Invasion U.S.A.

Rating:
Summary: vintage Chuck Norris
Review: One of Chuck Norris's better known movies; TBS has shown this countless times. It doesn't really get better with age though. Not Chuck's best movie but better than several of the real duds like Forced Vengeance and Good Guys Wear Black. It's Chuck against the Russkies who invade his homeland and really tee him off. No real extras on the DVD, just the movie. Action is not really memorable in this movie, and it's pretty unbelievable even for a Chuck movie. But, if you're a Chuck fan, this one is a must because it's got a few classic Chuck one-liners.

Rating:
Summary: vintage Chuck Norris
Review: One of Chuck Norris's better known movies; TBS has shown this countless times. It doesn't really get better with age though. Not Chuck's best movie but better than several of the real duds like Forced Vengeance and Good Guys Wear Black. It's Chuck against the Russkies who invade his homeland and really tee him off. No real extras on the DVD, just the movie. Action is not really memorable in this movie, and it's pretty unbelievable even for a Chuck movie. But, if you're a Chuck fan, this one is a must because it's got a few classic Chuck one-liners.

Rating:
Summary: "It's time."
Review: Ridiculous, unrealistic, and fantastic in the process. A film only the Cannon Group could produce and have it come out looking great. And of course, Chuck Norris is in it, so you know there's gonna be hell to pay.

Rating:
Summary: Chucko kills the baddies
Review: The 1980s were a tough time to live through. First, Cold War hysteria reached new heights when Ronald Reagan talked trash with the commies as wife Nancy consulted astrology charts in the White House. Second, those crazy cranks in Cuba and the Soviet Union attempted to establish footholds in Grenada and El Salvador while running the show in Nicaragua. Third, the Medellin and Cali cartels shipped a few million boatloads of cocaine into the United States. Fourth, Islamic terrorists made headlines when they hijacked an ocean liner, several airplanes, and set off a car bomb that killed over 200 U.S. Marines in Beirut. Fifth, at least once a week the television set blared out a noxious series of audio tones otherwise referred to as the theme song from "Growing Pains," a sound that still haunts me to this day. Sixth, I not only went to but also survived that adolescent experience we call high school. All of these events--and a million others--gave most of us sweaty palms for roughly ten years. Fortunately, the 1980s also saw a plethora of action films released under the Cannon Films banner. If not for Michael Dudikoff, Charles Bronson, and Chuck Norris it is unlikely any of us would have survived the decade.

The same director who brought us "The Prowler" and a "Friday the 13th" sequel, Joseph Zito, lensed the Chuck Norris vehicle "Invasion U.S.A." It's a chilling story about a vicious KGB agent named Rostov (Richard Lynch) and his plans to undermine our country. The idea is simplicity itself: take a few hundred Latin American communists badly in need of a shower and shave, land them on the beaches of Florida, and drive around wiping out symbols of American domesticity. Rostov and his goons drive into a quiet American neighborhood, pull out a rocket launcher, and start leveling houses. These redski thugs plant bombs on school buses, pose as cops to attack ethnic minority street parties, launch assaults on shopping malls, break speed limits, jaywalk, and on occasion resort to littering all in an effort to turn us against each other. The nerve of these guys! Just in case you aren't aware that these terrorists are really, really bad guys, the movie shows Rostov killing the guy responsible for selling his troops weapons, a sweaty miscreant named Mickey (Billy Drago), and his tacky girlfriend. Our affable KGB agent even throws Mickey's gal out the window after perforating her nose with a coke straw! Blow his head off, I say!

We don't have a chance against this force until Matt Hunter (Chuck Norris) arrives on the scene. Billions of dollars spent on intelligence, arms, and hundreds of thousands of highly trained soldiers can't compare to one ex-CIA operative clad in tight jeans with two machine gun pistols draped across his shoulders. The government approaches our hero with a request to rejoin the fight against his old enemy Rostov, but Hunter is too busy roping in alligators out in the Florida swamps to bother with such trivialities. Until Rostov shows up to murder Matt's best friend and level his home, that is. A now angry Hunter zooms around Florida in a pickup truck impervious to all weapons up to and including nuclear bombs, thwarting the terrorists at every turn. Plan on attacking a church with a satchel of explosives? Matt Hunter doesn't take kindly to that sort of rude behavior. Got a hankering for spraying bullets at a crowded grocery store? Matt Hunter will tell you in no uncertain terms to go hit the showers. Magnetic bomb on a school bus? Not when Matt Hunter's patrolling the highways and byways of America, you don't! By the time the government finally gets around to fielding some troops, our protagonist has it all figured out. And Rostov's hatred for his old nemesis Matt Hunter so blinds him to rational thought that he and his men walk right into a deadly trap. Matt Hunter one, terrorists zero.

"Invasion U.S.A." ranks as one of the most ridiculous action films of the 1980s as well as one of the most ridiculous Cannon releases, and that's saying something when one considers Bronson's "Death Wish 3." Every character in the film is a one-dimensional stereotype, from the good guys to the bad guys to the indigent female reporter McGuire (Melissa Prophet). I can't remember a film where so many cast members exist only to die in violent ways. And it's a rare action film that contains so many unintentional laughs. For instance, one guy who perishes early on reappears later as a background extra. I'm not kidding. He's right there for the whole world to see. Then there is Matt Hunter's ability to roar out of nowhere in his supertruck just in time to stop the latest terrorist shenanigans. How does Hunter know when and where the commies are about to strike? The script told him. Amazing that the police and military can't pull the same trick, isn't it? Lest you think I'm unduly picking on the film, one sequence does require us to think. Hunter drives into the city only to witness scene after of scene of poor Americans acting up in the slums. A message that America isn't worth saving unless we get our act together, perhaps? Who knows? Who cares, for that matter.

MGM apparently bought the rights to many of Cannon's old action films and has been releasing them to DVD over the last year or two. The roaring lion doesn't really respect most of these movies, however, since nearly all of them come with a fullscreen picture transfer and only a trailer as an extra. Yet we must admire MGM for distributing these boilerplates for a new generation of film fans. These pictures were the bread and butter of cable television back in the 1980s, and as bad as most of them are in a technical sense it's still fun to watch them now.




Rating:
Summary: Entertaining over the top action thriller!
Review: This is a classic Chuck Norris action thriller from the 1980`s,ie good guy V bad guys and the good guy wins A totally ridiculous plot which is extremely unrealistic, but this does not matter as Chuck`s Macho antics and strong personality make this movie very watchable. There are some great stunts and cool lines in this film but if intellectual content is a vital component in your movie choice, dont watch this. Otherwise, view and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as they say
Review: This is a pretty ridicoluos film. An ugly man with ugly blondhair want's to take over Florida, or something like that. But he'sscared of Chuck Norris, his old enemy. A VEEEERY stupid plot. There'sto little action in the movie (although the carchase troughout the mall is pretty cool). Chuck hardly fights at all. The final fight with the crook is quite good, but it should be MUCH longer than it is. In the whole it's not a very good film.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Movie!
Review: This is the type of movie that made Chuck Norris a household name in America.Just like in the Octogan Chuck goes out and defeats the forces of evil. A small army of terrorists invades the Unites States. These terrorists are led by a very evil and a very bloodthirsty master terrorist. He also happens to be an arch enemy of our hero Chuck Norris. The invading terrorist start spreading anarchy and panic all over the area. These terrorist even attempt to assasinate Chuck Norris in his retirement home in the Florida Everglades.After this act Chuck comes out of his retirement and the battle is on. Chuck starts making life hard for the terrorists. There is many a battle. Chuck and his arch enemy have a final showdown. Once again Chuck emerges victorious. Be sure to rent or buy this movie. It is exciting and entertaining. See Chuck Norris before he became Walker Texas Ranger.

Rating:
Summary: ROCK!
Review: This movie is just outright, violent fun... if you like blowing people and stuff up, this is it... no comparison. You have to buy a movie where Chuck Norris uses two uzis and blows away people with a rocket launcher.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Bad Norris Flick
Review: This should have been called Invasion Miami or Invasion Florida.
There is talk about "attacks" all over the US but the films budget didn't show any of that. The action is limited to Florida.
Lucky the BigBadGuy stays in that area since he has a grudge against Chuck Norris's character.
Norris does NO wrong in this movie. He always has the upper hand.
It's a bit dark; even on DVD. It's not very long. There are no real extras here. The amazon.com price is good. The wife wanted it for her collection.

Rating:
Summary: One of my greatest guilty pleasures.
Review: When a group of terrorists invade America, only Matt Hunter (Chuck Norris) can stop them. Pretty simple stuff, not an ounce of plot to get in the way of the story, but what a story it is. Invasion U.S.A. was one of the million or so b-movie thrill rides put out by the now, sadly, defunct Cannon Pictures. I was fearful that changing times (and fashions) would date Invasion U.S.A. some, and, to be honest, they have. But it still retains enough of its bad movie charms to entertain in a brainlessly high octane way. Stuffed with enough action for two Cannon Pictures, this is an essential for both Cannon and Chuck Norris fans - though the 'good' movies The Chuckster did for the studio are, in my opinion, the first Missing in Action and The Hero and The Terror. But this is my favorite of the bunch and I give it my highest recommendation.