There are some bad movies out there. I should know. I’ve made a list. Some offer vast reserves of entertainment. Some, not so much. Others, like The Brave Platoon, a Hong Kong production filmed in the Philippines, never let things slow down too much, but sacrifice everything for the sake of pace. It’s the anti-film — hostile to art, hostile to storytelling, hostile to technique, and convinced that anyone who would bother to watch a movie like this doesn’t deserve any better. They might be right.
From director Phillip Ko, working from a screenplay by Godfrey Ho, The Brave Platoon, also released as American Force: The Brave Platoon, tells the story of a communist insurgency in Luzon, and the government’s effort to squash it. Really, that’s the story. It’s big time stuff for a small time movie. The American Force of the alternate title is a group of three commandos: Randy, Billy, and The Duke, who are tasked by American military advisors in the Philippines to track down and kill Soviet officer Kalashnikov, who is hidden in the jungles of Luzon funneling arms to insurgents. I would love to list who played these characters, but the film’s credits don’t say, and even the internet offers no clues.
On the side of the American Force is the Philippine army, including a soldier whose sister was attacked and raped by revolutionaries as they burned a village. I didn’t catch his name, but he’s a highly motivated dude, and racked up the highest body count in a movie that is ostensibly about the American commandos.
Opposing the forces of freedom are the aforementioned Soviets, and communist revolutionaries that have split into multiple factions. One faction is led by some fellow named Stone, the cruelest faction by two guys named Mack and Cobra, and the last faction, most 
sympathetic to the plight of rural villagers, led by Barry, if I heard his name correctly. Again, I have no idea who played these men.
What follows is a jumble of outrageous firefights, burning villages, mass slaughter, and intricate politics. The politics stuff can be completely ignored. If the filmmakers didn’t think it was important to let the audience know who played who, then there is also no burden on the audience to keep track of anything that happens on screen. We can just sit back and enjoy the chaos.
This is the kind of film where all rifles are fired from the hip, and just a few shots from the good guys is enough to send half a dozen baddies to their deaths, over and over again. It’s the closest thing to technique this flick has. My personal favorite aspect of the many firefights is that most of them were filmed in the same gravel pit, with wave after wave of anonymous cast members either jumping from the top of the pit to the sandy ground below, or being shot and tumbling therein. And all of this was filmed in glorious slow motion. Some of these brave souls were taking awful chances with their stunt work.
This is a movie that is nothing without the action. It’s so paramount, in fact, that the American Force doesn’t appear all that much. Whenever they are used, the set pieces are just not as spectacular as the scenes with the regular army. That makes me suspect the American Force was just played up for the western market. In truth, this flick is about that revenge-seeking soldier and his unit’s efforts to combat communist insurgents. It is they, perhaps, who are The Brave Platoon.
Treats for the shitty movie fan include the English language dubbing, which is typical low rent Hong Kong fare, and acting from the random westerners available in mid-1980s Philippines. Whoever it was who played Kalashnikov, he was a gift to viewers. His voice was dubbed, of course, but just looking at him, one can tell he was struggling with his lines. But, he’s also the only player in the movie who went after his role with gusto, and it’s a shame that his character spent most of the movie in a tiny room meeting with subordinates.
Action, gunplay, lots and lots of cliff diving, and a bunch of blood. That’s just about all this flick is, and all it needs to be. Objectively, The Brave Platoon is total garbage, but it is watchable enough to keep it out of the darkened depths of the Watchability Index. Barely. The Brave Platoon takes over the #433 spot from Paradise Alley.