Bullet Points: Final Reprisal
They say you never forget your first time. For Gary Daniels his first starring role in a movie was in 1988’s Final Reprisal, a low budget, direct to video film shot in the Philippines.
- Right Place, Wrong Time: Gary Daniels plays Sergeant David Callahan of the USMC. David is set to lead a task force on what is described as a top secret “make or break” mission where the Vietnam War is concerned. The objective, crash a high level conference of the enemy forces and eliminate all targets. David and his team get to their target… but something seems off. It is even suggested by one member of the team that they abort the mission, but David pulls rank and barks orders at his men. They are going in! There’s one problem, the high level conference with all the power players has been moved to the next day and now David and his men find themselves behind enemy lines dealing with enemy forces led by Tran Van Phu (Protacio Dee, Nine Deaths of the Ninja). Plenty of carnage ensues, with only David, Charlie Murphy (played by the real Jim Gaines of Robowar fame) and Douglas Hunter (David Light, Black Fire) remaining. The trio is desperate to get the hell out of there and that’s when they find Tran Van Phu’s young daughter, Mai Linh, and use her as a human shield to get to a jeep and get the hell out of there…
- Whodunnit?: The Mai Linh thing did not feel like a really “good guy” thing to do, but it was a matter of survival so I get it. But what I didn’t get is once they got off the compound why they didn’t release Mai Linh. What was the end game where she was concerned? Well, when the jeep hits a landmine and everyone in the jeep has seconds to scatter, Mai Linh ends up hysterically running through the brush surrounding the road… and that’s about the time one of the three Marines shoots Mai Linh right between the eyes. All we saw was a pair of boots and the barrel of the rifle. Douglas and David manage to get away, Charlie was not as lucky as he is captured by Tran Van Phu and becomes a P.O.W.
- No Day at the Beach: The movie jumps five years into the future where Douglas Hunter and David Callahan now work at the United States Embassy in Thailand. We also learn that David is a family man now with a wife and young son. One day when the Callahan clan return from a trip to the grocery store they notice a strange car parked in their driveway… when David gets inside who does he see standing there? His old friend Charlie Murphy, who he had written off as dead after the failed mission. Not only is Charlie alive and well, he’s also inherited his uncle’s export business and he is in Thailand to set up a new branch. Charlie invites David and his family to come to spend the day at the beach house he is staying at while in Thailand. David and his family aren’t going to turn down that invite and it is off to the beach. (Side note… this is where we see a mysterious figure in the back seat of a car watching David’s house, I wonder if it is Tran Van Phu?) The fun in the sun for David, his family and his old buddy Charlie turns out to be no day at the beach, as the foursome are attacked by a dirt bike gang. David is almost blown up, and when he comes to he instinctively looks for his wife, son but they are nowhere to be found. David and Charlie both end up hospitalized and Douglas shows up to check on his old friends and share what few details he has about what happened to them at the beach.
- Number One with a Bullet: David spirals into depression after he is called down to the morgue to identify the bodies of his wife and son, both shot right between the eyes just like Tran Van Phu’s daughter. Later that night, Charlie stops by to check on David who is sitting on the floor drinking right out of the bottle with a gun in his hand… before anything drastic can happen, Charlie convinces David to come with him to visit a strip club, owned by Sam… a well connected figure in Thailand, if anyone would know who was responsible for the attack on David and his family it would be Sam. After greasing the wheels, Sam reveals that El Chameleon, the leader of some communist rebels attacked David, because they learned that David’s job at the U.S. Embassy was a cover and that he was actually brought in to train the Thai Special Forces. David buys it and El Chameleon instantly moves to the #1 spot of David’s shit list. After David and Charlie leave Sam’s office, the mysterious figure watching David’s house enters the office through a backdoor, I wonder if it Tran Van Phu?
- Revenge: Spoiler alert… it was Tran Van Phu! TVP is in Thailand looking to seek revenge on David Callahan, who he believes killed his daughter (Side note… where would he get an idea like that?). It also becomes apparent that orchestrating the deaths of David’s wife and son didn’t even the score in TVP’s eyes and he wants to kill David too. But when it is revealed that El Chameleon had nothing to do with killing David’s family, David now has some unfinished revenge business of his own!
Final Reprisal could have easily been a movie that Gary Daniels wishes he could forget but it honestly wasn’t that bad, even if there were elements that honestly weren’t that good. You could already see that rookie Gary Daniels had the aptitude for the career he was about to embark on.
If you are still reading this review, you are about to embark on a trip to the world of Bonus Bullet Points…
- Questionable Flashback: David Callahan and Charlie Murphy weren’t just fellow Marines, they were actually friends back in high school. This friendship is established in a series of flashbacks… First we see “high school” David in some serious trouble as he finds himself outnumbered by some punks and the head punk has a knife to David’s throat, but Charlie shows up and brings a gun to the knife fight to save David’s ass… Then we see David and Charlie sparring with one another at the gym… Then we see David and Charlie having a heart to heart conversation about friendship while they are showering at the gym.
- It’s Teddy, Ready With the One, Two Check Up: Final Reprisal was directed by Tedd Hemmingway or as he is also known, Teddy Page or as he was born, Teddy Chiu. Teddy also directed Blood Debts and Fighting Spirit (using the alias John Lloyd).
- Worst Torture Scene Ever: As I mentioned earlier, after their failed mission Charlie Murphy spent some time as a prisoner of war. Later in the film we see a flashback scene where Charlie is remembering being tortured via electroshock as Tran Van Phu is desperate to find out who killed his daughter. This was easily the worst torture scene ever with piss poor sound effects and a light bulb that barely dimmed when Charlie was being “shocked”. The most shocking part of this scene is that someone thought it was ok to make the final cut.
