''Avenging Force'' is a 1986 American

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Sam Firstenberg Sam Firstenberg (born Shmulik Firstenberg on March 13, 1950) is an Israeli-American film director. He is best known for having made low-budget B-movies most of his career, among them the first two films in the American Ninja series, ''American Ni ...

. The screenplay was written by

James Booth James Booth (born David Noel Geeves; 19 December 1927 – 11 August 2005) was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Private Henry Hook in '' Zulu.'' ''Variety'' called him "a punchy b ...

, who co-starred in the film. It was originally intended as a sequel to the 1985 film '' Invasion U.S.A.'', which starred

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. Born in Oklahoma, Norris first gained fame when he won the amateur Middleweight Karate champion title in 1968, which he held for six consecutive years. H ...

in the role of Matt Hunter. In ''Avenging Force'', Hunter (played by

Michael Dudikoff Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr., (; born October 8, 1954) is an American actor, model and martial artist. Born in New York City, his family later moved to Los Angeles. Dudikoff did different jobs to pay for his education, during this time he b ...

) faces off against a group of

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

extremists known as the Pentangle.

Plot

In the swamps of the

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

bayou, two men are hunted and killed by four costumed, well-armed adversaries. A retired

US Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security tasked with con ...

agent, Captain Matt Hunter, has retired to his family's cattle ranch in Louisiana and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, with his sister Sarah and grandfather. They drive to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and meet Matt's old military comrade and local politician Larry Richards, who is now running for

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

. At dinner, Larry hesitantly mentions threats made against his life during the election cycle, which he dismisses as harmless. Later that day, Larry, Matt and their families ride in Larry's float in the

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

parade. Disguised as revelers, assassins open fire on Larry's float, killing his eldest son. Matt and Larry take down the attackers, but Matt loses the last assassin in charge in the crowd. Matt calls in a favor to his old boss, Admiral Brown, and learns the perpetrators are members of an organization known to US intelligence as the Pentangle. Taking the name of the five-pointed star, the Pentangle is a

group promoting extreme views on

gun rights The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, as well as ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

and security, whose leadership is suspected of operating a hunting club targeting people. The Secret Service suspects the cult to be composed of businessmen and authority figures with connections to Washington and to be run by five members, each represented by a point on the star, but it lacks further knowledge and asks Matt to infiltrate the organization to gain further intelligence. Matt declines because of his family, but he sends his and Larry's family to hide out at his ranch. Meanwhile, Matt and Larry intentionally foil a second trap set by the Pentangle, which eliminates several more assassins in a dockyard confrontation. Professor Elliott Glastenbury is the head of Glastenbury Industries and the leader of the Pentangle. He takes personal interest in Matt after he reviews surveillance of the botched Richards hit, Pentangle's first failure. The members Wade Delaney, Jeb Wallace, and Charles Lavall consider asking Matt to join. Learning that the families are hiding out at Matt's ranch, Glastenbury orders Delaney, Wallace, and Lavall to attack the ranch, kill the Secret Service agents and Matt's grandfather, and set the ranch ablaze. Matt, Sarah, and Larry's wife all escape, and Larry goes back to rescue his youngest son but is shot in the process. As Matt saves them both, Larry asks Matt to protect his son and dies. Meanwhile, Pentangle finds Sarah and Larry's wife hiding outside, takes Sarah hostage, and executes Larry's wife. Matt attempts to escape via the roof with Larry's son but is shot in the leg so that he falls to the ground. The Pentangle gives Matt two weeks to agree to be hunted, or it will kill Sarah. Before leaving, it executes Larry's youngest son in front of an injured Matt. Two weeks later, Matt shows up to a Cajun bayou party at which the Pentangle members are guests. Matt finds Sarah about to be auctioned off by the

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

as a

sex slave Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor that results in sexual ...

. He rescues her, which attracts the Pentangle's attention, but escapes into the swamps on foot. The Pentangle hunts him throughout the night, but one by one, Matt eliminates Lavall, Wallace, and Delaney until only Glastenbury remains. Ambushed by Glastenbury, Matt stabs him, which allows both men time to escape, with Matt taking Sarah to Brown for treatment and protection. Matt then confronts Glastenbury at his mansion. Declining his offer to join the Pentangle, both duel with Glastenbury's collection of antique weaponry around them. Glastenbury appears to have the upper hand, but Matt impales him on one of his own statues and kills him. Matt goes to the hospital to see Sarah, where Brown congratulates him on a job well done. Matt confronts him that only the Secret Service knew that the families were hiding out on Matt's ranch and so someone in the Service is connected to the Pentangle, which strongly implying that Brown is the unnamed fifth member of the Pentangle's membership. Matt vows to continue fighting the Pentangle and leaves.

Cast

as Captain Matt Hunter * Steve James as Larry Richards *

as Admiral Brown * Bill Wallace as Wade Delaney * John P. Ryan as Professor Elliott Glastenbury * Karl Johnson as Commander Jeb Wallace *

Marc Alaimo Marc Alaimo is an American actor known for his villainous roles. He is best known for his role as recurring villain Gul Dukat in the TV series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Early and personal life Alaimo was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He ...

as Charles Lavall * Allison Gereighty as Sarah Hunter

Release

Theatrical

''Avenging Force'' received a theatrical release in the United States on September 12, 1986, opening at the RKO National Twin in New York City, New York, and other theaters.

Home media

''Avenging Force'' was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

Media Home Entertainment Media Home Entertainment Inc. was a home video company headquartered in Culver City, California, originally established in 1978 by filmmaker Charles Band. Media Home Entertainment also distributed video product under additional labels — The N ...

. In 2014, the film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in the US by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

Reception

Critical response

Nina Darnton, in her review of the film for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', wrote, "The heros themselves, the movie tirelessly points out, are kind men with strict codes of honor and intense personal loyalties. ..The enemy is unambiguously bad. These kinds of movies are not strong on subtlety." She compared Dudikoff to "a young

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, though Mr. Dudikoff, a former

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

model, is more agile than

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...

ever was." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''s

Paul Attanasio Paul Albert Attanasio (born November 14, 1959) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, once for '' Quiz Show'' (1994) and once for '' Donnie Brasco'' (1997). Earl ...

also noted a perceived lack of subtlety in the film, and wrote that its action sequences are "orchestrated by director Sam (Doctor Ninja) Firstenberg with his usual panache."

References

External links

* *
''Avenging Force''
at Facemelting Films {{Sam Firstenberg 1986 films 1986 independent films 1986 action films 1986 martial arts films 1980s English-language films American action films American independent films American sequel films American martial arts films Films about terrorism in the United States Films directed by Sam Firstenberg Films scored by George S. Clinton Films set in New Orleans Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New Orleans Golan-Globus films Films produced by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus 1980s American films English-language independent films English-language action films