Bullet Points: Battle Drone
Over the past few years there has been so much back and forth on whether or not the world would get a fourth movie in The Expendables franchise that at this point I am taking a “I’ll believe it when I see it” stance on the whole thing.
While The Expendables 4 may not be a certainty, one thing I am certain of is that action fans will continue to get movies inspired by The Expendables formula. We have already seen the female version of The Expendables with 2014’s Mercenaries. Two years later Showdown in Manila showed up with a cast of direct to video greats from the 1990’s.
In this edition of Bullet Points I will take a look at the latest film to borrow elements from The Expendables, 2018’s Battle Drone…
- Opening Credits: The opening credits of Battle Drone served two purposes… one being the fact that they were the movie’s opening credits and two introducing us to our heroic team of mercenaries as we see them in action as they make their way to a heavily guarded palatial estate located in Moscow. The mercenaries have been sent to Moscow by the CIA to do some dirty work and extract the heir to throne of the fictitious Republic of Alcazar as he is being wined and dined by a Russian big wig. The leader of the mercenaries is the bleached blonde Rekker (Louis Mandylor, The Quest). Rekker’s team includes the type of stereotypical characters you’d expect to be on a team of mercs… there’s the big brute Grigori (Oleg Taktarov, Predators), the crazy guy Dax, the hot chick who is one helluva shot Valkyrie, the British guy Blackwood and last but not least the martial arts expert Shiro (Dan Southworth, US Seals II).
- Their Next Assignment: After a successful mission in Moscow, Rekker is enjoying some down time at home when he is approached by gun runner and self-proclaimed patriot Karl Kess (Michael Paré, Streets of Fire). Kess wants Rekker and his team to go back to Russia, the infamous Chernobyl to be exact, and retrieve a warehouse full of weapons that were set to be delivered to some rebel freedom fighters. The mission seems pretty cut and dry, but it is complicated slightly when the CIA steps in and assigns an observation team to accompany Rekker and his team. The CIA contingent is led by Agent Alexandra Hayes (Dominique Swain, Face/Off). Agent Hayes is no fan of Rekker because she believes Rekker is a traitor and does not understand why the CIA continues to employ his services. And things are officially off to a rocky start…
- The Set Up: When Rekker and company get to the warehouse that is supposed to have a bunch of weapons inside, they instead find two bio-synthetic shock troops who are waiting for them and clearly have orders to kill Rekker and his team. The entire mission was a ruse. In reality it was an ultimate training exercise/sales pitch for Kess’ newest weapons the Battle Drones, plus the CIA could cut ties with Rekker and his team, who at this point were seen as a liability as they knew too much after working for the CIA for so long. Kess and high ranking members of the CIA and the United States military watch the events unfold from a remote location not too far from the Chernobyl warehouse where all the action is taking place… but the show does not go exactly as planned, and Rekker and his forces, along with the help of Agent Hayes (who was also in the dark about the true nature of this mission) take down the two Battle Drones. But our heroes aren’t out of the woods yet, Karl Kess activates an entire army of Battle Drones and things escalate in a hurry as Rekker makes the call to take the fight to the Battle Drones!
Battle Drone did not have the star power of The Expendables or even some of the other movies inspired by the Stallone franchise, but what Battle Drone did have was plenty of video game style action jammed into the 93 minute runtime. I thought the cast had good chemistry and the movie progressed at an entertaining pace. Battle Drone also had a satisfying ending that left the door open for Rekker and company to see more action in the future.
And speaking of more action, check out these Bonus Bullet Points…
- AKA: The working title for the film was Hunted: Battle of the Drones.
- A Long Way From Montana: Dax was played by Jason Earles, who up to this point in his career is probably most known for his role in Hannah Montana. I never saw an episode of Hannah Montana, but I think I can safely say that the Dax character is a far cry from whatever his character was on that show.
- Good Call: I was glad that the movie resisted the temptation to jam a romantic subplot in between Rekker and Hayes, especially after Hayes learns the official report she read about Rekker being a traitor while serving his country was not what actually happened.
- Written and Directed By: Battle Drone was only the second film directed by Mitch Gould, who has an extensive filmography in the stunt world. Gould did stunt work in such movies as The Rundown, G-Men from Hell, Shadow Fury and he was Michael Worth’s stunt double in U.S. Seals II.
