STRIKE COMMANDO 2 (1988)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 90 Minutes (Theatrical), 96 Minutes (Director's Cut)
Audio: English & Italian PCM 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Brent Huff, Richard Harris, Mel Davidson, Mary Stavin, Vic Diaz, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni
Director Bruno Mattei's Rambo: First Blood Part 2 knock-off Strike Commando was such a huge success that their producer begged him for more of the same, and he delivered that and more - and by more I mean this has a bigger budget, bigger action, some bigger named actors, plus he stole a bunch of scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and crammed them into it as well!
Brent Huff (Perils of Gwendoline) replaces Reb Brown in the flick as the ass-kicking soldier Sgt. Mike Ransom, who in this sequel finds himself not in the green-canopied jungle of Vietnam but in Burma, where he battles various factions like the KGB agent Kramet (Mel Davidson, Robowar), rogue CIA agents, an army of sword-wielding ninjas as he endeavors to free his kidnapped former superior Vic Jenkins (Richard Harris, Orca) from nefarious captors, lead by Huan To (Vic Diaz, Raw Force). Ransom teams-up with a sassy bad-ass bar owner named Rosanna Boom (former Miss World 1977 Mary Stavin, House) who is introduced in a scene lifted straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Marion drinking contest scene to be exact, and it's only the first of many Raiders rips to come.
The main drawback to the sequel for me is that it is slow to start up, it does not have the action-packed cold-open of the first film, but once it gets up to speed it's a pretty great action-romp full of crazy amounts of gunfire, huge explosions and some truly scary looking stunt work.
Brent Huff is a bit wooden in the role of Ransom to be honest, but his strange chemistry with Stavin, who has her own odd line deliveries to note, is pretty damn entertaining. I came into this expecting another Rambo riff, and it's certainly got those element, but the shameless Raiders of the Lost Ark riffing caught me a bit by surprise, and I liked a lot of it, it's just silly, violent fun with some great stunt work and huge explosions. Harris is on booze-assisted cruise control here, and he's fine as the duplicitous string-pulling sub-villain of the film, but it's the action, and the turns from Hugg and Stavin that I found the most entertaining. Mel Davidson as the evil-KGB agent, which is a fun mash-up of the Nazi Toht and the bad archeologist Belloq from Raiders is also an entertaining villain whose preferred kill method is a ligature wire.
Audio/Video: Strike Commando 2 arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, advertised as being new 2K scan from the original camera negative. The film has a heavy layer of film grain with solid colors and good black levels, fine detail and textures are pleasing in the close-ups, but there are some inherent issues like some soft filtered cinematography that can be a bit gauzy, but generally the image is strong and well-defined. Unlike the Strike Commando extended cut the extended version of this film looks quite good and has fewer issues to contend with, but for the record, I prefer the theatrical cots of both films.
Audio comes by way of English and Italian PCMO 2.0 with optional English subtitles. It's a solid presentation, there's not a lot of depth to it, but the awful 80's synth score from Stefano Mainett that poorly cribs from Raiders of the Lost Ark is something very special for your earholes.
Extras include both the theatrical and extended cut, plus another interview with co-director Claudio Fragasso, this one running 17-minutes. The co-director talks about the producers wanting an immediate sequel after the success of the first film, increasing the budget and wanting bigger production values and bigger named actors, which is how they ended up with Richard Harris (Orca). Fragasso speaks of his friendship with Harris, meeting him in his hotel room to discuss character motivation and finding the actor had brought along twelve bottles of homemade Irish whiskey, then proceeding to drink three bottles, but the director notes that the actor was such a professional that his drinking did not effect his performance. He also gets into Bruno Mattei's belief that any flaw could be fixed through editing (which explains a lot!) versus his own belief that no amount of good editing could save a shit film, and no bad edit could ruin a great film. Also covered are the Filipino crew and the willingness of the Filipino stuntmen to do a lot of crazy stuff without question, including a 35mm jump off a waterfall that his own Italian stunt coordinator refused to do in Strike Commando. He describes his leading man Bent Huff as not much of a thespian but quite physically fit, and that tracks, lol. He also gets into the shooting conditions in the Philippines, and how Lucio Fulci had a hard time shooting Zombie 3 there as he was in poor health at the time, which was shooting at the same time. He finishes up by theorizing why the film failed to attain the same success at the first film, stating the first film had more soul, and this was more an American action film on an Italian budget.
We also get a 15-minute interview with actor Brent Huff, who seems like a great guy. He begins by saying that after The Perils of Gwendoline he was able to make a lot of Italian film, some that were not of the highest caliber but that he had a great time making them. He gives his take on replacing Reb Brown, who was considerably larger than he was, and how he had to eat a lot just to keep the weight on while working in the jungle, then detailing how jumping into a stagnant pool of water, that ultimately wasn't even used in the film, caused him to become deathly ill, and how being in a lizard infested hospital with a high fever while a local band played "La Bamba" in the bar next door was a surreal experience. He talks about the dangerous work performed by the Filipino stuntmen, and how former Miss World 1977 Mary Stavin loved to play Black Jack all-night at the casino hotel they were staying at after shooting, but that she was always was able to work through the long days with little to no sleep, and how she loved playing with guns and getting dirty in the mud. He admits he was in awe of working with Harris, who advised him to tone down his performance a bit, to "cut it in half". The disc is buttoned up with a 3-minute trailer for the film.
Like the Strike Commando release the sequel arrives the single-disc release arrives in black keepcase with one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the testosterone-pumping original illustrated movie poster artwork, which is replicated on the disc inside. The spine has some nice shelf appeal with bold, thick white lettering on a red background, it certainly draws attention to itself on the shelf.
Special Features:
- Includes Both Theatrical (90 min) and Extended Cut (96 min) HD
- Guerrilla Zone – Interview with Co-Director Claduio Fragasso (17 min) HD
- Michael Ransom Strikes Back – Interview with Actor Brent Huff (13 min) HD
- Trailer (3 min) HD
Strike Commando 2 (1988) is a only slightly lesser film compared to the first but it's still a ton of fun, chock full of action, again lifting heavily from Rambo: First Blood Part 2 while shaking things up a bit with a tasty trash-film riff on Raiders of the Lost Ark. If cheeseball 80's action, military mayhem and exploitation lunacy is your bag, this is a bag well worth getting into.
Screenshots from the Strike Commando (1986) Blu-ray
Extras:
