I was excited to check out Force: Five (out now) because I had never heard of it. An ‘80s action movie about putting a team together to take down a Jim Jones-esque cult by primarily using martial arts? Sign me up. I hoped this was either a hidden gem that had been outshone by its louder ‘80s counterparts or a Gymkata-level (it features the same director) exercise in insanity. Sadly, it was neither.
Force: Five has the elements necessary for a cult classic action movie. The team put together by martial artist Joe Lewis is fine and includes Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, but there’s nothing special about it, even though the helicopter pilot is set up as the “crazy” one. They’re all pretty plain. It reminded me of The Expendables, in that they talk about each other as being “crazy” and “badass,” yet we never get to witness it; we just have to take them at their word that they used to be awesome. The cult they’re tasked with infiltrating is a little more interesting, with martial artist Han Bong-soo as the Jim Jones-like leader. Everyone involved being a martial artist got me excited about the action scenes, at least.
Perhaps part of the problem is my recent watch history, as I watched this right after Duel to the Death, a movie that amazed me with its action choreography. Regardless, I found the action in this basic at best. It’s one of those movies in which goons stand around waiting for their turn to be punched or kicked.
There were a handful of elements that showed promise. The weird-looking muscle man for the cult, Carl (Bob Schott, more memorable in Gymkata), was amusing. And the politician used as cover for the team getting on the island just decides to get hammered on Jim Beam, which was a fun choice (I think they were going with a Ted Kennedy joke with this character). And then there’s the bull in the maze, easily the weirdest part of the movie. In this martial arts cult, you can be killed two ways: by the leader and special spur-boots, or you get put in a maze with a bull.
The inclusion of the bull implies there will be copious amounts of gore, but all of the brutal violence is just implied. I’m not gore-dependent when it comes to action movies, but when nothing else is clicking for me, a comical amount of blood and gore can salvage a movie, but this was tame.
All this written, I’m sure this has a fan base that most likely saw it when it first came out and has a bit of nostalgia for it. I imagine people think the same of me when I gush over a lower-tier Van Damme movie that most people ignored if not out-right hated. It’s just not my thing. Not everything can be Gymkata.
Transfer and Special Features
For fans of the film, MVD Rewind did right by them with this restoration. It looks great, and the disc comes with everything you’d expect from them: a nice slipcover with old video store elements added on, a reversible cover, and a mini-poster.
On the special features side, things are a little strange. There’s a lengthy interview with Lewis (who died in 2012) that is mainly about his relationship with Bruce Lee. It’s interesting because it appears to have been done in a hotel room while Lewis was at a fight or convention or something. It’s very loose, and there are many moments when he starts giving the interviewer shit (in a fun way).
There are a couple featurettes with Benny “The Jet.” One seems to be a promotional video meant to get people to buy lessons from him, I assume on video. He just shows a few tips, like how to properly wrap your fists for a fight. The other one is a bit of German footage of a fight, but there are no subtitles for the German narration. The fight is decent, though, as you get to see him win by a knockout in one round.