could afford it with the budget).As one might expect with a low budget rip off of Rambo II, the acting is poor, the action scenes your usual staple of a guy waving a gun around while baddies flail their arms and fall down, etc. Most notable is the scene where Ransom holds a dying Vietnamese child and tells him about Disney World, and all the while Reb Brown is trying to feign sadness. Also, remember how Reb Brown ran around screaming a lot in Space Mutiny? Yeah, he pretty much does that here. I think half his lines are "YARR!!" Is the film enjoyable? Sure. It's not great, but if you want a cheesy 80's action flick, this might suit you. It's not overly entertaining, but it's good background noise or source for mindless violence.

Strike Commando is probably my favorite of the Bruno-Reb collaborations. This movie wastes no time getting right into the action. Hilarity ensues as the enemy camp's security appears to consist primarily of your standard backyard fencing. Also, if your guards are playing mah jong while on duty, you're seriously asking for trouble (HEY, where were the subtitles in the movie? I really wanted to know what the Vietnamese guards were saying).The main characters are played well and not too over the top (please see RoboWar for that). Major Harriman looks like a hybrid of Colonel Trautman and Flint from G.I. Joe. Meanwhile, Colonel Redak does his best impression of Gary Busey profusely sweating while looking generally nervous throughout. Le Due (Luciano Pigozzi) is awesome as a frenchman in Vietnam. Apparently Pag (from Yor) traded in his bow & arrow for a flask. Reb Brown as Mike Ransom does not fail to entertain. Once the order "OK, let's move!" is issued, then you know the adventure ride has begun. This was the most swearing I've heard him do in a film..war is hell I guess. The bonus is that Ransom excels at high shrieked profanities. Ransom's wake up scene introduces the first usage of the 'upside-down hang' cam. As a soldier of morality, he also delivers the strangest Disney promotion ever heard. No one can build up a kid's dream of popcorn/ice cream trees and dash them to the ground better than Reb! Finally, the scene with Ransom and Jakoda is reminiscent of the infamous Jason vs Ivan battle from 'No Retreat, No Surrender'...except it's good!This is my favorite Bruno Mattei film; he makes use of a previous explosion scene from Robowar (and shows it at least 5 times here!). No director can make use of Vietnam stock footage (a booby trap is super imposed in one scene - hilarious!) or blows up models better than Vincent Dawn. Strike Commando's still much better than 'Deadly Prey'.

YES!!!!! THE ultimate Commando film!!!! Forget Stallone and Arnie, Reb Brown is the King, "there's no one who can touch him, not in your whole damn army!" This has all the necessary ingredients for a top notch piece of one man and a lot of weapons against an entire country of soldiers and mercenaries action!! Betrayed and left for dead by his superiors, our Reb sets out to escape from the POW camp and is taken in by some friendly locals who proceed to be brutally murdered by Russian monster Chacuuda!! After and excellent finding the bodies of massacred friends and screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to the sky scene, our hero sets off on the trail of Chacuuda and manages to kill an entire army before defeating the evil villain in hand to hand combat! This rules!!!! Watch it!!!