At first, I had to remind myself that I was watching a Cannon movie. After all, this studio were notorious for making some of the cheesiest, over the top action romps of the 1980s, and THE DELTA FORCE is nothing of the kind. Instead, it's a taut and suspenseful aeroplane hostage movie that has more in common with the likes of RAID ON ENTEBBE than INVASION USA.
THE DELTA FORCE stars a near unrecognisable Robert Forster (complete with brown contacts) as an Arab terrorist who holds a group of wealthy Jews hostage in a politically motivated act of terrorism. In a throwback to the disaster movies of the '70s, the hostages are played by an all-star cast including George Kennedy, Martin Balsam, Bo Svenson, Shelley Winters, Joey Bishop and Susan Strasberg. The stuff on the plane is fantastic, with the threat of violence hanging heavy in the air and lots of tense stand-offs.
Then things change completely for the film's second hour, where it becomes the kind of cheesy action romp that you expected from the outset. This second half is full of Chuck Norris and his team (including a grumpy Lee Marvin and a briefly-seen Steve James) shooting bad guys, blowing stuff up and rescuing people. It's the sort of action that contains motorbikes fitted with rocket launchers and all manner of similar nonsense. That's not to say it's not entertaining, but it is at odds with the serious first half of the film. Norris and Norris alone would return for the equally cheesy sequel.
