Ian
Hey ho... It's a so-so movie with a by-the-numbers script. Why on earth would you want to watch it?If that's a question, my answer is - No idea!It's not bad as in the worst movie ever made, but it has no aspirations to be particularly good and it's definitely not original.The most bewildering aspect - and this applies to many, many, many movies - is how the heck did the writer/director persuade anyone to put up the money for it?? To be honest, at the end of the day it literally has 110% more cliches than this sentence! And I'm not even joking!The writer/director/producer can't have seen any 'action' movies in their life, if they think this has any merit.It's ok, if you like this sort of thing but in the greater movie universe, it should never have been made.
Comeuppance Reviews
In the jungles of the Philippines, General Hank Wallace (Treat) and Captain Max Randall (Dacascos) are fighting terrorists. The baddies finally go too far when they kidnap Jenna Wallace (Pernas), the General's daughter and Max's love interest. Wallace tells Max and his team to find her at any cost - but it just may be their lives. Thankfully, Jenna is a "former Marine" (despite the fact that she looks far too young to be a former anything) so she can handle herself well under fire. Presumably this would be the case if Treat Williams was your father. In the immortal words of that movie we haven't seen as of this writing, will our heroes GET THE TERRORISTS? Or will the forces of evil prevail? Find out today...Did you know that the Philippines have Islamic extremist terrorists too? Well, they do, and that comes as quite a gift for the Roger Corman factory. For them, this is a win-win. They can stay topical as well as film movies there like they did in the old days. Clearly the baddies in this movie are based on a real Philippine terror group called MILF, which stands for Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Again, this is the name of a REAL terror group, and you can look it up if you don't believe it. So, who better to fight these guys than fan favorites Treat Williams and Mark Dacascos? Speaking of the aforementioned old days, the past is clearly an inspiration to the filmmakers here, as the structure of this movie is very much like the Cirio Santiago-directed jungle epics of yore. It's nice that they're still making movies like this in 2014-2015, and we give everyone involved due credit for that. But it's a double-edged sword...Sure, we appreciate that this movie is after the fashion of so many we've watched on VHS, but the other side of the coin is that it can get very samey, like we've seen all this many times before. Even the casting of our heroes Treat Williams and Mark Dacascos (as well as Philippine mainstay Henry Strzalkowski) serve to reinforce this fact. This is a movie that wishes it came out around 1994, give or take 5 years or so, and we say good on ya, but it does tend to get a bit run of the mill. Director Brian Clyde also did the very, very similar The Hunt for Eagle One (2006), but in that case Dacascos's General was Rutger Hauer, not Treat Williams.Naturally, the shooting, beat-ups, and blow-ups are all present and accounted for, with what looks like minimal CGI, to the movie's eternal credit. A helicopter and a few huts even explode as well, reinforcing the old (ish) school vibe. But this is a movie that very much fits the standard, and is neither good nor bad. It just is.Featuring an amusingly abrupt ending that seems like it was recycled from footage from something else, as if they didn't have the time, money or inclination to bother with a denouement, Operation Rogue fits in well with others of its ilk. If you like them, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't. It's as simple as that, which is fitting, as simplicity seems to be the order of the day here.
nathan_kugan
First of all,this is clearly a low budget B movie. U should know it the moment u saw Roger Corman's name in the title. Even the film makers knew it and they didn't set out to make a high budget and critically acclaimed action movie. They wanted to make an enjoyable action movie on a very modest budget and i think they succeeded at that. The movie was fast and nice to follow from the start and it works mainly because of the lead actor Mark Dacascos. Mark Dacascos have been around for years now and although he have never achieved a star status or made many acclaimed movie,he still gives his full effort to a movie. In this movie,he seemed so committed to his role and did a great job in the action scenes and his acting was solid enough for the material he is given. At his age,he is still very fast and agile and looked way younger than he really is. The movie does have a lot of flaws and certain scenes felt so rushed but if u get past those and only expect a simple action flick to past your time,this would be a very good viewing.
J Peter Loftus
Christopher M. Elassad captures the attention of Hollywood as the new lovable hero tough guy, Sgt. McCray, along side the beautiful and athletic Sofia Pernas, martial arts expert Mark Decascos, the versatility of actor Treat Williams, and the engaging Joe Suba, to deliver action packed sequences with fast paced editing. Shot on location in the Philippines with solid photography and a realistic terrorist plot. Chris Elassad's natural talent as an actor and strong physique are a perfect match for his role in Operation Rogue. A quick glance at Elassad's credits will show his vast experience behind the camera gives him a distinct advantage as a new presence of Screen Actors Guild artists. Bravo!!!