(Preface: Don't confuse this "Special Forces" movie with the Daniel Bernhardt "Special Forces" movie!) I like movies from the Nu Image filmstudio, and I also like movies directed by action king Isaac Florentine, so I knew I had to watch this. I was not disappointed. I will freely admit that this movie is not perfect. The CGI effects are obvious and clunky. There is little written to differentiate the protagonists from each other, and the bad guys are stock characters. The dialogue is often very familiar. And a large part of the first half of the movie is really slow and drawn out.But there are more positive things about "Special Forces" than negative. It is slickly shot, with clear photography and good lighting. The Lithuania locations are well chosen, and dressed with enough props and extras to look realistic. But the best thing about the movie are the action sequences. A lot of money was obviously spent on ammo and explosive devices, and the various shootouts are really exciting. Even better are the martial art sequences - these sequences can stand proudly beside martial art sequences from Hong Kong films. And the last forty or so minutes of the movie are non-stop action - you'll be barely given time to breathe! Just be a little patient during the first half of the movie, and you'll be rewarded with enough mayhem to really pump your blood.
... View MoreBecause here is everything what Special forces soldier can show.Great shooting and good cover from bullets cover,excellent martial arts performance tragedy about getting as Hostage and be scared for live!OK the best what I liked it is the operations what was planed in night as cover of the dark.It's like real Special forces team.And they also disarmer the bad guys with martial arts because they are economic their bullets .That's cool.Bud thing what I unlike is enemy soldiers bad shooting technique's and bad choreography.But only of them only was good Zaman(Vladislavas Jacukevicius) and Hasib(Eli Danker) they showed some good shoots to the enemies but other soldiers can not hit any shoot.And Talbot(Scott Adkins)who arrived with impressive shoots and martial arts performance.It's looked excellent!! But here was Isaac Florentine one of the best of his films.He got old and known action stars.Who do't know Marshall Teague or also Tim Abell.But most best job in martial arts showed famous English action star Scott Adkins.Who's one of the best action stars today.Also I liked how stuntman Vladislavas Jacukevicius showed athletic moves in the film.But he can not get be famous maybe later.But in Special forces all mentioned or not guys showed excellent film about Special forces!!
... View MoreThe only reason i've watched this badly filmed, cheap military action, is that another IMDB member said that there is "an unusual amount of detail & competence" in this movie. Neither detail, neither competence however can be found in it! There's total lack of realism, behaviour of the special force squad is against all army regulations and common sense! Weapon handling is comic, and ballistics are absolutely fake. This is an brilliant example of cheap millitary style movie! The only thing that deserves attention is the brilliant martial arts performance by Scott Adkins /SAS agent Talbot in the movie/. This guy is something serious! Overall, one of the worst military movies in terms of filming, scenario and realism i've ever seen.
... View More[Note that there are 2 different direct-to-video movies named "Special Forces". One of them stars Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport sequels, Matrix Reloaded) and has a black & white cover. This one stars Marshall Teague and is a bit newer.]I cannot believe it. Isaac Florentine's "Special Forces" may be the first low budget, direct-to-video action movie to succeed in satisfying the military/gun nuts, the martial arts fans, and general action fans all at once. It's even fairly well-made in terms of direction and production value.First, there is plenty of gunplay and it manages to look vaguely authentic. The soldiers use proper shooting stances, keep their fingers out of the trigger guard, move & cover semi-relistically, and, unlike most low budget 'spec ops' movies, it looks as if the firearms were chosen because they were credible as US special ops weapons and not because they were the only ones available to the production. I wonder if this is due to Marshall Teague? On the special features of the Criterion Collection DVD of "The Rock", Teague is seen with a real Navy Seal demonstrating realistic weapons handling. Perhaps he brought this knowledge & training over to this film? On an even more pedantic note, several of the scenes where the soldiers were undercover in town reminded me of the fictional novels of Dick Marcinko, the Navy Seal legend turned best-selling author (Rogue Warrior, etc). Playing mind games and staredowns with the goons, evading tails, etc. A bit of a nice touch if you're familiar with Marcinko's work, though obviously it may be a completely unintentional similarity.Second, the martial arts fights are very good! The final battle is blazing fast, energetic, and brutal. Whoever choreographed it certainly knows the specific rhythms and timing of a good Hong-Kong-style fight scene. The hand-to-hand fights are kept mainly to the latter half of the film. Before that, there are some quick takedowns and exchanges where you can see glimmers of this HK-style flair, but they are kept low-key so that they simply add a bit of energy to the proceedings without constrasting too much with the realistic gunplay.Lastly, Florentine's direction is solid. He knows how to shoot and edit an action scene for both clarity and excitement. Thank goodness that he's not one of those MTV directors who feels the need to cut every half-second, chopping up every action scene into an incoherent blur. When so much work has gone into staging the action scenes, it's nice that he lets them play out clearly on screen. The non-action scenes are handled competently as well. There's an occasional bit of visual style here and there, but basically he just keeps things moving along and rarely if ever looks amateurish. You could call it a smooth professionalism. They also make great use of their Eastern European locales. It's scenic and absolutely believable for the story.Overall, "Special Forces" is an enjoyable action flick featuring an unusual amount of detail & competence dedicated to the staging of its action scenes. If you're familiar with the direct-to-video military action genre, this is certainly one of the better ones.
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