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Mercenary

Asian Apocalypse Now rip off-ers plenty of brutal deaths and twisted humor. Its about a soldier assigned on a special mission to kill a sadistic individual shacked up in the jungle with his private army. He accepts the mission only to pay for his sick daughters treatment at a special hospital. The commander along with his group of hired mercenaries wade through the jungles encountering your usual obstacles until they arrive at their targets camp. The mercenaries are then captured, savagely tortured and some killed.

Mercenary offers up the different flavour of Asian film making acustomed to this genre with an emphasis put on creative violence most which North American flicks wouldn't be able to conjure up. To say the least the film serves up the gory goods.

The opening to Mercenary is almost a direct take from Apocalypse Now with the soldier lying on his bed smoking a cigarette and thinking about the war as the ceiling fan hovers over head (excluding 'The Doors' music). A memorable moment in the film is during the capture of the team with some of the most interesting tortures and demises. One individual is forced to walk down beside lines of firecrackers as they ignite blowing the flesh off his legs.

At one point the film tries to make a statement on the 'Vietnam War' and how its participants were severely affected by the events which occurred there. Mercenary also involves a sub-plot between the commander and his daughter. Most of the movies impact relies on the exploitation of the war and graphic violence so messages don't really belong and in no way can the events seem even the least bit realistic. I personally enjoyed Mercenary, its a crazy and rare Asian action/gore-fest so if your into these types of movies don't pass up.

-Richard Taylor