The jungle....it just came alive

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2006)

When a crew of specialists is called in to trouble-shoot a problem and fix it, nothing could prepare them for what would follow. For me this is a hard-hitting solid, cold calculated role for Schwarzennegger. Not over thrown by one liners, not lame special- effects, over dramatization of the story, just a master work, done by John McTiernan, the same director that made Bruce Willis a house hold action character name.
This was astounding!! The story as it starts, when they land and go into action, taking some guerrilla fighters out. Guerilla forces that have captured some American soldiers and are killing them, attempting to take over that area and occupy the territory. As Dutch (Schwarzennegger) leads his team in with cutting skill, they find surround and move in and take out a large number of fighters that have A few American soldiers with them. Then, after they have put it together and wrapped it up, they realize something is not right. There is unfinished business. They move out again after a soldier holding a woman is brutally killed, with no explanation, and the woman has seen the attack and is not making any verbal sense of any of it. This is where the terror is just starting in!
So with the native Indian guide, a 'Tracker' (Sonny Landham) who's skills are honed and highly in demand for this type of work. Leading the crew of 'Specialists' including Jesse 'The Body' Venture, and Bill 'The Killer' Duke -(from many different roles)into a mission that is not what it was 'sold' to them originally. Carl Weathers, who was not so straight with them, ends up as sort of a sacrificial lamb anyway. Very well-fit considering, he was part of the original 'information' problem.
The team, finds their objective and neutralizes the problem, only to find, that there is something else waiting in the wings...for them. Hunting, the expert hunters, as if it's nothing, at all. The film, is haunting, in the daylight. But when the night comes, nothing is as it seems, for this band of military brothers...
Shane Black, who wrote and co-starred in this picture was right on it, all the way. This film, grips you, and pulls you into a terrifying situation, that keeps you guessing, unsure of the outcome!
I rate this a ten for ten, because it rocks you and rolls all the way through. Riveting, I recommend it highly for Arnold fans or even if you don't like him, so what this one delivers it all.(****)