My expectations were low going in to this film - it doesn't have much of a reputation - but it was a solidly made action flick with plenty of bang bang and good stunts: climbing up/sliding down mountains, jumping out of planes, fights, etc. It was shot in the Philippines (substituting for Colombia) which gives great production value - there's jungle and lairs and mountains. It's a good looking film.
A couple of gripes. The plot isn't very original - in fact, it's very close to the Bond film Licence to Kill which came out the year before, and even that seemed unoriginal (cop captures drug lord who gets off, drug lord kills cop's friend and wife, cop goes looking for revenge in drug lord's home country which is run by corrupt general). In 1990 this stuff was old - it feels like it was made five years too late.
It's not very Delta Force-y - the original film was very much about a team, but this is really mostly about Chuck getting personal revenge, with the team then tagging along at the end. To be fair, they pull their weight - blowing up a lot of stuff, and coming to the rescue... but it doesn't feel like a Delta Force movie. It's like a movie was written separately then they added Delta Force elements. It would've been great if they'd Delta Force-d it up a bit more - had more prominent other members in the team, talk about the team's role in combating drugs, had differing attitudes towards revenge (because the guy killed was part of the force).
Billy Drago plays the drug lord as beyond evil - but that's not as scary as John Ryan's performance as Norris' superior. Ryan is supposed to be a good guy but plays him like this cackling psycho - a little like Buck Turgidson from Strangelove. Once I accepted these performances on their own terms it was okay but they clashed with the rest of the film, which was more competent, professional. It did make me wish that John Milius had done a draft of this - really gone over the top with Americans saving the day. (Milius should have worked with more of the 80s action star crowd, eg Seagal, Norris, Van Damme - I think he would have done good stuff).
I wasn't a fan of the subplot of that female villager. Her husband is killed, her baby is killed, she helps Norris, then she is killed by Drago. Really she should've been allowed to live or at least been allowed to kill Drago before dying. It just felt unfair.
Still, a solid action film and it gave me fresh appreciation for the talents of director Aaron Norris.
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