olddirtyspatula This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I spent my teen years watching Troma films and other crap horror. Actually the only reason I looked it up on IMDb after seeing it on a bus ride is because I seriously wondered if it was made by the US military, the patriotism was so over-the top. I mean, come on. These guys shoot one bad guy in the shoulder and he dies, but they are like superhuman tanks that keep running while getting gunned down, including shot in the head. What's even funnier is reading the reviews and seeing all of the Americans praising it as a great movie with realistic action scenes, and only the Lithuanians, Estonians, etc are the ones who notice how unbelievably biased it is. Like we Americans are so convinced of our natural superiority we don't even notice. My next suspicion, after US military propaganda film was that it was adapted from a video game, nothing else could explain the cartoonishness of the villains. But I was wrong there, too. To think that this is the best form some series, I can't even imagine what the worst looks like. I might look it up for a laugh.

MankiBoi I happened to see it last night, and I watched it just because it was so horrible. I don't get it. Why producers waste 1,3 mil $ on complete trash like that? No originality at all. Stupid enemy soldiers, who preferred to run towards Americans rather than shoot at them. So it's kind of miracle, how they managed to kill most of American soldiers. They also look all the same, probably there were total 10 actors who died at least 5 times in different scenes. Then there were ultimate heroism-scenes, you know, wounded American soldier blew himself up with 3 enemy soldiers and so on. And over-the-top boring main villain, who does usual bad boss stuff, i.e. shooting old ladies who then fall in slow-mo, "brutally" beating up some prisoners etc etc. And extra tough boss' assistant, who looks like IT-nerd.When independent studios have capital, and they have a WILL to do movies, why they still do non-original crap like this film, "Base II" and so on?Gosh!M

Pedram196 This movie looks like it was made my a combination of the United States government and the makers of the punisher.. The characters were simply awful. Bad acting combined with bad scripts made this a horrible watch. And the cocky attitude of everyone in this movie was disgusting.. They simple came across like rednecks who had seen too many war movies when they were kids. Exaggerated overdone scenes that were meant as a recruiting tool as far as i see and watching the movie was a true punishment... There you have it.. if you are looking for a good movie to watch, don't come near this movie.

ipkevin [Note that there are 2 different direct-to-video movies named "Special Forces". One of them stars Daniel Bernhardt (Bloodsport sequels, Matrix Reloaded) and has a black & white cover. This one stars Marshall Teague and is a bit newer.]I cannot believe it. Isaac Florentine's "Special Forces" may be the first low budget, direct-to-video action movie to succeed in satisfying the military/gun nuts, the martial arts fans, and general action fans all at once. It's even fairly well-made in terms of direction and production value.First, there is plenty of gunplay and it manages to look vaguely authentic. The soldiers use proper shooting stances, keep their fingers out of the trigger guard, move & cover semi-relistically, and, unlike most low budget 'spec ops' movies, it looks as if the firearms were chosen because they were credible as US special ops weapons and not because they were the only ones available to the production. I wonder if this is due to Marshall Teague? On the special features of the Criterion Collection DVD of "The Rock", Teague is seen with a real Navy Seal demonstrating realistic weapons handling. Perhaps he brought this knowledge & training over to this film? On an even more pedantic note, several of the scenes where the soldiers were undercover in town reminded me of the fictional novels of Dick Marcinko, the Navy Seal legend turned best-selling author (Rogue Warrior, etc). Playing mind games and staredowns with the goons, evading tails, etc. A bit of a nice touch if you're familiar with Marcinko's work, though obviously it may be a completely unintentional similarity.Second, the martial arts fights are very good! The final battle is blazing fast, energetic, and brutal. Whoever choreographed it certainly knows the specific rhythms and timing of a good Hong-Kong-style fight scene. The hand-to-hand fights are kept mainly to the latter half of the film. Before that, there are some quick takedowns and exchanges where you can see glimmers of this HK-style flair, but they are kept low-key so that they simply add a bit of energy to the proceedings without constrasting too much with the realistic gunplay.Lastly, Florentine's direction is solid. He knows how to shoot and edit an action scene for both clarity and excitement. Thank goodness that he's not one of those MTV directors who feels the need to cut every half-second, chopping up every action scene into an incoherent blur. When so much work has gone into staging the action scenes, it's nice that he lets them play out clearly on screen. The non-action scenes are handled competently as well. There's an occasional bit of visual style here and there, but basically he just keeps things moving along and rarely if ever looks amateurish. You could call it a smooth professionalism. They also make great use of their Eastern European locales. It's scenic and absolutely believable for the story.Overall, "Special Forces" is an enjoyable action flick featuring an unusual amount of detail & competence dedicated to the staging of its action scenes. If you're familiar with the direct-to-video military action genre, this is certainly one of the better ones.