MegaForce (1982)

I love this movie so much

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This howlingly absurd futuristic sci-fi actioner stars Barry Bostwick ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show", 'Spin City'), absolutely nobody's idea of an ideal action movie star. He plays the charismatic "Ace Hunter", leader of an elite fighting unit that is deployed whenever freedom is threatened. And this unit is set into motion when a fictional country begins to be terrorized by a flamboyant mercenary (Henry Silva, who's a hoot as usual). Among the people on Aces' team is easygoing Southerner "Dallas" (Michael Beck of "The Warriors" fame), who shoots at errant reptiles and delights in showing "holograms" to people.This is the kind of movie you enjoy for its utter cheesiness and ineptitude. While it may not be quite as terrible as some reviews will lead you to believe, it sure ain't much good, either. Still, stunt expert turned filmmaker Hal Needham ("Smokey and the Bandit", "The Cannonball Run") and his merry crew do have some fun here. A lot of their set pieces are quite simply chaotic and over the top, as they just go for broke and refuse to worry about it ever making much SENSE. There are explosions and vehicular stunts aplenty, as well as some sky diving. Although there is a gorgeous leading lady in Persis Khambatta ("Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Nighthawks"), romance is not really in the air, since Ace doesn't want to involve an "outsider" like her in his mission. He says his men are like a machine that moves and acts as one.Bostwick is amusing, his miscasting be damned. He does seem to be enjoying himself. Silva, while not at his absolute best, is still in fine form as a smiling villain whom you can't really hate at all. The movie co-stars Edward Mulhare ("Our Man Flint", 'Knight Rider') as a military man and George Furth ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Blazing Saddles") as a Q-style gadget, weaponry, and vehicle designer.Despite the ropey "Introvision" effects, this utterly goofy entertainment does possess a certain oddball charm.Five out of 10.

This film just did not work, though as a kid I sort of liked it. Mainly because of the vehicles were kind of cool, now they look like toys that would not be useful in an actual battle. The plot was rather stupid then as I watched it as a kid and I can not remember all the details all I remember is the stupid final scene with that one dude flying on his motorcycle. I feel ashamed to have even liked this one as a kid even though as a kid I was more stupid. This one was just lame a lot. The fighting with the vehicles has its moments, but in the end the fights look like something from a live action kids action show. I am kind of surprised by how much this movie cost to make and from what it cost to make I can see it was pretty much a flop. Though I can see why, the plot is paper thin, the acting was not very good, and some of the stuff this movie presented is very bad. I am surprised the guy who directed Cannonball Run did this one, but now that I see that he did I can understand why the film seems a bit choppy. His movies are usually kind of a train wreck. And while that works in a comedy in an action movie it simply does not.

Sometimes, all you really need in life to make you happy is watching a really cheesy and utterly retarded early 80's movie with a grotesque plot, flamboyant types of vehicles, action heroes in tight gay spandex outfits, absurd futuristic gimmicks and nasty looking villains that are smoking big cigars. You know, movies that are basically knock-offs of great cinematic blockbusters, like "Escape from New York" or "Mad Max", and deliberately exaggerate in the amount of excessive violence and sleaze they deliver. I thought that "Mega Force" would perfectly fit into this little category, but boy was I ever mistaken! This film, although brought to us by the same team who made the enjoyable Burt Reynolds hoots "Cannonball Run" and "Smokey and the Bandit", is unimaginably boring and dim-witted. Even worse than the moronic script and cheesy execution is the fact that the whole production was seemingly aimed at child-audiences! We do not witness any of the characters – good or evil – dying throughout the whole film and the decors look even cheesier and less convincing as those of "The Thunderbird" TV-series. In order to satisfy the absolute youngest viewers, like 3-year-olds or something, there even is a completely redundant interlude with a dancing Porky Pig hologram. The main reason why I enjoy these typically 80's fabricated rip-offs is because they're usually so extremely violent and exploitative, but obviously Hal Needham & Co didn't intend to make a rip-off but an actual new classic. Talk about an epic fail. Mega Force is the name of an elite army force, located in the USA but sponsored by the United Nations, which is called upon by the desperate government of a Middle-Eastern country called Gamibia. The small nation is continuously invaded by the evil war-hungry general Guevara, and need help to fight back. The first half, revolving on the introduction of the Mega Force and its incredibly gay leaders, is still somewhat entertaining. It's embarrassing to behold respectable actors like Michael Beck ("The Warriors"), Henry Silva ("Almost Human") and Barry Bostwick ("Rocky Horror Picture Show") mutter their ridiculous lines whilst parading in flashy outfits, but nevertheless fun. The second half of the script, after an immensely irritating love-story interlude, tries to be intellectual and politically engaging, but fails tremendously. The intentionally humorist parts of the film are pathetic, while the serious moments evoke uncontrollable laughs. That's never good.

I had a sculpture teacher in grad school who would have found MEGAFORCE a working truistic proof of his revelatory comment one day during a pointless, time-wasting studio critique of a student who obviously had no interest in making art when he said "You have to approach art on the level of Beavis & Butt-Head some days. Stuff either sucks, or it rules, and I am sorry but your work this semester totally sucks."Roger would have been a big fan of MEGAFORCE, which I have concluded does indeed rule. This movie represents a high point, a watershed mark in western culture which has never since been surpassed. I will leave plot & character issues to other commenter's -- This movie is either the dumbest piece of crap ever made by the worst director in history, or it is a form of kitsch masterpiece that is astoundingly honest about how utterly brainless it's concept & execution were. The movie has zero pretense to be anything other than exactly what it is -- a stupid, loud, moronic action movie with heroic music, explosions, vehicular stunts, funky looking high tech junk, tight spandexed jumpsuits, helicopters, jingoistic catch phrase dialog that seems to have been randomly chosen from old episodes of The Superfriends, and Henry Silva.Henry Silva is one of those actors whom I marvel at with open admiration: His ability to make the ridiculous seem perfectly natural is on the same level as Boris Karloff, and every role he appears in becomes a Henry Silva performance. Here he is somewhat more animated than the usual cold as a railroad track on a frozen February morning hired killer seen in his more typical work as various paid assassins. You have not truly lived until you have seen Henry Silva blow up people with his bazooka in THE BOSS & DEATH COMMANDO. A lot of people may dismiss him as an "actor", but as a character performer he is right up there with Harry Dean Stanton and Ivor Francis as one of the most ubiquitously recognizable bad guys from decades of TV & movies. Mr. Silva, wherever you are, your work is invaluable, and MEGAFORCE is yet another stunning achievement.Back to the movie, though, this is going to be one of those things you either "get" or don't, like The Three Stooges, Tom Waits, professional wrestling or Rush Limbaugh. You are either going to instantly love it or wonder why anyone on Earth would consider it to be entertaining, let alone having cultural value. Art should always be subjective though, and it should be up to those who consume it to evaluate culture for themselves rather than allow some idiot to do it for you. MEGAFORCE is a lesson in subjective taste: It is either a masterpiece or an embarrassment, will provoke extreme reaction both for and against -- and both sentiments are equally legitimate. It is only those who are not moved that I pity.MEGAFORCE can also serve as a time capsule for people who want to remember what it was like to be 9 or so, and ranks up there with THE HUMANOID starring Richard "Jaws" Keil and YOR, HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE with Reb Brown as amongst the most stupid, ham-boned, addle minded but enjoyable science fiction movies from the 1980's. You are not supposed to learn anything at ALL, and if you do that's your own stupid fault. The movies exist as pure entertainment -- One sight of the Megaforce rolling into battle on their stupid mocked-up motorcycles and absurd missile launcher armored dune buggies while going against a column of military tanks was all it took for me to make my decision. The kinetic explosions & stunts afterward were just icing on the cake: This is easily one of the coolest movies ever made, and if you don't get it you never will.10/10