Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Opposing Force (Scorpion Releasing) Blu-ray Review
Collapse
-
- Published: 04-21-2020, 07:16 AM
- 0 comments
X
Collapse
-
Opposing Force (Scorpion Releasing) Blu-ray Review
Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: November 12th, 2019.
Director: Eric Carson
Cast: Tom Skerritt, Lisa Eichhorn, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Roundtree
Year: 1986
Purchase From Roninflix
Opposing Force - Movie Review:
1986's OPPOSING FORCE may look and feel like a typical 80's Cannon Films action flick. with its synth score, quasi-USA armed forces worship and lacings of exploitative nudity and sexualized violence, but this film was actually an Orion production and though granted a theatrical release, it most probably hit the radar on viewer's of a certain age as an HBO videocassette.
Female officer Casey (Lisa Eichhorn, YANKS and CUTTER'S WAY) is determined to qualify for combat. To that end, even though she knows the military still hasn't sanctioned women in that capacity, she's determined to undergo a rigorous group training exercise that simulates being stranded behind enemy lines, risking possible capture and mock-torture. Casey, along with a number of other officers, is dropped into a jungle area. There, run by the mentally unstable commander Becker (a hugely entertaining Anthony Zerbe of THE DEAD ZONE and KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK fame) and his more levelheaded but hardass lieutenant Stafford (SHAFT legend Richard Roundtree), these two and their men will attempt to either break Casey and the other soldiers' spirits or teach them how to survive brutal captivity..
After a perfunctory scene with a senior officer allowing her to participate (played by John Considine) but informing Casey that, as a women this may not be the best idea, we are introduced to the usual often interchangeable characters that make up her military team. There's the wise but good-hearted and cynical Logan (Tom Skerritt}, chauvinist pig naval officer Ripkin (Paul Joynt), the reckless Botts (Robert Wightman), and goofy country boy Conway (Ken Wright). Things start off as expected after the drop, despite Logan suffering a leg injury that causes him to limp throughout the rest of the picture. The men were sent in paired up and, of course, the sexist Ripkin immediately dumps Casey. She ends up paring with Logan who was separated from his partner after the parachute drop.
The rest of the movie involves a mix of MISSING IN ACTION and THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME plot tropes with a feminist twist. The only mystery in the film is whether or not the commander played by Anthony Zerbe is genuinely crazy or just trying to test Casey as hard as possible to prepare her for combat. However, after a particularly rough scene we know the answer. The movie belongs to Logan and Casey on one side and Zerbe and Roundtree on the other - the rest of the soldiers are mostly there to be abused and tortured without developing much in the way of personalities. But Zerbe especially is highly entertaining. FORCE was done during his busy character actor phase in the 1980's and while it isn't as juicy a role as the one he had in THE DEAD ZONE or his James Bond outing it is still a good showcase. Some of the imagery here is also incredibly familiar from any number of Vietnam war era set Cannon exploitation flicks. How many times have we seen the guy spreadeagled on the bamboo poles and the people put in cages and soldiers forced to eat what looks like sloppy oatmeal with their hands? The chase scenes are reasonably well done, however, and this is a movie that passes the time pretty quickly without taxing the brain too much. Call it B-movie 1980's action comfort food.
Opposing Force - Blu-ray Review:
Scorpion's 1080p AVC encoded 1.78:1 framed transfer is from a new scan and looks pretty good. There really aren't any major detrimental issues to report here aside from some occasional softness in a few scenes. Skin tones look correct and light and shadow are well represented without any obvious digital tools used to scrub the image. Color representation is particularly strong which is something the film needs for the many lush jungle scenes.
Audio is covered by a perfectly adequate DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that is clean and properly balance. This is a mono track so adjust your expectations accordingly when it comes to explosions and gunfire. That said, everything sounds fine without ever getting tinny. The one or two dropped lines over the course of the film appear to be organic flaws from the original soundtrack. Subtitles in English are included if you need them.
The only real extra of note is an audio commentary with director Eric Carson. Carson's biggest claim to fame previous to this was the Chuck Norris actioner THE OCTAGON. Carson focuses well on the film and has a lot of interesting stories to tell about the making of it and how it came to be. Most of all he's very appreciative of the actors and has a lot of positive things to say about them. Past that, there's interesting information about the original script and how it was laid out and how many things were cut. Apparently this was originally much longer but the producers wanted it stripped down to the action essentials. Carson also talks about the critical appraisal of FORCE and it's feminist subtext. This material is probably the most interesting part of the audio commentary. All told, Carson is interesting and engaging and this track is worth a listen for fans of the film.
Scorpion has also included an alternate ending to the film which is definitely worth seeing as it's fairly long as well as a bunch of trailers for other titles like DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR.
Opposing Force - The Final Word:
Scorpion has delivered a very nice presentation of this forgotten action film. For people that enjoy this genre, this is a solid piece of entertainment and Scorpion's release is far and away the best home video presentation the film has ever gotten. Recommended for those so inclined.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (270)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4138)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
Released by: Quality X
Released on: February 28th, 2024.
Director: Chuck Vincent
Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
Year: 1982
Purchase From Amazon
Roommates – Movie Review:
Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
Year: 1969-1972
Purchase From Amazon
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:
Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -