Hellraiserdisciple After a former brother-in-arms from Vietnam is killed by a gang of thugs his former platoon leader is recruited to clean up the streets. He summons the rest of the squad and the game is on.The story is simple and has been done several times before. There is a relatively short first part that takes place in Vietnam to establish the relationship between the soldiers. I really wish they had spent another ten minutes building on this to give the rest of the film a deeper emotional impact. Sure this is a 80s vigilante film, but that doesn't mean we can't have characters we really care about. Does it? The vigilante force also teaches the neighborhood how they can defend themselves in a montage. And who doesn't enjoy a good montage? This montage is mediocre, but that's okay. The Annihilators could easily have been mistaken for the A-Team. They aren't that professional and they are slightly more violent. Other than that they are just the same. In fact there is at least on A-Team episode exactly like this film. One of the highlights in this film is the gang leader. He looks like a shabby Kurt Russell and when he wears that wonderful pink t-shirt you won't exactly tremble with fear. The guy has balls though. At one point he walks around in the middle of the street with a flamethrower yelling that he wants his drugs back. NOW! It's hilarious stuff! How he became a gang leader is anyone's guess. He isn't a very good leader and his minions are even less capable of anything. They are crappy stereotypes, which I suppose is only what one can expect from a movie like this. On the positive side, this only adds to the overall cheese factor.Now the thing that really annoyed me about The Annihilators is the title. It's called THE ANNIHILATORS! The definition of annihilate in the Oxford dictionary is; to destroy completely. Our vigilante squad frequently just hurt the gang members. Only towards the end do we see a somewhat steady rise in bodies. However, they are still merely shot. At least director Charles E. Sellier Jr. could have had the decency to give us some Peckinpah or Woo style shootings. And even then I doubt they could have called themselves The Annihilators with pride. Now had they taken out the scumbags with rocket launchers, claymore mines or such, the whole affair would have looked a lot different! I could go on about all the things The Annihilators isn't, but that would be unfair to it. For all its faults The Annihilators provide some entertainment, mostly in the cheese department. Grab some recreational drugs, a pizza and watch with friends.

dennisvenhuis When my friends and I began our journey to rent the worst movies available at every video store in town back in the mid-'80s, we never thought to rent this one. The box cover implied that it was a post-apocalyptic survival movie of some sort, and, not being fans of that genre, we avoided it. Luckily, my mother actually brought this doozy home one weekend when the video store ran out of copies of 'Commando' (a pile of dung in its own right, but I was 15 at the time). For whatever reason, she assumed 'The Annihilators' would be an acceptable substitute for the evening. Our original disappointment soon turned into glee, and eventually, uncontrollable laughter as we plodded through this monumentally horrid train-wreck of a movie. I will not get too much into the plot, as other posters have given a pretty decent overview of the film's premise. As stated, it's your basic revenge action flick : A group of Vietnam vets re-unite to avenge the death of one of their comrades at the hands of some sadistic Atlanta gang members. That's the plot in a nutshell. However, despite this overdone formula, this movie stands out among others of the genre -- it's absolutely freaking hysterical. The movie does contain some violence and foul language -- typical for the genre-- but somehow it almost has the feel of an after-school special or Sunday night movie of the week. Mixed with the violence and drug use is this almost sickening feel-good aura to the movie that actually tries to make the viewer believe ' if good people stick together, we can conquer all the bad in the world...' or some such rubbish...What really makes this film a steaming pile of hilarity are the acting and the dialogue. Over-ridden with clichéd 'feel-good' speeches and over-the-top bad guy badness, 'The Annihilators can't seem to decide if it wants to be a hard-ass action flick or a nice family film about people bonding together to overcome a common obstacle.. It fails quite miserably at both, but makes for a unique, laughably rotten film in the process. Even though several actors in the movie are recognizable from appearances in other films and television shows, the real 'star' of this stinker would have to be Paul Koslo as head bad guy RoyBoy Jagger. His hammy performance alone is worth sitting through the 87 minutes. From his spikey, madcap lions-mane hairdo, his over-expressive face (I swear his nostrils flare in a few scenes) to the obnoxious way he spews the horrendous dialogue he was given, Koslo is definitely the film's largest source of entertainment. He even manages to be funny during the final rooftop fight scene -- after getting kicked in the chest, he stumbles backward, puts his hand to his chest and wails like an alley cat..... and I laughed till it hurt.Although 'The Annihilators' is cruddy in almost every way imaginable, it is certainly funnier than half of the so-called comedies put out by the American movie factories, and I definitely recommend it to fans of un-intentional humor.2 out of 10 for fans of actual movies7 out of 10 for afficionados of garbage

Justin Carapella I think this movie was hilarious simply because of how serious it was. from the heavy-handed acting to the comedically badly choreographed fight scenes, to the outlandish scenario to the completely unrealistic portrayal of city gang violence, this movie made me and my friends laugh our butts off. when Roy Boy shouts "YOU MOTHERRSSSS!!!" we couldn't stop laughing. the front of the box features a team of steroidal, rambo-type Vietnam soldiers wielding flamethrowers and assault rifles, and yet there is only maybe 5 minutes of Vietnam scenes in the movie. not to mention i never witnessed any real annihilation. maybe some destruction, a few murders, some depravity, but no annihilation. no sir. I'm not calling this a good movie. just an unintentionally hilarious time capsule of C-moviedom from the 80's. if you can find it, for god's sakes buy it. it's a good time.

Michelle Souliere (misfitgirl) Pretty awful but watchable and entertaining. It's the same old story (if you've lived through the 80s). Vietnam vets fight together as buddies against injustice back in the States. A-Team meets Death Wish, my favorite!Time goes on, the soldiers go home, and years later a friend is in trouble. No, wait -- in fact, the friend is dead and it is his dad that's in trouble. Our first hero, Joey, is killed by an exceedingly horrifying (super pointy) meat tenderizer as he tries to defend his father's small store from the local "protection" gang despite being wheelchair bound from the war. Desperate for help, the father talks to Sarge, the leader of Joey's old unit from Vietnam, when Sarge shows up for the funeral.Well, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the old gang saddles up for the city. You can pretty much imagine most of the rest of the movie.The one thing that drove me crazy is that Sarge keeps haranguing his men about planning, and about how they're really good at what they do when they plan ahead. But Joey wouldn't have been put in a wheelchair by a gunshot in Vietnam in the first place if the unit hadn't been messing around! Then when things are going really well in the city as they battle the gangs, they do it again. For no reason at all, they completely bypass their plan and try to nail the gang without everyone being present. Phh!!!! I raise my hands in disgust. Foolishness!There is also a suspicious moment when all present members of the unit make sure to try out the heroin they snatch from the gang to make sure it's real. EVERY single one of them. Hmm....What are you going to do? Keep watching, I guess. The movie isn't too horrible to watch, but it IS a tease. There are all these climactic moments when nothing actually winds up happening. The most dramatic things that happen are those at the beginning of the movie -- the explosives in Vietnam, Joey's death battle, and the gang brutally kicking an innocent teddy bear aside (poor Teddy!).I guess my main beef with this movie is that I feel let down by it. Even the confusing subplots with "mystery helpers" and their bizarrely cross-purpose motives wasn't enough to save it at the end. But someday maybe it'll all come right and they'll make a sequel. Ha ha ha ha!!!