Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

A one-man army comes to the rescue of the United States when a spy attempts an invasion.

Director:

Joseph Zito

Writers:

James Bruner (screenplay), Chuck Norris (screenplay)

Stars:

Chuck Norris, Richard Lynch, Melissa Prophet

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chuck Norris	...	Matt Hunter
Richard Lynch	...	Mikhail Rostov
Melissa Prophet	...	Dahlia McGuire
Alexander Zale	...	Nikko
Alex Colon	...	Tomas
Eddie Jones	...	Cassidy
Jon DeVries	...	Johnston
James O'Sullivan	...	Harper
Billy Drago	...	Mickey
Jaime Sánchez	...	Castillo (as Jaime Sanchez)
Dehl Berti	...	John Eagle
Stephen Markle	...	Flynn
Shane McCamey	...	Kurt
Martin Shakar	...	Adams
James Pax	...	Koyo

Storyline

A terrorist, Rostov, is planning to unleash a reign of terror on the U.S.. But before he does he decides to go after Matt Hunter, a former CIA agent who lives in Florida. Hunter once had Rostov's life in his hands, but on orders took him alive, and now Rostov is plagued by nightmares of Hunter killing him. So Rostov goes after him but misses, so Hunter, who has already been approached by his former employers to go after Rostov, after initially turning down the job, because he believed that they should have let him terminate Rostov when he had the chance, decides to go after him. But he is only one man and Rostov has hundreds of men ripping the country apart, so how will he stop it?

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Plot Keywords:

machismo | explosion | coors beer | ends with freeze frame | chick | 

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Taglines:

America wasn't ready...but HE was!

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Whoopi Goldberg was Chuck Norris's first choice to play the female journalist. Joseph Zito disagreed, and cast someone else.

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Goofs

Just before the landing boats arrive, Nikko shoots a couple making out on the beach. He uses a pistol with a silencer, but unsilenced shots are heard.

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Quotes

Matt Hunter: You're beginning to irritate me.

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema version was cut by 10 secs by the BBFC to remove bullet impacts from a groin shooting and to edit a scene where a woman snorting cocaine through a straw is hit across the head by Rostov. For the video release a further 4 secs were made to edit a scene where a man's hand is impaled to a table with a knife. The cuts were fully restored in the 2004 DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in How Didn't This Get Made?: Spidefer-Man (2020)

User Reviews

Entertaining in parts due to its absurdity, but overall it's INCREDIBLY stupid

A crazy terrorist named Rostov thinks that Americans don't value their freedom. Since they are in no danger of really losing it, Rostov decides to attack the USA with a bunch of mercenaries. He proceeds to demolish towns and instill terror. He then blows up Chuck Norris's house and frightens Chuck's pet baby armadillo. Big mistake, Rostov. BIG FRIGGIN' MISTAKE!

From the title you can only manage to expect an overblown macho action-fest and that is precisely what this is. Schwarzenegger had 'Commando' also in 1985 and Stallone came out with a similar vehicle in 'Cobra' the next year. The idea of one guy taking out hordes of bad guys with his trusty weapon of choice - a pair of uzis with unlimited ammo in this case - is here much like in the aforementioned films.

Interesting is the not-so-subtle presentation of uber-patriotism. Chuck Norris wears all blue, drives American cars, lives in the American wetlands of Florida and so on. While the badguys speak with their ridiculous foreign accents, use much different and presumably foreign weapons and even drive non-American cars even if they acquire them in America. Was this intentional? Well that doesn't matter actually, because it is played out to no effect.

What does matter is the film's absurdity. The film begins with a laughably goofy set-up for a political thriller and ends up being a series of loosely connected action scenes with Chuck making his heroic appearance and taking out the badguys with the very bomb they intended to plant. One scene where Chuck saves a school bus will literally have you laughing on the floor for how stupid it is. If you think you have seen "so bad it's funny" then see this film - it is so bad it's... um... very funny!

The only real highlights (things that are actually good for real) are Richard Lynch's turn as the villain. It is a delightfully stereotypical villain role, but it was sadly underused. Ah-nuld's 'Commando' made much better use of it's goofy villains, premise, and overall feel making it an equally stupid, but much more satisfying film in the end. The other thing is the premise at hand here - an attack on America. Uber-patriotic crap aside, that could make for a good and interesting thriller. What the film makers here didn't realize that that idea (as with any worthy thriller) is going to take more than 5 minutes to develop into a screenplay.

Also of note would have to be the film's gun-play. In most action movies people don't aim when shooting, but they at least try to look it and essentially most decent action films get away with that. Here, not only do people don't aim, they don't even look like their trying. There is actually a scene where the badguys storm into a building (that's empty) and just shoot everything. Maybe they thought they were in the AOL customer service office. Damn. 3/10

Rated R: violence and profanity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Spanish

Release Date:

27 September 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Invasion

Filming Locations:

Georgia Pacific Building in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,891,609, 29 September 1985

Gross USA:

$17,536,256

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,536,256

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1