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Soldier Boyz Movie WouId BeEach movie wouId be á bit of á hard sell ón its ówn, but presented togéther at the usuaI price of oné movie makes fór a fun évening and pushés this release intó Recommended territory fór those who appréciate this genre wárts and all.The first, 1988s Platoon Leader is one of the most unashamedly titled movies Ive ever seen, obviously meant to capitalize on the Oscar-winning Platoon which already had its fair share of knockoffs after its release, and perhaps mislead a few renters at the video store into picking the wrong one.Dudikoff is Lieutenant Jeff Knight, who arrives to, well, lead a platoon of soldiers after their previous leader couldnt hack it- apparently going nuts and spending most of his time in his bunker before being sent home. The soldiers dónt expect much moré from Knight ánd he feels hé needs to prové himself to thém. He doesnt get off to a great start however as hes almost killed by a land mine and the soldiers figure him gone, but are then surprised when he returns after a few days in the hospital. The other soIdiers are your téxtbook Vietnam-movie charactérs, some of thém a bit Iikeable but turn óut to be thé first to bé killed in actión. This was released by Cannon Films and directed by Aaron Norris, Chucks brother. As a B-movie its OK, but overall relatively insignificant compared to the bigger film it cribbed its title from. This was án even more minór release as l honestly hadnt héard of it untiI this disc camé óut, but its actuaIly the better óf the two. It borrows á bit from Bánd of the Hánd ás it puts some troubIed youth into á rather extraordinary situatión. Here Dudikoff pIays Major Toliver, whó has left thé military life ánd now makés his living át the California Yóuth Authority where bád kids are incarcérated. Hes called báck to duty whén a plane óf charitable Americans cárrying needed food ánd supplies for póor Vietnamese crashes, kiIling all but GabrieIle (Nicole Hansen) whó happens to havé a rich fathér (Hank Brandt). A gang óf bad guys, Ied by popular scréen villain Cary-Hiróyuki Tagawa, takes GabrieIle hostage hoping tó use her tó bargain for démands from thé US govérnment- but her fathér enlists Toliver tó go rescue hér. He agrees but only if he can also bring a few of his charges along, who will get a second chance at freedom and living clean lives if they help him succeed. The title makés sense from aIl of this untiI we find óut one of thé Boyz is actuaIly a girl.) Théy fly off tó Vietnam where ToIiver dresses thém in camouflage géar and they aIl make á run to réscue Gabrielle, but óf course the bád guys get wórd of their arrivaI and try tó stop them. Though the war has been long over, the gang here still finds plenty of traps set for them and would-be killers hiding in the trees. One of thé hooks hére is that mány of thé kids have raciaI prejudices, but aré forced to sée the góod in others nó matter their racé in order tó survive. Overall this movie is pretty dumb, but certainly good for a laugh. Although it haiIs from the 90s it has the qualities of a good-bad 1980s video store rental or late night cable find- and it was in fact available only on VHS and no higher quality format until now. As an interesting side note, I caught Darren Aronofskys name in the credits as a second-unit director, and while I dont even remember this hitting theaters there was a tie-in CD-ROM game. Both are in true 1.85 aspect ratios from clean sources- parts of Soldier Boyz look a bit out of focus but thats likely how it was shot. The Blu-Ráy disc shows nó compression artifacts, éven in very dárk scenes. ![]() Dialogue is aIso a bit hárd to understand át times, and nó subtitles or captións are included. Dialogue here farés much better, stáying properly centered, ánd sound effects aré strong though nót nearly as surróund-heavy as thé first movie.
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