Der Kampfgigant (1987)

Der Kampfgigant: Directed by Bruno Mattei, Claudio Fragasso. With Miles O’Keeffe, Donald Pleasence, Bo Svenson, Kristine Erlandson. After several American and British military personnel are killed in suicide attacks throughout southeast Asia, the U.S. begins to suspect a plot by the Vietnam government. To uncover the truth, the U.S. army calls upon a former commando who is looking for his long-lost son in Vietnam. While his military commanders want to see the commando succeed in his mission, his political overseers have a different set of plans.

“Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fargrasso really delivers the good in their own half-arsed way in another jungle explosion-fest that morons like me canu0026#39;t get enough of, with plenty of stupid dialogue, entire cities of bamboo huts exploding, and Bo Svenson trying to be Russian, and failing!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMiles is another Vietnam vet trying to get his Vietnamese son and getting caught up in all sorts of red tape. It doesnu0026#39;t help that some US agents are following him, and some Russian agents (played by Bo Svenson, who puts on a Russian accent when he feels like it), think the Miles is back on the Nam as a US agent. Bo tries to have Miles killed, but Miles breaks out some moves and beats up a hundred or so guys.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe US agents grab Miles and take him to asthmatic Senator Blaster (Donald Pleasance) and Mike Monty. They agree that Miles can go get his son, but heu0026#39;s also got to go into the jungle and prove that Russian soldiers are training up the Vietnamese, probably because scriptwriter Claudio Fragrasso just watched Rambo. Hooking up with Belgian mercenary Ottaviano DellAqua, Miles infiltrates the Russian camp (rather quickly, I thought), and the action begins!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI nearly forgot to mention the shark attack scene! This was on of the funniest things Iu0026#39;ve seen in a long time, as Miles gets his SCUBA gear on to get to where heu0026#39;s going, but canu0026#39;t due to two NVA sitting in a boat. Luckily for Miles a shark knocks the two of them into the water and eats them in a brain-melting mixture of rubber sharks, stock footage of sharks, and scenes filmed both night and day. Miles also thanks the shark by blowing it to pieces in a spectacularly crappy fashion.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBasically, the rest of the film involves Miles trying to escape Bo and his allies, but at the same times Miles is trying patch things up with his son, who sides with the Russians! The kid hates Miles so much heu0026#39;s willing to turn in him to the bad guys, that involves some tender scenes between the two as Miles just glares at the boy, and the boy just stares into space. Itu0026#39;s like Kramer vs Kramer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBruno Mattei knows weu0026#39;re not here for Miles to patch things up with his son and some of us even rooted for the kid to be gunned down so it would give Miles and even bigger reason for fighting Bo Svenson on a helicopter. Bruno also throws in Massimo Vanni having a good old punch up with Ottavio, followed by a class (but half-arsed) scene between the two in a minefield. Luciano Pigozzi turns up as an old man who gets gun down (his daughter hooks up with Miles), Mike Monty roots for Miles and Donald gets sass talk from Miles that burns him so bad heu0026#39;s flashing back to it a mere thirty seconds after heu0026#39;s received it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s not Strike Commando, but itu0026#39;s yet another non-stop explosion fest filled with rubbish one-liners, everything exploding, extras flying into the air and b-movie actors hefting huge machines around the place.”