''Trident Force'' (also known as ''The Ultimate Solution'') is a 1988 Filipino action film directed by Richard Smith and starring

Anthony Alonzo Antonio Viana Hernandez (April 2, 1948 – October 9, 1998), also known as Anthony and Tony, was a Filipino actor, singer, and councilor of Quezon City. Early life He was born as Antonio Viana Hernandez on April 2, 1948, in Quezon City ...

, Nanna Anderson,

Mark Gil Raphael John Gil Eigenmann (September 25, 1961 – September 1, 2014), known professionally as Mark Gil, was a Filipino actor. Gil was often cast as a main villain in Philippine action films that was popular during the late '80s to the early 20 ...

, Steve Rogers, Eddie M. Gaerlan, Ronnie Patterson, Nick Nicholson, and Willy Schober. Produced by ANNA Films International, the film was released by Solar Films in the Philippines on December 16, 1988. Critic

Lav Diaz Lavrente Indico Diaz (born December 30, 1958) is a Filipino independent filmmaker and former film critic. He is frequently known as one of the key members of the slow cinema movement, and has made several of the longest narrative films on reco ...

gave ''Trident Force'' a mixed review, deeming its competent filmmaking to be undermined by stereotypical villains and exaggerated characters.

Plot

The Trident Force, an international counter-terrorism organization, is called in to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

to quell and defeat the Palestinian Revolutionary Legion by any means necessary.

Cast

as Rashid *Nanna Anderson as Lesley Prentias *

as Ahmed, Rashid's brother *Steve Rogers as Hawthorn *Eddie M. Gaerlan as Abu Hassad *Ronnie Patterson as Casey * Nick Nicholson as Ox *Willy Schober as Ibrahim Habash *Rafael Schulz as Trident Schulz *Tony Ogumsaya as Trident Robinson *Majid Jadali as Trident Majid *Randy Hrobar as Trident Harel *Jim Moss as Trident Parsons *Tony Lao as Trident Kimura *Gerald Tosco as Trident Dobouis *Carlos Terry as Trident Gomez *Mike Aguas as Trident Aguas *Salah Mahfoudi as Sultan of Qumarnesia *Paul Holmes as Israeli ambassador *Moshen Hassani as imam *Bahman Borzoo as ambassador to Jordan

Release

''Trident Force'' was graded "C" by the

Movie and Television Review and Classification Board The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB; ; is a Philippine government agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines that is responsible for the classification and review of television programs, motion p ...

(MTRCB) in the Philippines, indicating a "Fair" quality. The film was released by Solar Films in Philippine theaters on December 16, 1988. In the United States, the film 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 ...

by Diamond Entertainment. In Japan, the film was released on VHS by Herald Videogram. In Ghana, the film was theatrically released in 1994.

Critical response

, writing for the ''

Manila Standard The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines which, as of 2017, is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner ...

'', gave ''Trident Force'' a mixed review, considering its storytelling to be "direct and competent" while deeming the exaggerated characterizations and stereotypically dumb villains to be "childish" and trivializing.

References

External links

*
''Trident Force''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* 1988 films 1988 action films Films about Islam Films about terrorism in Asia Films set in the Middle East Philippine action films 1980s English-language films English-language action films {{1980s-Philippines-film-stub