“P.O.W. The Escape” on Blu-ray at Amazon.com!
Colonel James Cooper’s moto is no one gets left behind. The seasoned P.O.W. extraction officer volunteers for a politically spearheaded suicide mission to save Vietcong American captives before a cease fire treaty ends the war, effectively turning the P.O.W.’s into M.I.A. and possibly never heard from again. As the U.S. Airborne Colonel expected, the mission of rescue results in a complete fiasco of resources and being empty handed of prisoners as the enemy suspected an imminent attack. Cooper becomes a P.O.W. alongside the men who set to rescue but that doesn’t deter the determined officer to plan his escape, but before detailing out a route out, the camp’s warden Captain Vinh has alternative plans for his prized captive in all of North Vietnam. Vietcong headquarters wants to retrieve the Colonel in two days for public execution but Capt. Ving seeks a better life outside his country and accumulates the K.I.A. and P.O.W.s valuables plus in addition to stealing gold bars form his country in order to relocate him and his family to the U.S. but on his terms with a perilous journey across enemy lines with all the P.O.W.s in order for no one to get left behind.
The Carradine name is one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood with David Carradine the most famous, behind his father John Carradine, with his highly successful television series from the mid-70s, “Kung Fu.” A part of “Kung Fu’s” success was due in part of the decade itself where kung fu films were a peak popular with rising star Bruce Lee. A decade later and still in the shadow of that breakout series with a made-for-television movie, Carradine breaks into another rising type of films that trades in hip-throws and round house kicks for M1 assault rifles, Huey helicopters, and the jungles of the Vietnam war. And coincidently enough, Vietnam actioners were made popular by another martial artist with “Missing in Action” starring Chuck Norris. Carradine’s venture into the America’s shame frame being exploited for personal gain is P.O.W. The Escape, a rip-roaring and explosive do-or-die war caper from first time director Gideon Amir and penned, and re-penned, by Jeremy Lipp (“The Hitchhiker” TV series), James Bruner (“Invasion USA”), and “Deadly Sins” co-writers Malcolm Barbour and John Langley. Also known as “Attack Force ‘Nam” and “Behind Enemy Lines,” the Philippines doubling Vietnam production is produced by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan as a Globus-Golan Production.
The Late Carradine epitomizes stone-faced patriotism as the exfiltration expert Colonel Cooper. Showing hardly any emotion except for a handful of scenes that call for it, or else Cooper would be a full-scale unempathetic sociopath, Carradine gives his best harden American warrior as well as an indestructible combat commando where a barrage of bullets whizz around him, explosions don’t impede his health, and an army of Vietcong are no match for the Colonel’s American flag draped, M60 machine strapped fighting spirt in an uphill battle of certain death. Its farcically funny to behold but that was the traditional one-man-army paradigm back then and, to an extent, still is even today to give audiences as gung-ho and impossibly invincible hero. Cooper leads a bunch of weary P.O.W. troopers on the brink of becoming lost in wartime politics and only three out of the bunch are highlighted throughout the misadventure toward safety with those roles’ boots on the ground by Steve James (“McBain”), as the order-following Sgt. Johnston, Phillip Brock (“American Ninja”) as wise-cracking know-it-all, good soldier Adams, and Charles Grant (“Witchcraft”) as the maverick Sparks who initially goes against Cooper’s plan. Sparks is likely the most interesting and complex character with an internal conflict having set into his own path of escape dedicated on selfishness and greed only to feel the tremendous weight of guilt and burden of his fellow soldier while on the bed of a half-naked, North Vietnamese prostitute. The last major principal is actually a Captain, that is Captain Vinh, played by one of the most recognizable faces in Japanese cinema history, Mako, of Arnold Schwarzenegger “Conan” fame as the Akiro the Wizard. Understanding Vinh’s motivation hardly musters conclusively on why he wishes to defect his country and why he needed Colonel Cooper to accomplish it. Perhaps Vinh’s undergoing hate for his own country was lost in the editing room as the film is noted to have gone through multiple re-writes, edits, and additional post-production shoots. “P.O.W. the Escape” fills out the cast with Daniel Demorest, Tony Pierce, Steve Freedman, James Acheson, Ken Metcalfe, Ken Glover, Rudy Daniels, and Irma Alegre.
For Gideon Amir’s first picture, this Vietnam vehicle is an action-packed romp. Never letting up on the accelerating peddle, especially with Cooper’s blank determination to get all the men out of the arm struggle before a treaty wraps up the conflict and leaves his charge in casted away in the arms of the enemy, what Amir accomplishes at the behest of his influential producers wonders how this high-value production ever made it past post without being a completely incomprehensible mess. There lies choppy moments of editing that puts into question it’s original concept even if one isn’t aware of the film’s narrative conflictions. What ensues is not a traditional rally and escape from a torturous, inhuman enemy camp that one can’t abscond from so easily; instead, the narrative becomes an escapade of itinerant provides various difficult scenarios that split up the group, sees internal turmoil, and propels desperation to get to the friendly Huey’s with their very lives, but doesn’t see Cooper come under threatening fire as he spurts off short rifles rounds and takes out a handful of Vietcong at once with one scene reminiscent on a particular World War II hero charging up hill and taking out a whole German squadron alone with a machine gun. Audie Murphy, If remembering accurately, but instead of sustaining any projectile wounds, Cooper thrusts forward unscathed while those G.I.s he’s trying to recover and rescue perish in an inescapable firefight. Carradine’s stoicism throughout the life profit and loss campaign doesn’t match Cooper’s liberation maxim that forces “P.O.W. the Escape” into an impassive, often times comical, attitude with the story’s central character.
Director Gideon Amir and David Carradine tempt their hand at the Vietnam vamoose now on a Hi-Def Blu-ray forged by Ronin Flix through way of Scorpion Releasing’s 2019 HD transfer of the previous MGM print. The widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio presented feature fails to capture impeccable clarity of acme perfection with approx. half the frames wilted away with artefact de-escalation of details. Half the scenes look great with a semi-serious saturation of color, a few of facial and foliage details come out, and textures have tactile range at times, but the film’s glass is only half full within a darker dilution of speckled splotches. The English DTS-HD 2.0 master audio mix relays a fair enough dialogue consignment with comprehensible clarity and is utterly clean but lacks punchiness with a flat as a David Carradine’s poker-face facade. With a robust range of gunfire, explosions, and modes of transportation, especially going through the mucky and miry jungles of war-torn Vietnam, the film definitely needed a stronger suit of sound but was ultimately discharged without dullness. English subtitles are available. Special features include three on-camera interviews with Director Gideon Amir, screenwriter James Bruner, and stunt man Steve Lambert discussing their particular involvement in pre-and-principal shoots, some of the process woes, and how exotic the opportunity was to work internationally and with David Carrine. The film’s original trailer rounding out the special features block. Physically, the Ronin Flix release comes in a standard Blu-ray snapper with an action-packed and commandoed David Carradine blasting off his rifle like in a Ghana-esque illustrated movie poster. Inside, the lack of insert and reversible cover art leads our eyes straight to the disc art that’s the same as the cover, cropped down to fit in the circumference. Rated PG, that is rated 1986 PG with strong war violence, strong language, and nudity, the release is region A locked in playback and has a runtime of 86 minutes. A campy commando campaign capitalizing on the success of the Vietnam prison camp subgenre, “P.O.W. the Escape” could be much worse for wear as a solid action flick fierce in delivery yet fickle in substance.
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