Bullet Points: Beyond the Call of Duty (1992)

We’ve all heard of the video game series Call of Duty. Even I have gotten drunk a few times and found myself dying at the hands of some foul-mouthed, pre-pubescent teens a time or two. What I didn’t know was that Jan-Michael Vincent already went BEYOND that whole call business and starred in a film that just might put that entire video game series to shame! How exactly is that, you may be asking? You’ll have to read on to find out….

Synopsis: While leading a maverick band of warriors behind enemy lines, a U.S. Army Commander is forced to lead a beautiful American journalist through the treacherous Mekong River Delta aboard a high speed gun boat while being pursued by a cunning Vietnamese enemy. Via IMDB.com

• Getting that loot: The film opens in a way that I have never seen a Vietnam War movie open; with a train heist. Sure, it is essentially an ambush against what appears to be North Vietnamese Army troops on a very slow moving train but it definitely kicks off the action in the right way. The attacking soldiers make off with a mysterious crate that I just know we will be seeing more of later.

• Quick hit: Another quick bit of action as a group of American soldiers perform an attack on a NVA camp and take out some of the higher ups. It’s a really cool scene as they slither their way into the camp unnoticed and lay waste before a tactical retreat back to the river and the safety of their boat.
• The scars of war: For a film with this budget and from this studio, Beyond the Call of Duty starts off strong with action and then lays on some really dramatic scenes depicting the devastation the war has had on the inhabitants and soldiers. I don’t want to say that it felt out of place to feel so serious but it seemed like it was from a different film and forced into this to make it seem less like a DTV actioner. It’s 1975 and the American troops are tucking tail and leaving the country and the people who had assisted them are now paying for it.

• Who is in this movie?: It took a little longer than usual because I was quite enjoying the opening few scenes of the film but I started to ask myself what exactly was happening and who in the hell was in this movie? Jan-Michael Vincent’s Len Jordan finally showed up. He was a war hero who was being evacuated from the warzone by Eb Lottimer’s Lt. Sam Henderson. Also along for the ride was journalist Mary Jackson played by Jillian McWhirter. Jordan was a civilian now but he had been running some sort of secret war from the jungle for a while.
• The long trek upriver: Once everyone gets on Lt. Henderson’s boat the film slows a bit. They get attacked a few times and find themselves getting in more than one gun battle while traveling but the bulk of the action happens at the beginning and the end of the film. We start learning about Ms. Jackson and Jordan’s relationship and they’re also joined on the boat by a bunch of orphans just trying to get out of harms way. The biggest flaw of the film is the fact that none of the characters are fleshed out enough to warrant any type of emotional response. Even when they’re in danger or dying, in fact, I couldn’t bring myself to care because there was just nothing there.

• No escape from the drama: Of course Jackson and Jordan, two of millions of folks running through the jungle during the war, have some sort of sexual relationship. Mary was working on a documentary about the man and the two hit it off. She eventually pushes some sort of future plans on him at one point and he pretty much tells her that he’s going back to his family but they can still bang it out on the side. Not too sure, but most women aren’t down for that sort of thing. Nice try JMV!
• One final push: The boat finally strolls far enough down the river that they come to heavily defended bridge. They take the time to scout it out, make plans, and then absolutely annihilate everyone on the bridge. It’s a cool scene and no amount of squib was left untouched but it all falls flat as we’ve already seen them mow through the NVA to this point and JMV and his pals are never in any real danger. We do finally learn what was in the crate and big SPOILER ( it’s full of gold! ). It seems that these “good guys” running around the jungle fighting someone else’s war aren’t in it just for the stories.

The Verdict: Beyond the Call of Duty is a very unique film. At times, it is a great Vietnam war film that shows the toll of the war on the people of Vietnam and the American soldiers who fought in it. At other times, it is nothing more than just shoot’em up action with bullets galore and explosions every 5 seconds. Jan-Michael Vincent should have been the standout performer in the film with his Col. Kurtz-like character but there just isn’t enough meat on the bones there to make it one to write home about. The movie is enjoyable as an action flick since there are so many gun battles, but it clearly lacks in the character and story development as it took me about 35 minutes to even realize who the main characters were. If you enjoy JMV and are into that strange time in the 80’s and 90’s where Vietnam movies were being shot in the Philippines seemingly every week then you will love this to death. It really isn’t that bad. For me, it was fun while it lasted but I’ll probably forget I watched it two months from now.