However, he has been pursued by the sinister white-suited Kramet (Mel Davidson) and his team of black-clad ninjas(!), who destroy Rosanna’s drinking establishment. Jenkins, it seems, is being held by a group involved in the manufacture of heroin, which Ransom is told is led by Huan To (Vic Diaz), a Chinese KGB agent with a penchant for sexual sadism.Īlong the way, Ransom stops off at the tavern of Rosanna Boom (Mary Stavin). Ransom is tasked by CIA agent Peter Roeg (Paul Holmes) with journeying into the jungle and bringing Jenkins back – dead or alive. Ransom attempts to free Jenkins, but his rescue attempt is interrupted by another group of men, who overwhelm the CIA agents and manoeuvre Jenkins away in a helicopter.Ī ransom of $10 million in diamonds is demanded by the captors for Jenkins’ safe return. However, Ransom soon discovers that Jenkins’ death has been faked: Ransom’s mentor is alive, and being held in a CIA safehouse. In Strike Commando 2, Ransom (Brent Huff) is introduced mourning for the death of his former commanding officer, Major Vic Jenkins (Richard Harris). Where Strike Commando was clearly modelled on Rambo: First Blood, Part II (George P Cosmatos, 1985), with some overt nods to other pictures – for example Antonio Margheriti’s The Last Hunter ( L’ultimo cacciatore, 1980), the progenitor of the Italian ‘Namsploitation’ films made in the Philippines during the 1980s – Strike Commando 2 takes more inspiration from other Hollywood films: in particular, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the clear influence of which Strike Commando 2 bolts onto its Rambo-esque narrative structure.
In the interview on Severin’s release of Strike Commando 2, Claudio Fragasso talks about Bruno Mattei’s predilection for copying wholesale scenes from popular Hollywood movies.
Along with the first film, Strike Commando 2 has been given an impressive Blu-ray release by Severin Films – though we recommend reading this review of Strike Commando 2 in conjunction with our article about Strike Commando, which establishes a context for the ‘macaroni combat’ films of the 1980s – and in particular, the trend in ‘Namsploitation’ pictures, shot in the Philippines, popular with Italian filmmakers following the successes of Cimino’s The Deer Hunter and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Motivated by the popularity of 1986’s Strike Commando, the first of a number of films they shot in the Philippines, Bruno Mattei, Claudio Fragasso and producer Franco Gaudenzi sought to emulate its success by making a sequel, Strike Commando 2 ( Trappola diabolica), released in 1988.
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