Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

Chuck Norris's second film with director Joseph Zito (the previous one being Missing In Action), Invasion USA sees the bearded karate champ playing one-man army Matt Hunter, tasked with stopping Russian terrorist Mikhail Rostov (Richard Lynch), who has invaded Miami with his personal army in order to somehow throw the whole of America into chaos. Outdoing even Bill Drago's baby-killing rapist drug-lord from Delta Force 2 in the evil stakes, Rostov massacres a boatload of defenceless Cuban refugees, kills Hunter's best buddy John Eagle (Dehl Berti), obliterates the residents of a peaceful suburban neighbourhood as they celebrate Christmas, and orders his soldiers to shoot kids at a community centre, blow up a church full of worshippers, and plant a bomb on a school bus.With a slightly bigger budget than normal for a Norris film ($12m), Zito is able to destroy lots of stuff and crash quite a few vehicles as his star goes in search of the despicable villain. Not that finding Rostov and his men is difficult for Hunter: Invasion USA proves unintentionally funny as Chuck conveniently turns up in his truck, twin Uzis at the ready, whenever and wherever the baddies are causing trouble. And the Chuck-les don't end there: giggles are to be had every time the wooden star solemnly spouts his truly awful one-liners, although for my money, the most amusing moments are when he dives behind office partitioning—the real flimsy stuff—to protect himself from enemy gun-fire, and uses his uncanny sixth sense to detect two gunmen hiding in another room (successfully killing them by blowing huge holes in the wall with his grenade launcher).Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, Invasion USA is the epitome of cheezy 80s action—a brainless yet moderately entertaining 'Saturday night with beer' movie, with all that that entails.

Rostov, an all black wearing tyrant, is planning to unleash a reign of terror on the U.S., but before he does he decides to go after Matt Hunter, a former CIA agent, who lives in Florida, who once had Rostov's life in his hands but took him alive, and now Rostov is plagued by nightmares of Hunter. Rostov goes after him but misses, so Hunter, who has already been approached by his former employers to go after Rostov, decides to go after him. But he is only one man and Rostov has hundreds of men ripping the country apart, so how will he stop it......Of all the Cannon movies that were released in the eighties, this one is the most eventful. Yes, there is Electric Boogaloo, Bloodsport, and the Death Wish Sequels, but no other garnered Norris the reputation he has today.To sum the movie up, it's Norris in all denim, versus the earths biggest terrorists whom have a penchant for ridiculous hats.They blow up his house, he destroys his window.They blow up a store, he crashes through the stores main doors with the most macho clothing accessory of all time........ Matching Uzis on an attractive belt.If you are find of the Cannon group, then this is a must, their films where a wonder of creation in the eighties, high concept.............low budget.It's so much fun to watch. Lynch, in one scene, has what appears to be a never reload rocket launcher, and blows up a Christmas tree, and come the final scene, he literally screams himself into an explosion.And then it finishes, with a still of Norris staring angrily due to the fact that he has a speck of blood on his shirt.It's Friday night viewing for sure, complete rubbish, but so good while it lasts.Gotta love the hats.

Another day in '80s America, another Soviet takeover. Except this time, it's primarily one crazed Russian with self esteem issues. And it isn't the Wolverines protecting our sacred freedom when no one else can, it's Chuck Norris. Chuck had a hand in writing "Invasion U.S.A.", so the man's brass balls are unquestionable. But really this is all about patriotism, and it oozes from the man's very pores. But "Red Dawn" deserves credit for getting the invasion underway in the opening minutes, whereas this movie takes its sweet time getting to the really juicy violence: lighting suburbia on fire with RPGs. It's got Cannon cheapness written all over it, and there's fun to be had in that. But a movie that features Chuck Norris saving America with micro Uzis in a 4x4 shouldn't be boring.4/10

Invasion U.S.A. from 1985 is personally my all time favorite 1980s action movie. It has everything that someone who loves this genre wants. The film features action legends. The film features over the top action. And best of all, it features some great cheesy one liners delivered by the man himself, Chuck Norris. Not to mention it was made by the Cannon Group. Those who know 80s movies should know them. The plot is goofy, I must admit that, but 80s action movies always featured goofy plots. That is what makes them so great. The following is my review of Invasion U.S.A..The story was written by James Bruner, Aaron Norris(brother of Chuck), and Chuck Norris. Bruner is known for having also wrote 80s films with Chuck Norris such as Missing in Action and The Delta Force. Aaron Norris however only had this effort under his belt for writing in the 1980s, and only three total movies. The story, if you can call it that, is pretty cheesy, but is fun as the actors and the action hold everything together. The plot follows Rostov(Richard Lynch) who leads a team of terrorists into America to try and invade it. However, he soon gets a rude awakening when his old enemy shows up(Hunter, played by Chuck Norris). So, with that basic plot outline, you get the idea. Hunter has to stop Rostov, and we all know the basics of the rest of it. As I said above, The film is fun because of the great acting and because of Chuck Norris. Personally, this is my favorite Chuck Norris movie, and the writers overall did a great job on molding together a good plot for this film.The film was directed by 1980s directing legend, Joseph Zito. Zito is very well known for his 80s hits like The Prowler, Missing in Action, and of course Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. His vision as a director always kept me interested in his work. I loved how on a few of his works he would just end a movie. No need for that happy everyone comes together ending. He just ended the film abruptly. The film looks amazing as well. Cannon Films was very well known in the 80s for making cheap films very quickly. So for this film to look as good as any action movie from that time says a great deal about what Zito was able to do. There are some fun action scenes as well. Some that will even make you ask yourself did that just happened. The action in this film is shot amazingly, and Zito deserves so much credit for his amazing work on this film. While Zito never hit it big and his career was short, he left us with some great films, and this is my favorite.The acting area has so many great names. Of course Chuck Norris is the lead and Richard Lynch is the main villain, but other actors like Alexander Zale, Billy Drago, Alex Colon, and Eddie Jones are in the film. If you want a fun film with some fun acting, this is the film for you. Sure Chuck Norris doesn't earn an Oscar here, but he plays the calm guy perfectly, as he always does. He also delivers those one liners perfectly. If you like that cheesy acting you see in 80s action movies like this, do not overlook this film.Jay Chattaway was the composer of this film. He is known for scoring some Star Trek TV series as well as films like Silver Bullet and Missing in Action. The Cannon Group was known for taking cheap ways out when making a film, so they would cut corners in this area of film making. Often reusing scores. However, this film was an original score, that was used later on another Cannon film. The score is fun and adds some nice depth, but probably wouldn't make my list for top scores in a 80s action movie. Chattaway is a great composer and his work on this film is still very much enjoyable.In closing, I truly love this film. I watch it as often as I can, and not only do I have it as my favorite action movie ever, I also have it as my favorite Christmas action movie. Yes, above Die Hard. So that is saying something. Of course this is only my opinion, and it is perfectly fine to disagree. Though you shouldn't overlook this film. If you get a chance to watch or buy this film, do it. Do not think nice. Sadly, this film still does not have a Blu-Ray release, so the DVD version is the way you have to go. Thankfully they are cheap at a used video store for around five dollars. So pick up this fun 80s action film, and I'm sure most will enjoy this film as well.9/10