Striker

Finding a decent poster for this movie was a bit tough, so I just used the VHS cover art (I watched this movie on VHS too).  This was a random 50¢ thrift shop find.  I don't know why I decided to watch it so soon after "Alienator," but I'm glad I did.  Turns out that "Striker" also has John Phillip Law in a supporting role!

But the real actor to watch "Striker" for is Frank Zagarino in his breakout role before skyrocketing to international stardom.  All kidding aside, Zagarino is a pretty good low-budget, action hero.  His acting is no worse than Stallone and better than a lot of Schwarzenegger movies.  Somehow, he lacks a strong screen presence.  He's very generic. 

 

"Striker" is about a former super-soldier who is framed and must take a job rescuing a hostage journalist from a South American dictator.  He teams up with a local woman who knows the local of the journalist and the surrounding jungle.  Together, they kill an army using increasingly bizarre and inventive methods.

 

It turns out that "Striker" is directed by Enzo Castellari under the pseudonym "Stephen M. Andrews."  Anyone who knows the films of Castellari knows that he only makes movies that are insane and awesome.  "Striker" does not disappoint.

 

This was one of the more gleefully bizarre movies I've seen in a long while.  It's basically "Rambo" but cheap and Italian.  But how can that kind of movie attract an audience?  By being a relentless onslaught of murder/lunacy.  The hero (Striker) kills soldiers with such ridiculous ease that he quickly begins using new weapons not because he's out of ammo, but because he can.  He sets aside an fully loaded assault rifle in order to kill a guy with a collapsible slingshot.  And he uses it once!  That means that Striker specifically requested that his arsenal include a collapsible slingshot just so he could kill one man with it!  And that's one of the more sane moments in this movie!  Striker magically produces weapons with an ease that would go unseen until the "Grand Theft Auto" games.  There's a scene where he goes from weaponless to just picking grenades up off the ground and throwing them at guys.  I thought he was grabbing rocks (because he's in the middle of a jungle) until those rocks started exploding.  It's either magic or he just happened upon the world's most random cadre of grenades.

 

Every second is thoroughly entertaining.  I laughed and cheered and grinned like an idiot through the entire runtime.  This a movie I'll be watching regularly over the course of my lifetime.  I'll be forcing it on friends.  It's more fun than any Hollywood movie I've seen all summer.

 

6 out of 10 (But a 20 out of 10 on the awesomeness scale.)