Walter Hill has done some GREAT movies (HARD TIMES, his first, is still his best, THE DRIVER, 48 HRS, TRESPASS is pretty thrilling too), but this is among is weak works, unfortunately NICK NOLTE, whom I love to watch, does a hammy job (on purpose, probably), the whole movie is poorly photographed (it looks like "made for TV", but in fact I have seen better photographed "made for TV"-movies !), all the other actors without exception (!) seem just to walk through a storyline (to get their salary), which is really just a poor rip-off (without any of the feeling and charm) of THE WILD BUNCH. And IF it's meant "tongue-in-cheek", then it wasn't really entertaining either, the few cynical comments weren't witty enough.
I still remember the trailer they used to promote this movie in Europe (it's a different trailer than the one here on the IMDb, which is a weak trailer, too) and it was in fact a TERRIFIC trailer, just great, with the soldiers being introduced in scenes I never saw in the movie (you never see the soldiers sparkling in Nolte's glasses in the movie either...), so I remember having felt let down when I saw it first (nearly 20 years ago), but recently I wondered if it's time for a new viewing, when it was aired on TV here a few days ago: well, as said above my memory was unfortunately right and it still has not improved with time (never will).
Watching this, one will understand why the very promising career of Walter HILL as director has unfortunately declined. A pity!
I still remember the trailer they used to promote this movie in Europe (it's a different trailer than the one here on the IMDb, which is a weak trailer, too) and it was in fact a TERRIFIC trailer, just great, with the soldiers being introduced in scenes I never saw in the movie (you never see the soldiers sparkling in Nolte's glasses in the movie either...), so I remember having felt let down when I saw it first (nearly 20 years ago), but recently I wondered if it's time for a new viewing, when it was aired on TV here a few days ago: well, as said above my memory was unfortunately right and it still has not improved with time (never will).
Watching this, one will understand why the very promising career of Walter HILL as director has unfortunately declined. A pity!