Bullet Points: Navy SEALS vs. Zombies

It is my honor to kick off our celebration of the career of Michael Dudikoff here on Bulletproof Action as I review Mr. Dudikoff’s latest project, Navy SEALS vs. Zombies.

I would like to point out that I never got caught up in the Walking Dead inspired ZombieMania. While I have nothing against zombie movies or TV shows, they have never been “go to” sources of entertainment for me and under normal circumstances I would not be rushing to see the latest zombie themed movie.  But 30 years ago I did get caught up in DudiMania when I watched Michael Dudikoff in the Cannon classic, American Ninja. With that one movie, Michael Dudikoff made me a fan for life. So when I heard that Michael Dudikoff was going to be in a zombie themed movie, I knew I was going to check it out at my earliest opportunity.

• What You See Is What You Get: The title of this movie is about as straight forward as can be. There’s no room for interpretation. The plot is simple…  a group of Navy SEALS are sent on a mission to extract the Vice President, who is trapped inside the capitol building in Baton Rouge after an attack. When the SEAL team arrives, they learn that the attackers are zombies! From that point on the audience is treated to the highly skilled Navy SEAL team taking out zombies with precision marksmanship. It is one bullet to the head after the other as they thin the zombie herd. Once the action gets going (and it doesn’t take long), the action is non-stop.

• Your Navy SEALS Starting Line Up: The team is lead by Pete (Ed Quinn), the team refers to him as L.T. (that’s short for lieutenant), then there’s Billy the Medic (Mikal Vega). Billy reminded me a lot of the late TV pitchman Billy Mays, must have been the beard, of course sharing the same first name certainly didn’t hurt. There’s a new guy in the group named AJ Prescott (Damon Lipari). You know that AJ is new because A) They establish that fact in the first few minutes of the movie and B) He is the only one on the team without a beard. There’s also Travis, who seemed too husky to be a SEAL, but since I don’t know any actual Navy SEALS that may not be the case and merely my perception. And lastly there’s Carl, played by former Impact Wrestling star Gunner or as he is known in the acting world, Chad Lail.  AJ is clearly the character the creative force behind Navy SEALS vs. Zombies wanted the audience to connect with most… again he’s the new guy trying to fit in, he’s got a pregnant wife at home and to top it all off he gets separated from the team at one point. The rest of the characters don’t really have much back story, but there’s not a real need for it as there is little to no down time as the team tries to accomplish their mission. And while the audience may not know much about Billy, Carl and L.T. they at least do come across as legit bad asses.

• The Man of the Hour: I must take a moment to talk about the reason I watched this movie to begin with… Michael Dudikoff. While I would have loved to have seen Dudikoff getting involved in more of the action, he seemed quite comfortable taking on the elder statesman role of Commander Sheer. Sheer has a wicked scar on his face letting the audience know he earned his way up the military ladder. I want to applaud the producers of this film for casting Michael Dudikoff in this role and using his legendary action star status to give the movie a boost. Smart casting! Maybe the folks over at The Expendables franchise will figure it out.

Would I recommend this movie to others? Well, probably not to my grandma, but I would recommend it to any fan of Michael Dudikoff or any fans of the zombie genre. I would even go so far to say that it is a perfect action movie to watch during the Halloween season.

Here are a few bonus Navy SEALS vs. Zombies Bullet Points…

• Vice President Fox: The Vice President in the movie is played by former Los Angeles Laker turned actor, Rick Fox. Fox is a part of what I believe is the worst scene in the film, the Vice Presidential press conference. Action fans may remember Fox from his work with Casper Van Dien in The Collectors.
• Made in the USA: No offense to fine citizens of Canada, Bulgaria or Romania, but it is nice to see a lower budget action movie getting made right here in the United States. The film was shot entirely in the capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge.
• Name That Baby: We learn early on in the movie during a tender moment with his wife Emily (before all the zombie killing), that if AJ Prescott has his way, his son will be named Chuck Norris Prescott.