Scott LeBrun Action genre star Michael Dudikoff here gets a chance to stretch himself ever so slightly, playing a more potty mouthed character than usual. He's a former military man now working as an oil refinery inspector in the Middle East. He almost immediately gets caught up in a conspiracy to take over the oil rich country of "Qumir", and is thought to be an American operative gone bad. He works his way up the chain of command as he attempts to find out who is behind the plot, and in the meantime banters with a sexy American agent (Keren Tishman) whose name *might* be Maya.The Cannon Group was making its last gasp with programmers such as this one. Directed by David Worth, it lacks distinction for the most part. The action scenes are passable, the opening credits sequence is stylish, and the photography is reasonably impressive. The story is absolutely nothing special. This doesn't mean, however, that the movie isn't without some pleasures. It's got a flamboyant villain in the form of Todd Curtis' mercenary Rawlings, who has a hilariously bad hair day throughout. The final fight between Dudikoff and Curtis is pretty fun. "Chain of Command" gets another shot in the arm thanks to reliable veteran R. Lee Ermey, who's a pleasure to watch as a slick oil company kingpin. Dudikoff himself delivers a fairly engaging performance, and has some mild chemistry with Tishman.Mostly recommended just to die hard Cannon Group completists and Dudikoff fans.Five out of 10.

briantrash My rating: 4 out of 10 (didn't care for it) 'Chain of Command' is a direct-to-video actioner, the last film and dying breath of The Cannon Group.Well, for those who watch these kind of films regularly I hardly need to describe it. It's merely a variation on the same movie you've seen many times before, par for the course. The script doesn't make much sense a lot of the time and the acting is flimsy with very little if any character development, but that's okay because those things only exist to provide a framework for lots and lots of low budget shooting, stabbing, and exploding.Watching the action sequences, I started feeling kind of nostalgic because they are sooo 70's and 80's in style – lots of slo-mo. Slo-mo of guys flying through the air when a grenade goes off, slo-mo of guys falling from ledges after getting shot, slo-mo of bombs exploding…so dramatic! Anyone who grew up watching television in that era knows the style I'm talking about; I guess at the time we all thought it was very theatrical. I suppose that technique hasn't been totally abandoned today, but still...the way it's done in films of that time has a look all its own.Another element of the style that I got a kick out of was the way the main character can stand right out in the open in a gunfight without a care in the world. Despite there being a group of at least 10 guys blasting away at him he never gets a scratch, and, of course, manages to easily shoot every one them. Silly...oh well, you can't complain too much because even great movies like Star Wars pulled that kind of stuff.Funny, too, are such wonderful scenes as when the villain has our weaponless hero on the run and forces him to take cover behind a hotel bar. Does the villain, emboldened by the fact that he has two submachine guns and our hero has nothing, walk behind the bar and shoot our hero at point blank range? No! He proceeds to use up every last bullet firing at the bar, the drinks, the stools, the mirror behind the bar, and the ceiling, finally stopping when he runs out of ammo so that our hero can make a run for it.What we have here is a case of little boys who like to play with little firecrackers growing up into big boys who like to make movies where they play with big firecrackers. Films like this are really for one purpose...destruction porn. The thrill of watching all kinds of stuff get smashed or blown up. Now don't get me wrong, I'm no different than the next guy. I love a good action movie. But I also like an interesting script and engaging characters.I said before that the acting's pretty flimsy but I guess I can't totally rip all of the performers in this movie. Michael Dudikoff, a legend of this genre, is really not all that bad at times. R. Lee Ermey is in this! Now there's an instantly recognizable character actor. Ermey's main henchman, Todd Curtis, has some surprisingly good acting chops; I actually found him to be the most natural and believable. Looking on IMDb I see that his resume ends not long after this movie, though. I wonder what happened.Anyway, to sum up...movies like this are made for people who LIKE movies like this, and who am I to judge? It's not my cup of tea, but if you love tongue-in-cheek action flicks then you'll probably get a kick out of this. It has all the right ingredients: the unstoppable hero, the hot girl, the cheesy dialogue, and a healthy dose of mayhem and destruction.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Boring and ridicules action adventure straight to video flick with ex-green beret Merrill Ross, David Dudikoff, getting involved with this anti-government group in the oil rich Arab country of Oumir who's objectives are as confusing as the movies storyline. Ross gets involved with all this insanity by being the only one to survive an attack on the oil rig that he works for where all he American workers like himself were killed or taken hostage by the the terrorists who destroyed it.Lead by the ultra and super hairy, with more hair on his head then the hair on the singing group "The Beatles" combined, gun toting Rawings, Todd Curtis, these terrorist are making it look like the revolutionary Oumir Liberation Front did their dirty work in order to discredit it. And it's now up to Ross to make things straight in the movie. Ross and together with the ultra sultry and alluring Mossad Israeli secret agent Myra Robenowitz played by sexy Keren Tishman, in her first and only film appearance, ends up doing just that.The hot and heavy action is what makes the film "Chain of Command" watchable with Ross despite all the close calls he has never has his neatly styled hair mussed up or his immaculately clean and pressed clothes as much as wrinkled. There's also the villain in the film big US oil man Ben Brewster,R.Lee Emery, who's behind all this killing and destruction in order to get control of Oumir's rich oil reserves. There's also a side story about the nation of Oumir secretly negotiation a peace treaty and favored nation status with the state of Israel, the Muslim worlds sworn and eternal enemy, that seemed to go nowhere and is dropped halfway though the film never to be brought up again.***SPOILERS*** Life and death slug fest between Ross and Rawings at the conclusion of the movie which was about as hilarious as any three stooges short. With Ross on the brink of death suddenly pulling an ace from up his sleeve and cue-balling Rawings, in the side pocket, with his trusty pool stick.

nleyap I have also watched this movie several times. Something tells me to watch it over and over again .This shows that it was well planned and acted. Everything has room for improvement otherwise I would have awarded Michael 100%. Ihave also watched most of Michael's movies and never at any time did I regret going to the movie house or buying the movies themselves. I do have a collection of his movies which shows how interesting they are.One thing I also like is that when he is supposed to be violent he does that and if he decides to be cool , he does not have a problem with adjusting.But my question though is , why don't the movie stars combined just for one or two movies and see what they come up with. The may produce a gem.Keep up the good work Mr DuddikoffPraise Nleya Box 8112 Belmont Bulawayo Zimbabwe Africa