Region 2 DVD Release
Megaforce (1982)
R2 / PAL DVD
DFW Dutch FilmWorks / 2005
Directed by Hal Neeham
Written by Robert Kachler (story), Andre Morgan, Hal Needham and Albert S. Ruddy
Cast: Barry Bostwick, Michael Beck, Henry Silva, Persis Khambatta, Edward Mulhare
Review by Mike White
By the early ‘80s, Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest production company was still hoping to make it big in the United States. Unfortunately, their biggest star, Bruce Lee, had passed away and their next rising product, Jackie Chan, just couldn’t find a vehicle to properly showcase his unique blend of comic fu. Stuntman turned actor/director Hal Needham provided one of Golden Harvest’s biggest hits with The Cannonball Run which blended disaster film-style casting and coast-to-coast racing. His follow-up project, Megaforce didn’t quite manage to attain the same heights.
A precursor to Team America: World Police, the titular Megaforce is an elite group of secret squadron armed with heavily-armed motorbikes to blow up balloons with laser beams and rockets all in the name of freedom. They’re allegedly comprised of elite soldiers from around the globe though the majority of characters highlighted are American. This includes Dallas (Michael Beck, fresh from Warlords of the 21st Century), Zachary Taylor (Ralph Wilcox), and Megaforce commander Ace Hunter. Blow dried to perfection and clad in skintight spandex, Barry Bostwick rocks a baby blue headband as Hunter.
Called to duty by General Byrne-White (Edward Mulhare, the old dude from Knight Rider) and Major Zara (Persis Khambatta, the bald chick from Star Trek The Motion Picture), Megaforce are sent into Namibia to thwart the war-mongering Guerera (Henry Silva laying on an accent of indeterminate origin). Their plan consists of riding around on their motorbikes, jumping over Guerera’s tanks, and generating more explosions than a Michael Bay film while trampling the jurisdiction of the United Nations. International peace keepers? Who needs ‘em when Megaforce is around? As the advertising campaign so eloquently stated, it’s “Deeds, Not Words” that are truly important.
The swaggering American bravado combined with hackneyed dialogue, a cheesy (but oh-so-catchy) score from Jerrold Immel, and a leading man with the machismo of Liberace made Megaforce as successful as Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon jump.
