Stephen Bird Not necessarily a bad film, but "Toy Soldiers" comes across as reasonably underwhelming..., basically it's premise is to be a top quality action flick but drowns in its own childishness.The cast of kids is fearful, you can see the anxiety seeping through in every character, instead of taking back the school and disposing of the terrorists, it looks as though all they want is their mommy's; fair dues they put a semi-confident effort in and eventually the terrorists do get their comeuppance, but the whole story comes across as a little flat. Wil Wheaton is particularly terrible as the wannabe 'Rambo' Joey Trotta, the guy suffers from an inability to act, even as he aged and got older, his acting hasn't improved and sadly he's been cast aside, being labelled as another Hollywood failure.Sean Astin fared little better, but he was in fact better, his character Billy Tepper has more about him and at least has a level of credibility, something that Wheaton's character sadly lacks..., he's clearly the 'bad-boy' of the school and seems to have grasped the idea of being cool.The remaining cast played their roles suitably but none of them managed to put that extra something into their performance, a simple case of going through the motions and getting the job done rather than taking pride in their work and making their characters stand out; any emotional attachment to any of the characters was missing and this made emphasising with anyone an impossible task. Something of a cult classic these days, "Toy Soldiers" isn't a particularly great film by any means, but anyone you speak to seems to have watched it so it must have indeed garnered a reputation somewhere along the line, making this an incredibly overrated film. It smacks of 1980's, even though the film was released in 1991, giving the impression that the filmmakers hadn't moved on with the rapidly moving times.A disappointment to the nth degree, how it's lasted this long and how it's still chugging along is a mystery, but it does and will continue to do so, obviously someone can see something in it that I can't, so fair play to them they must be brighter than I.

bkoganbing It's a special boy that goes to St. Regis prep school. This one is for rich misfit kids who've been kicked out other prep schools like Groton or Exeter. But sometimes it's the rebels you need in a nasty situation.It doesn't get nastier when a of bunch terrorists take over this prep school headed by Headmaster Denholm Elliott and Dean of Boys Lou Gossett, Jr. The head of the group is Andrew Divoff who overacts the entire film. He's son of a Columbian drug lord who is now in US custody. Divoff's original target was the son of a federal judge whom he planned to kidnap and hold for ransom exchange. But when the Feds move him and he sees that the whole school is a bunch of privileged kids, he decides to hold them all for ransom for his dad.The hero of the hour turns out to be Sean Astin and his little crowd of special misfits. Turns out that Astin had a lot of the right stuff that no one but Gossett suspected he had.Toy Soldiers is a nice action oriented flick aimed at the young. Divoff is an especially nasty villain whom you want very badly to see get taken down. Mason Adams as the Assistant FBI director and R. Lee Ermey as the army guy in charge are the authority figures.More than the young will like this.

bigcupcake2278 FYI they note that Wil wheatons' dad was in charge of the new jersey mafia not new York, I just noticed that in the summary and I just finished watching the movie and heard that he was in charge of new Jersey. This is a movie to show that no matter how many times a person is thrown out of a school, when the chips are down, they can band together for the common good for everyone at the school. This is a movie that I have liked since it was released in the theater. Love Louis Gossett Jr. Too bad he did not dance like he did in the Iron Eagle series. It is amazing with this movie and the world we live in, could actually have this happen to them. Truth is often scarier than fiction.

Michael_Elliott Toy Soldiers (1991) *** (out of 4) This here is pretty much DIE HARD via a boarding school but if you're a fan of 80s then you're going to find quite a bit here to enjoy. A terrorist group takes over a boarding school full of "important" kids in hopes that the American government will release the main guy's father who is in prison. Soon the rejects, led by Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton, must try and figure out a way to bring the terrorist down. If you need brains with your action then it's probably best that you skip this thing but if you just want to have fun then this film offers quite a bit. Most people will remember Astin and Wheaton from THE GOONIES and STAND BY ME among others but if you're fan of those films then you're going to enjoy seeing them grown up and taking on a new adventure. We also have a strong supporting cast that includes Louis Gossett, Jr. playing the stern Dean who will certainly remind people of his role in AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. Also on hand is Jerry Orback playing a Mafia boss and R. Lee Ermey as a General wanting action. The entire cast fit into their roles quite nicely with Astin playing the rebellious teen who must eventually grow up and try to out-smart the terrorist. He has wonderful chemistry with the rest of the boys in the cast and his time with Gossett comes off extremely well and realistic as they go for that father/son relationship. What also helps the film is that it at least tries to be above-average in terms of story. The way the boys go to get their freedom isn't just a simple plan but instead it's rather well thought out and in the long run the movie at least rises above the type of film you'd expect to see on TV. Director Petrie actually manages to build up some nice suspense towards the end and he handles the material very well. Another major plus is Andrew Divoff who plays the main terrorist and eats up the scenery left and right. When there is action in the film it's bloody just like fans of action want it. The movies biggest problem is that it runs nearly two-hours, which is a tad bit too long but if you a fan of any of the cast members then you should find yourself having fun with this one.