Tweet
Released by: Ascot Elite
Released on: February 18th, 2014.
Director: Antonio Margheriti
Cast: Allan Collins, Antonio Marsina, David Brass, Edoardo Margheriti, Giancarlo Prete
Year: 1983
Purchase From Diabolik DVD
The Movie:
Directed by Antonio Margheriti, 1983's Im Wendekreis Des Soldners (better known in North America as The Last Blood and alternately as Tornado) takes place towards the end of the Vietnam War where an American solider named Sgt. Sal Maggio (Giancarlo Prete) has become disillusioned with the conflict. He's weary, warn out and he's had enough, which puts him at odds with his superior, Captain Harlow (Antonio Marsina). Things go from bad to worse for the squad when Harlow sends the unit behind enemy lines to carry out a crack commando mission. This doesn't go as planned and one of Maggio's buddies winds up dead.
Understandably upset about Harlow's mismanagement, Maggio starts a fight and winds up nearly getting court martialed but before he can be thrown in the clink, he makes a daring escape and tries to make it solo to the Cambodian border. A reporter named Freeman (Luciano Pigozzi, credited as Alan Collins) gets wind of what's going on and does what he can to help Maggio but Harlow is still in control of the rest of the squad, who he sends out into the jungle to capture the escaped Maggio.
Borrowing elements from Cross Of Iron and First Blood (not surprising, what with the Last Blood title and all), Margheriti's film is a bit on the generic side but still manages to hit most of the right notes. Those familiar with the director's output here might notice some bits and pieces recycled from his earlier (and superior) film The Last Hunter and the scene in which Maggio winds up captured by the Vietcong is unabashedly swiped from The Deer Hunter but this makes for pretty decent entertainment even if it isn't the most original picture the director ever helmed.
The action scenes, which do sometimes include the director's trademark use of miniatures, are nicely staged and the movie goes at a pretty strong pace from start to finish. We get some Peckinpah inspired slow-motion scenes and plenty of explosions in addition to some decent scenes of gunplay in which countless generic Asian soldiers are laid waste to - there's even a disco scene that dates the movie in wonderful ways. Pretty much everything you'd expect from an Italian war film made on a modest budget in an attempt to cash in on the success of some of the aforementioned movies is here and then some. There's a pretty great chase scene with a motorcycle and a Jeep and plenty of things blow up and get lit on fire.
As far as the cast is concerned, Prete makes for a decent leading man. He's got enough charisma to carry the film and he handles himself well in terms of the more physically demanding side of the role. Luciano Pigozzi is fine as the reporter but Antonio Marsina outshines them all as the nasty bad guy. He never goes too far over the top but he's consistently menacing and perfectly cast here.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Im Wendekreis Des Soldners debuts on Blu-ray, uncut, from Ascot Elite framed at 2.35.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Contrast is a little off here and sometimes things look a little flat but detail and depth are better than standard definition could provide. The stock footage inserts can sometimes stand out but that's not a problem with the transfer so much as it is an issue with the way that it was shot and cut. Black levels are okay and skin tones look decent enough. The greens could have maybe looked a bit lusher but the bright hues of the explosions are nice and colorful. There are no issues with any obvious noise reduction or edge enhancement and this would seem to be a pretty faithful representation of the source material.
DTS-HD 2.0 Surround Sound mixes are provided in German and English. There are no subtitles provided. The English audio is fine. Dialogue is easy enough to understand and the score sounds good enough to work. There's some decent power behind the gun shots and explosions here and while this is still limited by the age and low budget of the material, it sounds fine.
The main extra on the disc is a featurette entitled The Outsider: The Cinema Of Antontio Margheriti. This is an hour long piece written and directed by the late filmmaker's son, Eduardo Margheriti and it's a pretty comprehensive look back at the man's life and career. Made up of some great behind the scenes stories and pictures the documentary also includes interviews with those who knew and worked with the man - Barbara Bouchet, Luigi Cozzi, Franco Nero, Enzo G. Castellari, Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson, Richard Harrison, William Lustig and quite a few others. Most of the interviews in the documentary were conducted in Italian and the only subtitles supplied are in German but there are some portions spoken in English.
You can watch a trailer for the documentary below:
Rounding out the extras are a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Ascot Elite action Blu-ray titles, menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
Margheriti's Im Wendekreis Des Soldners may borrow from a whole lot of other, more original war movies but it does so with the director's own quirky style. He's not reinventing the wheel here but the end result is a really fun action movie that also doubles as a pretty obvious statement against the merits of operations like the Vietnam War. The Blu-ray release from Ascot-Elite is a pretty solid one, offering up the movie with considerably better video than a standard definition offering could provide and the inclusion of the excellent documentary adds a lot to the package.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
