jc-osms It actually took me a few minutes to realise that Gregory Peck and David Niven had morphed into Robert Shaw and Edward Fox for this real-time follow-up to the 1961 hit war- movie "The Guns Of Navarone". That was almost as bizarre as the producers handily dropping the "Navarone" name into the title trying to catch a wave from 17 years ago in a film which has nothing to do with the earlier location.Once you get past that and accept that Harrison Ford has to be the youngest US Army colonel ever conscripted this is an enjoyable old-fashioned war movie although it does seem as if it belongs to another era of movie-making completely. Thus we get the usual Alistair MacLean ingredients of reluctant male-bonding, another traitor in the midst, for no apparent reason at all, a beautiful woman in a central part and of course, a big destructive finish.Shame that the would-be blockbuster finish is so obviously based on model-work but I guess SFX at the times had still to leap to the C-Gen stage. The characterisation is pretty much as you'd expect with the Germans portrayed as stupid and heartless, their partisan collaborators as heartless and stupid, with all the brains, courage and teamwork coming from Mallory and his cell. I could however have done without the racial baiting of Carl Weathers' black maverick soldier, quite unnecessary and unforgivable in a film made in the late 70's.The acting is as solid and stolid as you'd expect, Shaw and Fox demonstrating a stiff upper lip and Ford trademarking American moxy as they all start off distrusting each other but of course wind up as bonded-by-fire buddies by the end.It's fair to say I think that MacLean's writing and movie direction of this style was looking very clichéd and anachronistic this far down the line. That said, I'm a pretty old-fashioned type of guy and even though I found the characters stereotyped and the plotting unoriginal, I still got some sort of enjoyment from watching it.

Zev At the surface, this is actually an enjoyable WWII mission-action movie full of personality and clever twists with double-agents and improvisations by commando soldiers with skill and wit, Alistair MacLean style. I was even enjoying this as much as the original Guns of Navarone, that is, until the plot holes popped up (the original also had plot holes). This is not a dumb action movie that begs you to switch off your brain, so the plot holes pretty much ruin the experience. It turns out the whole plot was very significantly changed from the book though so keep that in mind.*spoilers* The biggest plot hole is the fact they were sent there because they knew Nikolai and could identify him and they knew Nikolai was at least a traitor from personal experience. So when they met him, why would they believe the story about another Nikolai that was the real traitor/spy? Another hole is that it turns out the British were constantly in touch with the partisans so they didn't have to send commandos to kill Nikolai, they could have simply told them to kill him.And then there is the whole bluff with the penicillin. First they bluff that they have it in their suitcase but they can't open it, then when it turns out it has wood inside the case, they say they buried it. Any German with half a brain would see the contradiction in the story. If they buried it for that matter, why bring the suitcase at all knowing that the Germans would force them to open it? Also the masked infiltrators were obviously discovered dead by the partisans first since they knew about it when they nabbed Force 10, so why did they leave the dead bodies there to be discovered by the Chetniks and thus give themselves away? Why would Miller instruct them how to plant the bomb at the dam, but not tell them the critical information that it would be a slow destruction and thus let them know how to time the whole thing so that they could get away and not allow the bomb to be discovered?I also had a problem with the fact that simple explosives could not destroy the bridge but water could. But this may be a lack of engineering knowledge on my part and perhaps the water eroded the ground underneath, except that he was going on and on about how it was attached to rock so I have doubts... Also the effects, although very well done, did not show an overwhelming force of water against the bridge that would convince. But, again, it may just be my lack of knowledge here.Pity, because I enjoyed the rest.

savovidovic Well, the movie is a flick. Just average, at most, in every aspect, even considering the time of production. It has some nice action scenes, but it's nothing like "A Bridge Too Far". It has some funny moments but it's nothing like the "Kelly's Heroes". It tries to develop as a drama but it's nothing like "The Guns of Navarone". Should I continue? :) Still, if you are fun of the WWII movies, or Harrison's fun, or just happen to have a chance to see the movie and have nothing smarter to spend two hours on, go see it! There is one more fact that needs to be pointed out. The biggest objection I have on the story is one that probably doesn't mean much to all of you who live outside the former Yugoslavia, the historic inaccuracy! And I don't mean the event itself but the characters and the organization of local resistance movements and the collaborators. I will not go into details on that here since it would take me, and you, a lot writing/reading time so just take my word for it, that part of the story is laughable bad. But again, it's an objection that can matters only to us living in former Yugoslavia, and for the rest of you I just have an advice: Don't try to learn the Balkan's WWII history from this!

skullislandsurferdotcom Seems like an action/adventure but ends up espionage and is overall a World War II film, and not a real sequel as two characters from THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, played by different actors, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox, join a group of Americans, led by Harrison Ford (basking from the prior year's STAR WARS fame), all sent from England into Yugoslavia: Ford's mission to blow up a bridge, Shaw's to kill a German agent.One must suspend disbelief to truly enjoy the plodding yet lightly involving odyssey as both missions intertwine, and you never really know which peripheral character's on the right side, adding intrigue and a fair amount of suspense.While it's much too easy for our heroes to traipse around Nazi-ridden Yugo without being killed, there's enough snags (like being captured twice by easily-tricked Germans) that you'll either forget or embrace that, for better or worse, this is complete fantasy.