Force: Five (1981) – Review

Directed by Robert Clouse, the man who helmed the classic Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon, this film promised all the high-octane martial arts action you could hope for, but did it deliver on that premise?  Not quite, instead of a cool badass martial arts flick, we got an embarrassing misfire that failed to capitalize on its premise or its cast. I give you Force Five!

The story follows a team of martial artists recruited to take down a dangerous cult led by the laughably one-dimensional Reverend Rhee (Bong Soo Ham). What could have been a tense, exciting showdown between good and evil is instead an incoherent series of poorly executed fight scenes interspersed with bland dialogue and amateurish performances. The plot kicks off with a failed assassination attempt on the Reverend – a poor excuse for a sniper – but what is Reverend Rhee’s deal, why would anyone want this guy dead? Well, it turns out that under the guise of spiritual enlightenment, Rhee has amassed a following of brainwashed devotees, including influential individuals from across the globe, and he’s using his cult as a front for illegal arms dealings and a growing threat to world peace.

Could he be developing a glitter bomb?

When Rhee recruits Cindy Lester (Amanda Wyss), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, her father turns to the U.S. government for help in getting her back home. Traditional military action is off the table, as Rhee’s fortress is heavily guarded, and the mission requires a more covert approach. Enter Force: Five, an elite team of martial arts experts with the skills to infiltrate the island and dismantle Rhee’s operation. Their objectives are threefold: infiltrate the compound, rescue the brainwashed heiress (who joined the cult after one too many self-help seminars), and dismantle Rhee’s cult organization.

If this is “The Best of the Best,” we’re in trouble.

The Dream Team:

• Jim Martin (Joe Lewis): The leader. He’s all business, unless the business involves smiling, which he clearly skipped in training.
• Billy Ortega (Benny “The Jet” Urquidez): The fiery scrapper with fists like dynamite and a voice like he’s late for his bus.
• Lockjaw (Sonny Barnes): The powerhouse who can break bones with his pinky finger and probably bend steel bars just by looking at them.
• Ezekiel (Richard Norton): The Australian with a deadly boomerang kick. He’s there to make sure no fight is complete without a grunt-laden one-liner.
• Laurie (Pam Huntington): The token woman, because even ’80s action movies occasionally remember women exist. Her only qualification seems to be the willingness to sleep with Martin.

“Couldn’t you call your friend Cynthia Rothrock?”

Before heading to Rhee’s Island – essentially a villainous summer camp – the team has to make and retrieve helicopter pilot Willard (Ron Hayden), who is being held in a South American prison, and not only does this side quest use up an inordinate amount of screen time, but it also doesn’t make a lot of sense. They have to fight unarmed through dozens of guards to extract him from this prison, but all that is required of him on this mission is to drop them off as visiting aides of Senator Forrester (Peter MacLean). And sure, he does fake an electrical fire and a “crash landing” so that he and the rest of the team are forced to stay on the island, but as the film is called Force: Five and not Force: Six, his inclusion is about as necessary as condoms at a fertility clinic.

“Hey, the producer owed me a favour, back off!”

Needless to say, when they eventually reach the island, every third person they meet turns out to be a kung fu master, with each cult member trained in synchronized martial arts and wearing matching uniforms because nothing says “evil” like coordinated outfits. After some nightly wanderings that prove these guys are not great spies, things quickly escalate into chaos. From there on out, our heroes face off against more henchmen than a Cobra Commander convention and who are about as effective but just as enthusiastic. Every one of them, regardless of rank, throws a single punch before dramatically flipping through the air like they’ve been hit by a freight train. But if they fail, the punishment is, of course, death.

Job opportunities in the martial arts world must be scarce.

The movie careens from one fight scene to the next, with dialogue acting as a mere breather between roundhouse kicks. There’s an awkward attempt at espionage (where stealth means loudly announcing your presence), but the real star here is the action choreography. Expect slow-motion high-flying kicks, dramatic zoom-ins, and sound effects so exaggerated they could wake the dead. After bulldozing through waves of enemies like they’re NPCs in a video game, the team finally reaches Reverend Rhee, who—surprise! —is also a martial arts master. What ensues is a hilariously over-the-top final battle that features elaborate acrobatics, a few obvious stunt doubles, and some philosophical one-liners that make you question if Rhee is fighting or auditioning for a TED Talk.

“Before the torture begins, I’d like to talk to you about Amway.”

Stray Observations:

• Robert Clouse helmed the spectacularly goofy film Gymkata, another entry in the category of athletic spies who have the charisma of wet dishrags.
• Jim Martin has to fight through a gauntlet of his own martial arts students to reach his breakfast, which, while a little pretentious, is a good way to build up an appetite.
• The team’s pilot is a bit mentally unhinged and a ladies’ man – basically, he’s one part Murdock to two parts Face – and I’m starting to wonder if the television series The A-Team ripped off this movie.
• Martin removes his hood twice during a nighttime recon mission, which is not the best idea if you don’t want to blow your cover. Was he worried it would mess up his nicely coiffed hair?
• After being tortured, enemies of Reverend Rhee are released into a labyrinth of underground corridors where they are chased down and killed by a bull. That it wasn’t a Minotaur adds another missed opportunity to the list of this film’s crimes.
• Reverend Rhee is part Bond villain, part yoga instructor, with a wardrobe that screams “kung fu cult leader on a budget.” He’s not so much a “Dr. No” as he is a “Dr. Maybe.”
• Rhee’s henchmen are so incompetent that you start to root for them to land a single hit. The Stormtroopers of Star Wars fame are the epitome of competence by comparison.

Maybe white uniforms are simply a bad idea for minions.

The characters are little more than clichés. Each team member is supposed to bring a unique skill to the table, but their personalities and backstories are so thin that it’s hard to care about any of them. The leader is generic, the female character is there for token representation, and the rest are barely distinguishable from one another. There’s no chemistry or camaraderie to make their interactions engaging or even interesting. The action, which should be the heart of the movie, is underwhelming at best. The fight choreography is repetitive, sluggish, and uninspired, with little creativity or intensity. And despite having the likes of Benny “The Jet” Urquidez and Richard Norton in the cast, the fight scenes are weak and uninspired, which is a crime as these two are legitimate great fighters. They are both vastly underutilized here.

“Hey man, I’ve fought both Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung!”

Reverend Rhee, the villain, is laughably ineffectual. His cult, supposedly threatening enough to warrant the formation of this elite team, comes off as more of a low-budget LARPing group than a legitimate menace. The stakes never feel real, and the plot meanders without building any tension. To make matters worse, the film’s production values are subpar. The sets look cheap, the pacing drags, and the editing is choppy, further undercutting any potential for excitement. Even the music, which could have added some much-needed energy, feels generic and uninspired. And despite its short runtime, Force Five feels much longer, dragging through tedious exposition and clunky transitions that suck the energy out of what little momentum it manages to build. The final fight between Martin and Reverend Rhee takes place in a smoke-filled hallway, which comes across as a low-rent version of the conclusion of Enter the Dragon. Because, seriously, who needs to see what’s going on?

This is so much better than a room of mirrors.

In conclusion, Force: Five is a glorious mix of ’80s martial arts clichés, bizarre dialogue, and over-the-top action. It’s not here to win Oscars; it’s here to show you what happens when five martial artists with questionable chemistry take on an evil cult because…well, why not? The movie is as serious as a roundhouse kick to the face, but twice as funny. If you’re looking for a film where logic takes a backseat to endless punches, flying kicks, and gratuitous nudity, this film delivers in spades.