Verdict
Summary
Despite Peter Fonda getting top billing, this is 100% Reb Brown’s showcase. If you’re familiar with Brown in full soldier mode in films like Strike Commando, Uncommon Valor, Distant Thunder, or RoboWar, you’d best expect a lot of carnage, yowling, and exploding hut action.
Plot:
International soldiers of fortune are hired to crush a rebellion in an African nation.
Review:
T.J. Christian (Reb Brown from Cage and Distant Thunder, which was released the same year as this) is a mercenary living the good life until his buddy (Ron O’Neal) offers him a job in Africa. They go and when they get there, their boss (Peter Fonda) puts them to work straightaway: killing African rebels who oppose a dictator president. When T.J. realizes he’s fighting for the wrong side, he changes course by joining the rebels. He gets a chance to go Rambo on his own team.
Despite Peter Fonda getting top billing, this is 100% Reb Brown’s showcase. If you’re familiar with Brown in full soldier mode in films like Strike Commando, Uncommon Valor, Distant Thunder, or RoboWar, you’d best expect a lot of carnage, yowling, and exploding hut action. This is slightly better than similar-themed films from exploitation markets being made at the time. The Cannon Group released this towards the end of their run as product dispensers in Hollywood. Another last-ditch Cannon film released a few years later, Fifty/Fifty, starring Peter Weller and Robert Hayes, is very similar. Riki Shelach Nissimoff directed this.
Code Red and Kino Lorber teamed up to release Mercenary Fighters onto Blu-ray, and it’s a very nice upgrade from the MOD DVD from MGM about a decade or so ago. The film is presented in a brand new 2K master, which is quite attractive and pleasing, and also includes the trailer.
