IMDb > Special Forces (2003) (V)

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Overview

User Rating:

4.3/10 288 votes

MOVIEmeter:

Down 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Isaac Florentine

Writer:

David N. White (writer)

Contact:

View company contact information for Special Forces on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

June 2003 (USA) more

Genre:

Action | War more

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Photographer | Dead Children | Blood | Stabbing

User Comments:

Shockingly decent, balances realism with fantasy more (8 total)

Cast

(Cast overview, first billed only)

Marshall R. Teague	...	Major Don Harding (as Marshall Teague)
Tim Abell	...	Jess
Danny Lee Clark	...	Bear (as Dan Clark)
Troy Mittleider	...	Wyatt
Daniella Deutscher	...	Wendy Teller
T.J. Rotolo	...	Reyes (as Terence Rotolo)
Eli Danker	...	Hasib Rafendek
Scott Adkins	...	Talbot
Vladislavas Jacukevicius	...	Zaman
Michael Saad	...	Hrankoff (as Mike Saad)
Rimante Valiukaite	...	Saira
Andrius Zebrauskas	...	Bureaucrat
Cezaris Grauzinis	...	Muldan Soldier
Henrikas Savickas	...	Vassily
Geoff Parish	...	Private Regional Command

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence.

Parents Guide:

Add content advisory for parents

Runtime:

Germany:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Filming Locations:

Vilnius, Lithuania

Company:

Lietuvos Kinostudija more

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:

Edited into Direct Contact (2009) more

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User Comments

(Comment on this title)

9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.

Shockingly decent, balances realism with fantasy, 6 February 2004

Author: ipkevin

[Note that there are 2 different direct-to-video movies named "Special Forces". One of them stars Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport sequels, Matrix Reloaded) and has a black & white cover. This one stars Marshall Teague and is a bit newer.]

I cannot believe it. Isaac Florentine's "Special Forces" may be the first low budget, direct-to-video action movie to succeed in satisfying the military/gun nuts, the martial arts fans, and general action fans all at once. It's even fairly well-made in terms of direction and production value.

First, there is plenty of gunplay and it manages to look vaguely authentic. The soldiers use proper shooting stances, keep their fingers out of the trigger guard, move & cover semi-relistically, and, unlike most low budget 'spec ops' movies, it looks as if the firearms were chosen because they were credible as US special ops weapons and not because they were the only ones available to the production. I wonder if this is due to Marshall Teague? On the special features of the Criterion Collection DVD of "The Rock", Teague is seen with a real Navy Seal demonstrating realistic weapons handling. Perhaps he brought this knowledge & training over to this film? On an even more pedantic note, several of the scenes where the soldiers were undercover in town reminded me of the fictional novels of Dick Marcinko, the Navy Seal legend turned best-selling author (Rogue Warrior, etc). Playing mind games and staredowns with the goons, evading tails, etc. A bit of a nice touch if you're familiar with Marcinko's work, though obviously it may be a completely unintentional similarity.

Second, the martial arts fights are very good! The final battle is blazing fast, energetic, and brutal. Whoever choreographed it certainly knows the specific rhythms and timing of a good Hong-Kong-style fight scene. The hand-to-hand fights are kept mainly to the latter half of the film. Before that, there are some quick takedowns and exchanges where you can see glimmers of this HK-style flair, but they are kept low-key so that they simply add a bit of energy to the proceedings without constrasting too much with the realistic gunplay.

Lastly, Florentine's direction is solid. He knows how to shoot and edit an action scene for both clarity and excitement. Thank goodness that he's not one of those MTV directors who feels the need to cut every half-second, chopping up every action scene into an incoherent blur. When so much work has gone into staging the action scenes, it's nice that he lets them play out clearly on screen. The non-action scenes are handled competently as well. There's an occasional bit of visual style here and there, but basically he just keeps things moving along and rarely if ever looks amateurish. You could call it a smooth professionalism. They also make great use of their Eastern European locales. It's scenic and absolutely believable for the story.

Overall, "Special Forces" is an enjoyable action flick featuring an unusual amount of detail & competence dedicated to the staging of its action scenes. If you're familiar with the direct-to-video military action genre, this is certainly one of the better ones.

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