Bruno Mattei, may he rest in peace, undoubtedly was the uncrowned king of Italian exploitation cinema. Especially during the 1980's, he and his loyal buddy Claudio Fragasso fabricated nearly two dozen of hilariously incompetent, cheesy and most of all blatant imitations of famous Hollywood action/Sci-Fi blockbusters. "Predator" received a makeover called "Robowar", "Aliens" became "Shocking Dark" and this misunderstood masterpiece of cinema is a shamelessly flagrant "Rambo" knock-off. But still, even though the idea of a "Rambo" clone sounds totally uninteresting, you should definitely check out "Strike Commando" because this literally is a non-stop feast of dumb plotting, atrocious acting performances, grotesquely absurd action sequences and hilariously fake sentimentality.

Reb Brown – according to the VHS cover the newest world star – plays the deadly one man Vietnam commando squad Michael Ransom. He lost the rest of his elite buddies when the cowardly Colonel Radek aborted a mission too soon and obviously he wants retaliation. He ends up among Vietnamese villagers and learns that the biggest enemies in the area are actually Russian KGB troopers led by the sadist Jakoda. Russians! Russians in the Vietnam jungle! What are the odds? And apparently they really do address to Americans by yelling "Amerikanskiiiii"! This is obviously just a description of the plot in a nutshell. There's a lot more going on, one sub plot more ludicrous than the other, but the best bits of entertainment are to be found in the details. Our hero's wide variety of outrageous battle cries, for example, like when the Vietnamese boy he befriended dies in his arms or when he jumps off an exploding boat right after he executed the entire crew. Another massive highlight – one that nearly brought my mate and I close to crying with laughter – is the bare knuckle fighting showdown between our hero and the beefcake Russian, which includes quotes like "I'll break your back, Americanski" and ends with a dive from a cliff even though there wasn't a cliff in sight at the beginning of the fight. Ultimately priceless is the "friendship" that Michael Ransom develops with a Vietnamese boy. When asked about life in America, Ransom tells the kid that in Disneyland popcorn grows on trees and he will take him there one day. Obviously the kid's mom is mad at him. She probably doesn't like popcorn. Apart from all the unintentionally laughable moments, "Strike Commando" is actually a very violent film, with countless explosions and people dying from machine gun artillery and/or knives randomly flying around. The bloodshed and cruelty is never too shocking, however, not even during the infamous torture sequence compilation, and you'll be too busy laughing anyway.

Okay, once more and all together: Jaaaaaaaaakoooooooooooooodaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

This is an exploitative rip-off of the big budgeted and succesful mega-action thriller Rambo . Here Reb Brown stars as Michael Ransom a hunk soldier who takes on enemies to rescue prisoners or other trapped platoons . At a risked mission he meets a besieged group of local natives led by a French : Allan Collins . When things go wrong , Ransom seeks vengeance against a nasty Russian officer : Alex Vitale who is supporting the Nam guerrilla .

Cheap and exploitative movie taking parts here and there of classics as the expensive "Rambo" by George Pan Cosmatos with Sylvester Stallone and "Missing in action" by Joseph Zito with Chuck Norris . This Strike Commando 1986 packs thrills , chills , grisly tortures , shootouts , jungle outdoors filmed in Philippines Islands , lots of explosion and catching musical score composed by means of synthesizer by Luigi Ceccarelli . In the movie shows up some secondaries, ordinary in B-Italian fims , and most of them playing in Bruno Mattei films, such as : the prolific Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins nicknamed the Italian Peter Lorre , Christopher Connelli , Mike Monty , Massimo Vanni , uncredited William Berger , and Clyde Anderson or Claudio Fragasso himself who often appeared as cameos and brief interventions. Special mention for the extremely baddie Russian played by Alex Vitale giving a very sadistic acting following the wake of oriental villain hoodlums as Harold Sakata of Goldfinger and Professor Tanaka of Missing in Action. Followed by a sequel in similar style titled "Trappola Diabolica or Strike Commando II" 1988 with Brent Huff as Michael Ransom , Mary Stavin and a miscast Richard Harris himself .

The motion picture in medium budget was regular but professionally directed by Bruno Mattei , assisted by his usual collaborator Claudio Fragasso who also wrote the script along with his wife Rossella Drudi . Deceased Bruno Mattei often used Vincent Dawn pseudonym , he made a large number of films in all kinds of genres as Vietnam wartime, terror , erotic , nunexploitation , Sword and Sandals , Spaghetti Western, Documentary , Mondo Cinema, Women in Prison or WIP , and some of them shot in Philippines as "Robowar" , "Strike Commando I" , "Strike Commando II" , "Double Target" and "Born to Fight" . Rating : 5/10, passable and acceptable , though very cheesy . The film will appeal to Italian Vietnam sub-genre aficionados.

Rough'n'tumble Vietnam veteran Sergeant Mike Ransom (the one and only Reb Brown in top mighty macho form) tries to rescue a bunch of Vietnamese villagers from harm only to run afoul of evil Russian soldiers.

Directed with typically ham-fisted gusto by notorious Italian trash cinema maestro Bruno Mattei, this gloriously ridiculous shlockfest boasts more than enough ineptly staged action, lousy dubbing, lots of stuff blowing up, and sloppy continuity to make for one immensely enjoyable Grade Z cut-rate Rambo clone. Best of all, Brown not only racks up a huge body count, but also screams and yells as often as possible (the man has the lungs of a bull elephant),endures brutal torture, fights a hulking bald Russian brute, and even gets to display a more sensitive side thanks to his friendship with a Vietnamese boy who he tells that in Disneyland both popcorn and ice cream grow on trees (!). A hilariously horrendous howler.