jhousdan

The production value that went into making this short is nothing less than stellar... though labeled a "short" it's really a glorified music video for the songs "Light Up the Night", "The Fall", and the opening strains of "Keep Quiet" and "Here comes the Arm" by The Protomen. It serves as an excellent vehicle and storytelling device for these songs.

The problem is that these songs exist as part of a much larger narrative that cannot truly be explained in the space of a short video like this. The comic-book style segment makes an effort to establish the scene, but unless you are familiar with the work of the Protomen, you may feel like you're missing key details.

Of course, this should lead you to want to learn more about the band, and their music, right? :D Mission accomplished!

Really, one has to take into consideration the time frame under which this movie was produced. We were *still* (11 years later) feeling the sting from a "not quite a loss, but certainly not a win" in Vietnam, followed on in the early 80s by the failed hostage rescue in Tehran. Lastly, the early 1980s marked the rise in airline hijackings. This movie was more designed to renew the public's faith in our special forces and encourage a sense of patriotism (queue gratuitous scene of applying the American flag patch on everyone's shoulders). The soundtrack worked to the same end (at least half of the videos I saw filmed on base when I was younger used the soundtrack at some point).I can still recall seeing this in the theaters the week it came out, and no one left with anything but a smile on their face.

At the time it was released (1986) Delta Force was very much on par with any other effects-driven action movie of the time (the "Rambo" series, "Commando", etc) using props and technology that were still considered state of the art. (ok, it's obvious the pave-low that blows up at the beginning of the movie is anything but a Pavelow, but c'mon...) By modern standards, the movie is very dated. We've become a lot more attached to a consistent storyline supported by believable costumes and props (unguided rockets and mortars mounted on a motorcycle *were* a little "out there" for the time... and marine covers on an army uniform are a no-no) but again, it is no different than any of the other films of the time.

Basically, if you liked any of the 1980s action films, strong chances are you're going to like this one. The storyline is still (unfortunately) one we can very much relate to, which I suppose goes to show some things may never change...

the flight scenes look like they were filmed in Israel because they were. This movie borrows all of the action sequence footage from the movie "Iron Eagle"... which was shot using IAF F-16A/Bs and Kfirs (a Mirage III derivative). Pretty low-budget, I guess if I hadn't seen Iron Eagle so many times before, I wouldn't have paid attention to it. I rather rented the movie hoping to see more Tomcat footage (an F-14A is displayed quite prominently on the cover of the movie) but there is none. The acting is good enough, all things considered... even if the plot line is full of holes. This is the only time I've ever seen O'leary in a truly serious role... and he's wickedly good at it!