Striker (1987)

By the mid to late 80s the once unique Italian genre film became harder to identify from the pack of American post-Nam post-nuke films they started to ape. This is not to say however that these films weren't entertaining, they just aren't necessarily as memorable as the best Spaghetti Westerns, Gialli, and Poliziotteschi. Then there's Enzo G. Castellari's STRIKER, a Rambo rip off so big it will blow you to pieces (just like the film's countless Sandinista baddies). Full of slow motion and squibs, the film centers around the one man army that is reluctant mercenary John Slade (Frank Zagarino). Slade is sent on a mission to Nicaragua to save a kidnapped journalist (John Phillip Law) from the clutches of the evil Russian villain Kariasin played by John Steiner (sporting a hideous rat tail like haircut). From there the action rarely lets up as as throughout the film Slade slingshots, stabs, and machineguns whole platoons with an Uzi. Plot is pretty standard merc film fair complete with countless twists and double crosses. While clearly a very cheap, cheesy film, STRIKER is highly entertaining and has become one of my favorite 80s Italian Rambo ripoffs.Fun fact: the film's screenplay was written by Eurocrime veteran Umberto Lenzi. It also features one of the most intense electric shock torture scenes I've seen outside of THE MINSTREL KILLER.

My Co-workers and I were watching this movie while we were on we were working on Mid-shift. And yes, at times our line of work is boring since we were resorted to watching of this caliber. It was the worst movie I have ever seen. The acting in the movie had the same quality as an average porn flick. The cinematography was similar to an early 70's late 60 TV movie. Did they use 8mm film? We never even finished watching the movie. And the music wasn't music at all. Did the director hired a 6 year old kid to push buttons on a keyboard? The reason I ask that is is that that's what is sounded like. My co-worker commented that he could play the same notes on his keyboard when he was a kid on an early 80's keyboard you can buy at Toy's R Us. Frank Zagarino needs to take acting classes or find another line of work. If the other actors in the move were smart, I'm sure they would not have given up there day jobs. No stars deserved.

Comic-book-level action yarn, with plenty of then-trendy anti-Communist propaganda, and Enzo Castellari's trademark crazy camera angles and energetic editing, which, however, are not much help here. Frank Zagarino kills about 200 people in this one, but the film is less exciting than even Bruno Mattei's "Strike Commando", and I think that should tell you something. (*1/2)

Fans of Frank Zagarino will get what they expect here. The plot involves a one-man-army who wreaks havoc on a band of evil-doers. There's plenty of action with little time wasted on romance, humor, or characterization. Jaws are punched, stomachs are kicked, and various kinds of vehicles get blown up. Zagarino finds several opportunities to take his shirt off and flex his muscles and, as usual, he must undergo lots of suffering -- mostly notably in a scene which has him shocked with jolts of electricity while he's hanging by his wrists. If all this sounds like an appealing way to spend an evening, then belly up to the trough and suck it up.