''Avenging Force'' is a 1986 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

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. Though considered handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety ...

, 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. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...

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 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 became a mo ...

) faces off against a group of

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

extremists known as the Pentangle.

Plot

In the swamps of the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

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 agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

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

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, with his sister Sarah and grandfather. They drive to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

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

US Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. 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 (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fat ...

parade. Disguised as revelers, assassins open fire on Larry's float, accidentally 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 right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, 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, and 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 considers 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 while 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, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

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, reducing a person to a s ...

. 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 John Patrick Ryan (July 30, 1936 – March 20, 2007) was an American actor, best known for his role as Warden Ranken in the 1985 film ''Runaway Train''. Biography The son of Irish immigrant parents, Ryan graduated from Rice High School and st ...

as Professor Elliott Glastenbury * Karl Johnson as Commander Jeb Wallace *

Marc Alaimo Marc Alaimo (born Michael Joseph Alaimo; May 5, 1942) 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''. Career Alaimo is a classica ...

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 and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

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 three additional labels — ...

. 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 kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

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 house films, ...

Reception

Critical response

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 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 TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

, though Mr. Dudikoff, a former

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

model, is more agile than

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates ...

ever was." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''s

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

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