Customer Reviews

Avenging Force [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A movie that I really got into. Dudikoff is forced out of retirement to protect his friend whi is running for public office in Louisiana. The action really picks up when his sister is kidnapped. This forces our hero Dudikoff to track through the swamps of Louisiana. He shows that he well up to the job of combatting the forces of evil. This film has plenty of good action. Dudikoff plays an excellent hero and Ryan is an outstanding bad guy. The movie wraps up in a palatial estate in Louisiana. A very good movie. It certainly bears watching.

This is michael dudikoff's finest movie slightly infront of american ninja 1 just because of the final scene. i remember staying up to see this movie on cable in like 1993 when i was seven and loving every second of it. the end fight scene is one of the coolest battle scenes ever. a manhunt with awesome results. make sure you watch it at night. and remind yourself that it was made ages ago.

What a wicked film. Saw it when I was a kid - loved it then, love it now. He's great great, Steve James is great, it's all great. Anybody know where I can get another copy ? Mine's wearing thin now ! No, seriously it is.

avenging force.... have you heard of it? of course not,it is a movie that wasnt taken seriously. but thats too bad its a good movie it shows how a blend of hard edged violence can play into a pretty good original script the acting is something else, it sounds like a b movie. But the story is good, characters ok, action top notch i would recomend it if you can stand b acting in a good movie

great movie with alot of action its a movie overlooked by alot for b actors yes it has b movie acting but the script is there and the action is there so if your looking for action, this movie is a way to look, if you dont mind ok acting

Many people have never heard of actor Michael Dudikoff, probably because he only manages to star in B-movies. His breakthrough came in 1986 with the hard action feature Avenging Force, sadly overlooked by most. This was the movie that started the manhunt theme, and its still one of the best in this category (Running Man, Death Ring, Surviving the Game are others). Dudikoff never displays any quality acting abilities in his films because it isnt his style, he is a kind of rebel who deals with trouble by fighting it physically, and he does it very convincingly. John P. Ryan does the role as the bad guy with intense suspense, the same way he did it in Runaway Train in 1985. Of course many action movies have surpassed this one but it is still entertaining, at least the second part of it, which has Dudikoff running for his life through dark and unpleasant swamps hunted by Ryan and his three companions. The man-to-man combat scenes are very well directed and convincing. If you are looking for something contra those blockbuster action feasts, then Avenging Force is adequate.

Michael Dudikoff and Steve James reunite for the second time in this 1986 semi-sequel to Chuck Norris' 'Invasion U.S.A.' This time, Dudikoff takes over the Matt Hunter role, as he must protect his friends and his family from a group of right wing fringe Survivaists/White supremacists. This is one of Dudikoff's best roles, it's also perhaps the darkest action movie he's starred in next to 'Midnight Ride.' There are several scenes that will drop your jaw for the pure brutality and everything is played to the grittiest effects, with little humor. The main bad guy is awesome in this, he spends the majority of his time waxing poetically about Hilter while dressed like Hue Hefner in his bathrobe, petting a kitty. I half-expected bubbles to come out of his pipe.
Avenging Force is helmed by Sam Firstenberg, and he brings the same mixture of humor and over-the-top action to the table here as he did to 'American Ninja.' It's nowhere near as over-the-top as 'invasion U.S.A.', but it's still filled with its moments of hilarity- people get shot and bodies go flying in weird contortions right out a Hong Kong flick, the baddies are dressed like they're going to the leather bar or celebrating Mardis Gras (it does take place in Louisiana).
Steve James I think was underused here. He's still cool as ever, and Dudikoff's bud, but he doesn't really get to show off as in the American Ninja movies. One great scene is where he's shot by machine guns and gets an arrow in the back and just walks away like nothing ever happened. I think Dudikoff has never been more convincing as a bonafide tough guy than here. He plays this mostly straight, and you can buy into it- whereas something like 'Moving Target' or 'Cyber Jack' would see him as an everyman goofball. He's still Dudikoff, and he still rules. And why there was no sequel to this, we'll never know. It practically sets one up to be made. I felt like I was watching a cliffhanger ending to a two part movie, but the second never came out. Highly recommended.