Strike Commando was it seems one of Bruno Mattei's most successful films of the 80's, bringing in enough cash for an further assortment of action trash in the latter half of that decade, including a sequel. 'Tis easy to see why it was such a success, being swift paced, simple minded and action packed. Also the main characters name is Mike Ransom, which makes it immediately a more awesome film than any which doesn't have a main character called Mike Ransom. The plot has Ransom and his men taking down a Vietcong munitions store, only to run across an imperilled village which Ransom vows to return and liberate. He does return but rather fails on the liberation front, as villains have offed the lot. And so like any red blooded soldier would do in the face of atrocity and impossible odds, Ransom sets off for some vengeance time... Apparently Strike Commando is in large part a rip off of Rambo 2. This wouldn't surprise me in the least as a good half or more of Mattei's filmography consists of ripping of other peoples work, but I can't say for certain as I've never seen Rambo 2. Frankly after Strike Commando I have little intention of even bothering, as rather than a lightweight like Stallone Strike Commando has Reb Brown, a man so irrefutably badass that he makes Stallone look like your elderly maiden aunt who has a steel pin in her hip from the time she fell over while gardening. Not only that but he brings a tragic grace to emotional scenes worthy of a five tissue weepie, especially when telling a dying child about Disneyland (where apparently popcorn grows on trees). Yep, he's an all round hero, crack shot, knife flinging maestro, dead on with a crossbow and handy with fists and feet, all this and still man enough to show his emotions. Well matched is the main villain of the piece, Jakoda (or Jaaakodaaah!!!!), played by Alex Vitale, a big brawny slimeball played by Alex Vitale who enjoys killing and torture but even worse makes fun of the hero by calling him Americanski (a sure sign of utter villainy is someone who makes light of God's one nation!). And the various other baddies are fun too, including a turn from trash frequent flier Jim Gaines. Altogether Strike Commando is the epitome of a pig headed good time. Things get blown up, countless goons are shot or knifed and downtime is minimal. The action is even reasonably well staged, at least as good as any mid tier American action trash from the same era. I wouldn't in the world recommend this to anyone who looks to cinema for insight and the higher qualities of man and art, but trash hounds will almost certainly get their kicks. 7/10.

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'.

To think that a entire army failed and one geeky man could destroy my home country seems insulting to hear and impossible. After all who is this Reb Brown guy and i am sure that Amercanski is not really Russian for American added to that some of the most awkward one liners in the history of world cinema. The boy is also a stereotypical Vietnamese peasant. I would like to see more Vietamese cinema like (literal translation) Du Xing's lama. The only people who would enjoy this insulting mess is patriotic American idiot who believe America won in the Vietnamese war (i myself am Vietnamese and didn't support the war) Watch out for the paddy field scene, my dad was one of the extras.

This film has about all of what one would expect from a film about "a lone hero in the Vietnam-War", but where many of the other films in this genre is so damned serious, this film is somewhat refreshing by being a little less serious in its approach, without falling for the temptation of being a complete parody or even a comedy.As one could expect there are a lot of shootings and explosions, stabbings, (no throat-cuttings), classic ambush-scenes borrowed from other films, Russian villains (of both sexes), a treacherous American Officer - courageous villagers, cute children and a Frenchman (that later on are brutally massacred by the Vietcon's) - torture of American POW's and the hero escaping from a Vietnamese POW-camp. And as it is said at the end of the film: "Any similarity between persons living and dead .... especialy dead .... is purely accidental .... yeah, very accidental, like one in a million - maybe".Perhaps this film isn't remarkable in an artistic sense, but personally, I would rather see this film 4 times, than I would see "Rambo" twice.