It never ceases to surprise me to learn just how much lots of people seem to like explosions in movies. I have always thought that - aside from the admittedly seriously impressive Pink Floyd scored explosion par excellence from the finale of Zabriskie Point (1970) – once you've seen one explosion…well, the others are kind of similar. Which brings me to Codename: Wild Geese, a film complimented quite a bit on the basis for it having an above average number of explosions. While I fully agree there were a lot of them, it didn't change the fact that this was a very formulaic action movie with little interest value overall.This West German production was directed by Italian director-for-hire Antonio Margheriti, who was also at the helm for the two subsequent films which made up a loose action trilogy, namely Commando Leopard (1985) and The Commander (1988). For my money Commando Leopard was the best of the bunch, although that could be a result of it being the first of these I saw and so consequently had the most patience for. All films feature Lewis Collins in the star role as a tough commando team leader who quite impressively manages to navigate through the entire run-time of all three movies with a face like fizz. In this one he leads a group of mercenaries who are hired by the DEA to take out an opium production operation in the south-east Asian jungle. The rest of the cast is pretty good on paper with Ernest Borgnine as a shady DEA boss, Lee Van Cleef pitches up as a helicopter pilot, Klaus Kinski replete with upper class English accent plays a sneaky associate of Collins' and Italian genre regular Mimsy Farmer is also on hand as a civilian caught up in the middle of the conflict. Despite the promising nature of the cast, they aren't given anything very interesting to work with and so none really register performances that are very memorable at all. But then, this film is about explosions not acting, I keep on forgetting this.There are other things in it worth at least noting, however, my favourite scene for example being the car chase early on in the movie where Collins drives his car along the side of a wall while driving down a tunnel in an attempt to escape a tailgater – this is a genuinely inspired bit of nonsense which I definitely enjoyed. Later on, we also have a helicopter with attached flamethrower, which isn't as interesting as it sounds but it does sound great I have to say. And there also was a scene where a missionary is crucified, which was at the very least quite distinctive and memorable. But mainly this one really has to be recommended for those of you with a high tolerance for machine gun shooting, explosions, jungle-based antics, explosions, Lewis Collins looking constipated, explosions and scenes with explosions.

"This is a corporation. Their business is war. For them, the jungle and the city are the same." You know, it's funny. You'd think a movie with a legendary cast filled with personal favorites (Borgnine, Van Cleef, Farmer and Kinski), produced by a legendary German producer (Erwin C. Dietrich), and helmed by legendary Italian director Antonio Margheriti, and filmed in very scenic locations, the results would be, well... legendary.Sadly, that is not the case. It's not that Codename: Wildgeese is bad, but it doesn't live up to the promise of its cast and crew.Kind of going along in the vein of The Dogs of War (1980), The Dirty Dozen (1967), the original Inglorious Bastards (1978), and the Eye of the Eagle series (the first one in 1986 and the other two both 1989), and, in true Italian exploitation fashion, basically fashioning an unrelated variant on The Wild Geese (1978) Codename is about a group of men, led by Wesley (Lewis Collins) who invade the "Golden Triangle" (the border of Burma, Laos and Thailand, apparently), to destroy the opium factories of a Burmese warlord. They are hired by DEA agent Fletcher (Borgnine) and his associate Charlton (Kinski) for the crazy, more-impossible-than-impossible mission that you'd have to be downright insane to even consider considering.It certainly seems dangerous, as the next hour or so consists of people shooting machine guns, guys in brown uniforms falling off guard towers, all manner of blow-ups, including many exploding huts, and Mimsy Farmer shows up as the token woman and also the token reporter that got trapped by the evildoers who put her in a cage. After a few more blow-ups and maybe a double-cross or two, the movie ends.The problem is, there is little-to-no character development. Even with a vast array of tools at your disposal to involve viewers in your movie, if you don't know who the characters are, or anything about them, the moviegoer begins to lose interest because you don't really care about their fate. So, I would say "Codename: Wildgeese" falls prey to "Lone Tiger syndrome", that is, just because you have a great cast doesn't mean your movie is going to be good. That being said, there are some cool aspects, such as a helicopter with a flamethrower attached to it, and some of Margheriti's classic miniature work, best exemplified in an early chase sequence when Collins' car is speeding through a tunnel, and then he cuts the wheel to the right and, shockingly, drives along the side wall of the tunnel! It's moments like this when Codename comes alive but they are few and far between.As an avid Italian horror movie fan, I'm much more familiar with Margheriti's Castle of Blood (1964), Cannibal Apocalypse (1980), which does have some action/war elements, The Long Hair of Death (1964), The Virgin of Nuremberg (1963), Seven Dead in the Cat's Eye (1973), Web of the Spider (1971), also with Kinski, and, while not technically a horror movie, the ultimate classic Yor: Hunter from the Future (1983) (a must see). Of his 80's action output that I have seen, it seems the finest is The Last Hunter (1980)...so see that if you want entertaining Margheriti action at its best.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Italian director Antonio Margheriti serves up another entertaining action flick. The film has a great international cast, great music, great action and some great model effects. Seek this one out and enjoy, if only someone would release a widescreen version in it's correct ratio of 2.35:1. Quentin Tarantino you did it for THE BEYOND now how about for this. I recommend the following titles if you liked this THE LAST HUNTER, TORNADO, COMMANDO LEOPARD, THE COMMANDER and COBRA MISSION.

i don't know, this movie isn't that great, but it's quite entertaining in it's own dumb way, and boasts an excellent cast,( Lee Van Cleef, Klaus Kinski, Ernest Borgnine, Mimsy Farmer.) David Warbeck wannabe Lewis Collins stars as a tough commando sent to the golden triangle to wipe out an opium ring. he inlists the help of a war pilot (Van Cleef) and they venture into the jungle and blow lots of stuff up. the plot doesn't make much sense, and the direction isn't nearly as stylish as earlier Margheriti action flicks like The Last Hunter, but it does have lots of patented Margheriti explosions and some good action scenes, as well as the aforementioned cast. there's also a scene where freaky little Luciano Pigozzi gets crucified in his own church