Megaforce
Tags: good versus evil

Plot synopsis:
Hunter: "Remember the name of the place?"Zara: "Lion's Head Hotel, London."The peace-loving Republic of Sardun is facing constant incursions from hostile neighbor Gamibia. Unwilling to retaliate and initiate war, high-ranking Sardunian military officials Major Zara and General Byrne-White arrange a rendezvous with MegaForce, a hi-tech and super-secret phantom army of top-shelf fighting men from all over the world, to ask for help in ending Gamibia's attacks. Ace Hunter, leader of MegaForce, is happy to take on the job as he has a past with Gamibian military leader Duke Guerrera, an old military academy friend who turned to evil.And he stole Ace's favorite lighter.Ace lays out a hopelessly complex plan to lure Duke's forces into a trap that will give Sardun the chance to wipe them out once and for all, which inspires Zara to try out for a spot in MegaForce. However, despite passing all the entry exams, Zara is ultimately denied entry into the team as she is still an outsider and hasn't yet established a mental bond with the rest of MegaForce, meaning her presence could put the operation in jeopardy. Resigning herself to this, Zara agrees to watch from afar as Ace and his awesomely-mulleted spandex-clad soldiers set the strike in motion.Despite successfully infiltrating Gamibia and causing mass destruction, MegaForce fails to lure Guerrera into their trap. Now the team must find a way out of Gamibia to avoid certain doom at the hands of Duke and his tanks, who are now authorized to destroy MegaForce by a government declaration of war. Duke knows that the only place MegaForce's escape planes could land is an old dry lake, and as such he plants his tanks right there to prevent the escape. Ace and his men refuse to give in, though, and soon it's all out war as MegaForce put their rockets, lasers, and machine guns to use against Duke and his tanks in an epic battle. Everyone makes it to the plane except for Hunter, who was temporarily incapacitated by an explosion. Undeterred and shockingly none the worse for wear, Ace defiantly runs right up to Duke to say goodbye and then takes to the skies on his flying motorcycle to catch up with the MegaForce plane. Triumphant (?), MegaForce head for home, and Ace prepares for a celebration with his new Sardunian friend Zara.

Review: Watching the filming at Nevada's dry lakes, it did feel like something monumentous was in the making, but nobody could have imagined just how negative a reaction this movie was going to receive.
There's enough vehicle stunts, random explosions, and weapons futurismo to keep average 12-year-olds very entertained, and I think that may be exactly what Hal Needham intended for this project.
It was one of the tackiest movies ever made, but the energy was like Rambo II on steroids."Normal" people will probably never bother with this one, but if you do watch at *LEAST* the first 10 minutes, and see the ultra cool military-machinegun-rocket-motor bike intro scene.
I will leave plot & character issues to other commenter's -- This movie is either the dumbest piece of crap ever made by the worst director in history, or it is a form of kitsch masterpiece that is astoundingly honest about how utterly brainless it's concept & execution were.
The movie has zero pretense to be anything other than exactly what it is -- a stupid, loud, moronic action movie with heroic music, explosions, vehicular stunts, funky looking high tech junk, tight spandexed jumpsuits, helicopters, jingoistic catch phrase dialog that seems to have been randomly chosen from old episodes of The Superfriends, and Henry Silva.Henry Silva is one of those actors whom I marvel at with open admiration: His ability to make the ridiculous seem perfectly natural is on the same level as Boris Karloff, and every role he appears in becomes a Henry Silva performance.
A lot of people may dismiss him as an "actor", but as a character performer he is right up there with Harry Dean Stanton and Ivor Francis as one of the most ubiquitously recognizable bad guys from decades of TV & movies.
Mr. Silva, wherever you are, your work is invaluable, and MEGAFORCE is yet another stunning achievement.Back to the movie, though, this is going to be one of those things you either "get" or don't, like The Three Stooges, Tom Waits, professional wrestling or Rush Limbaugh.
It is only those who are not moved that I pity.MEGAFORCE can also serve as a time capsule for people who want to remember what it was like to be 9 or so, and ranks up there with THE HUMANOID starring Richard "Jaws" Keil and YOR, HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE with Reb Brown as amongst the most stupid, ham-boned, addle minded but enjoyable science fiction movies from the 1980's.
The movies exist as pure entertainment -- One sight of the Megaforce rolling into battle on their stupid mocked-up motorcycles and absurd missile launcher armored dune buggies while going against a column of military tanks was all it took for me to make my decision.
I had to rate it highly, even though it's not actually a "good" movie because I do think people will enjoy watching it..
And for this-then action film-obsessed 14-year old, for a film to be so utterly bad that he felt his lack of intelligence being insulted, well that was like a 2 year old telling his mother that the Teletubbies were stupid.
I remember when I was first getting into movies, and I would keep a log of what films I saw, when I saw em, and what I rated em (I think I used a scale of 1-to-10), I recall this one getting my first ZERO.
Anyone who watches this movie and tries to evaluate it as anything but pure camp (Think TVs BATMAN from the 1960s) is in bad need of taste and IQ points.
Some movies are bad in a good way.
Directed by Hal (Smokey and the Bandit) Needham, and set in the far-flung future of the 1980's, Barry Bostwick, dressed in jumpsuits so nauseatingly tight you can see what side he dresses on, leads a top-secret mercenary force against an oppressive dictator who rules over a country that looks an awful lot like a vacant dirt lot behind a shopping mall in New Mexico.
The president of the USA (Barry Bostwick, Spin City) a former Miss India (Persis Khambata) the director of Canonball Run (Hal Needham) a mafia boss (Henry Silva, Ghost Dog) in the kids action film to end all.
Barry Bostwick is the least believable action hero of all time, and somewhere, someone seems to have thought Persis Khambatta was an interesting, attractive, exotic beauty with screen presence:  Megaforce proves this theory, however unlikely, dead wrong.
I liked the crazy character played by Michael Beck, especially the goofy thing he did with the holographic mission planner.
Sometimes, all you really need in life to make you happy is watching a really cheesy and utterly retarded early 80's movie with a grotesque plot, flamboyant types of vehicles, action heroes in tight gay spandex outfits, absurd futuristic gimmicks and nasty looking villains that are smoking big cigars.
You know, movies that are basically knock-offs of great cinematic blockbusters, like "Escape from New York" or "Mad Max", and deliberately exaggerate in the amount of excessive violence and sleaze they deliver.
It's embarrassing to behold respectable actors like Michael Beck ("The Warriors"), Henry Silva ("Almost Human") and Barry Bostwick ("Rocky Horror Picture Show") mutter their ridiculous lines whilst parading in flashy outfits, but nevertheless fun.
The acting was bad (Barry Bostwick acted with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek and Michael Beck still had the taste of Xanadu in his mouth...ptuey!), the effects were cheesy and the plot could have been at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre!
If there were motorcycles, tanks, dune buggies and lasers then how can it be a bad movie?
All guilty feelings were wiped away as the audience around us laughed along with us.Looking back on "Megaforce" over twenty years later, I can just imagine the cartoon character Johnny Bravo starring in an animated re-make.
You've got overly computerised techno-pop music, a "hero" lead who can do no wrong, with hair moussed out to *there*, a villain who's just evil for evil's sake, neo-deco futuristic vehicles with loud, wild paint jobs, and best yet, heavy military artillery and lots of big explosions topped off with stuntwork the likes of which hasn't been seen since The A-Team went off the air.It all comes wrapped up in a goofy, over-the top comic-book style story that looks like it was filmed by someone who wished he was making rock videos instead.Think "cannonball run" only armed to the teeth.A lot has been said about how bad this film is, and while it's not great, it's really not as bad as some make it sound.
Deceptive marketing guaranteed that the audience drawn would be the wrong one, doomed to annoyance when their expectations weren't met - and that people who would have wanted to see it, if they'd know what it was, would get scared away and go see something else.You won't hear a single curse in the entire film, nor toilet jokes, and as far as violent content goes this movie falls well below most anything you'll find on TV, with no death scenes, and no blood.
This is without doubt the worst movie I have ever seen in my life.So fitting for Hal Needham.At least with Plan Nine from Outerspace there was humor rather it was intentional or not.Henry Silva rates as one of the worst actors of our time and this performace equals his appearence in Steven Segal's debut "Above the Law." 
Heck, I was 11yrs old, but what did I know, I knew I wanted to be Ace Hunter, and play with all the really cool toys!
Actually, I turned out a lot more like Egg, but hey at least I get to play with some cool toys now.
This movie offers you cool stunts, comedy, in general good fun.
Even the action scenes are pretty lame- just lots of footage of the dune buggies and motorcycles randomly riding through the desert, shooting missiles and laserbeams.
he hit all the nails exactly on the head.This is a baaad, cheesy, cliché movie that should probably have never been made but when you're a 11-12 yr old boy this is the best thing since sliced bread.my brother and I saw this (about 25 years ago) and thought it was the shizzle!
I would like to say that the movie Megaforce was awesome and had pretty good special effects.
This howlingly absurd futuristic sci-fi actioner stars Barry Bostwick ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show", 'Spin City'), absolutely nobody's idea of an ideal action movie star.
Among the people on Aces' team is easygoing Southerner "Dallas" (Michael Beck of "The Warriors" fame), who shoots at errant reptiles and delights in showing "holograms" to people.This is the kind of movie you enjoy for its utter cheesiness and ineptitude.
The movie co-stars Edward Mulhare ("Our Man Flint", 'Knight Rider') as a military man and George Furth ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Blazing Saddles") as a Q-style gadget, weaponry, and vehicle designer.Despite the ropey "Introvision" effects, this utterly goofy entertainment does possess a certain oddball charm.Five out of 10..
As a ten-year-old chubby geek, I needed to know all about Ace Hunter and his crew of super soldiers.I wondered, "As a small child living in a small town, could I truly be ready to join Megaforce?" The answer was no.
Don't presume to tell this bandana-clad gentleman how to lead Megaforce.Barry Bostwick was all in on this movie.
His interviews at the time are so wonderful, like when he said that the Pentagon tried to stop the movie because of how close Megaforce was to covert CIA strike teams (one only wonders if they all had flags on their bikes and crazy collared dress uniforms, too).
Or when he opined that the world needed a real-life Megaforce.Megaforce came to us from Hal Needham, a former stuntman who went on to direct Smokey and the Bandit, Hooper, The Cannonball Run, Stroker Ace and 80's BMX megafilm (seriously, it ruled the video stores of my teenage years) Rad. He even had his own toy -- the Hal Needham Western Movie Stunt Set!
"Even for the 80!" *zing*Seriously, someone thought the "future of America" would buy into this crappy idea of a multinational fast reaction force, and and that somehow borders and things like patriotism wouldn't matter anymore.Thank goodness kids are smarter than that, and that this film flopped for not only its content, but the presentation thereof.
What I do remember is the I the rage that I felt at having wasted time and money by watching this film.
There are plenty of terribly cheesy '80s movies that are fun to watch.
Besides Bostwick, whom I actually do like in the film, there's Michael Beck from the Warriors playing a prototype for Woody Harrelson.
For much of the film she tries to join Megaforce (by the way, they're some sci-fi special forces who hang out in the desert spying on everyone and are ready to invade other countries for no real reason at any time), but after a few sequences of showing Bostwick what a badass she is he tells her to screw off.
It makes the movie real fun to watch but at the same time it also remains simply an horrible one.It's literally a laughable bad movie, which is not just due to its simplistic story and lame characters and dialog but also because of the way how it looks.
I'm not even talking about Ace Hunter's heroic costume and haircut but more about the overall visual look of this movie, that is horribly cheap.
Seems like this movie got also actually aimed toward kids, also judging by its action.
Granted that I was not alway paying much attention but that was because the movie could hardly hold my interest.It's still a movie you could have a fun time with watching because of how bad and silly it can all get but still it remains a huge waste and shame that they didn't do any more and anything better with its potentially great and awesome concept.3/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
But, like a porno movie they rely on the strength of the action scene's to overcome a weak storyline and some bad acting.
This is a goofy action movie about Megaforce a mercenary group who will fight for the good guys.
They're a fighting force but they don't wear fatigues or camouflage instead they wear shiny spandex that glistens in the sun.The movie begins when Megaforce is hired to attack and destroy a rogue General played by Henry Silva.
Don't get me wrong I like Mr. Bostwick in his serious roles and much more in his comedy roles, but he is not the guy you ask to play a combat leader if Lee Marvin isn't available.
If this Movie was Called Gi Joe people would have liked it.
This film just did not work, though as a kid I sort of liked it.
Though I can see why, the plot is paper thin, the acting was not very good, and some of the stuff this movie presented is very bad.
The bikes are fast, the hair is feathered and the force is on fire!Most people go into watching Megaforce under the assumption that it's a serious action film.
And on top of the vapid typical-action movie parody of a plot, all the over the top costumes, lines and stunts there is a winking self awareness that says the people who made this are just in it to have fun.This movie is pure cheese, but it's highly entertaining cheese.
the only things I can remember aside from above are bad-dream like flashes of cheesy 'special' effects...
unfortunately,i saw it on HBO and saw it at a friends house,and the movie already started when we  began to watch it,so we missed the opening credits.(hence) I never knew the name of this film until 1995,when i got to see it again on Joe Bob's monster vision or something like that on TNT.
the lead charactor is totally shallow and weak.AS  you watch it you get the feeling that someone wanted to make a live action G.I.JOE movie but couldnt afford the rights to the name,so they cloned it...(the lead charactor even looks like the 1980's G.I.JOE lead charactor,with a spandex jumpsuit,and a blonde beard and all) This film has a made for T.V. feel to it(although its not).
i wondered as i watched this agian if this was meant to be a T.V. pilot-that was canned and released as a film.You know-the kind where the villian gets away,and everyone has a big laugh at the end as they ponder what the villian might try next,while smiling and taking pride in themselves because of how easy they were able to stop him this time.Even the theme music has the same feel as T.V.shows from that era(the A-team/Knight Rider)-however,Legendary KISS guitarist Ace Frehley did steal the "like a megaforce" theme song and released it as an original tune called "calling to you" on his 1986 Frehley's Comet solo album(just an f.y.i.).
this film is rubbish,its only worth watching for the cool vehicles and motorcycles.
MEGAFORCE is perhaps the best "bad" movie of the last 20 years.
Only the "Lawrence Welk Show" is the only show that possessed less special effects than Megaforce.I suppose this movie is was what inspired homophobia in the military...the thought of a company commander wearing a ULTRA tight shiny sliver jumpsuit...sheeze, that would inspire Regan be able to remember all the details about Iran/Contra!.
I have been wanting to see this movie for many years.I recall when it was new--some people I knew then saw it and recommended it....saying it "was my kind of of thing.
Today--and for some time now--I want a GOOD, REALISTIC plot in a movie.
But then GI Joe never had it's lead hero bedecked in oh-so festive skintight spandex and blue headband combos (something had to keep that blow-dried 80s mane in place!) Yes when Ace Hunter and his Megaforce boys (a carefully focus-grouped assembly of multiculturalism, including an "aw shucks" stereotypical Texan named...wait for it "Dallas") aren't blasting the evil balloon brigade or performing rainbow colored fog-evasion (they're not going going to let "stealthy evasion" get in the way of being FABULOUS on their missile-enhanced gaudily-painted...I mean "bitchin'" motorcycles, their wooin the ladies (or at least the bald chick from Star Trek '79) with oh-so sensual kiss- to-thumbs-up foreplay (saucy!)If such eXtreme action sounds ridiculous then...well it is.
With leaden jokes, nonsensical plot, silly action sequences, spectacularly poor special-effects and culminating to an ending that will have physics teacher cringing and viewers reminiscing their time at the motion simulation ride at their local third-rate amusement park, Megaforce is an abject failure as an action movie.
I liked it and if you come into it expecting to see a fun movie with some cool toys in it, you'll be entertained..The characters are pretty cool..
In this movie, his character is a bit like Kevin Bacon's from 'Tremors', only in a not very good way.Did I mention that things go bang?
Thumbs are kissed.And at least the blue-screen flying scene is more convincing than the ones in 'Pumaman'.The whole thing is an absolute hoot, and everyone looked like they had great fun making it.
It's filled with more 80s cheesy goodness than one movie should have a right to.Megaforce stars Barry Bostwick as Commander Ace Hunter, the leader of a quick deployment special force.
He is a total hoot throughout the film and looks like he's having a blast.
He looks like he's having a lot of fun playing the crazed Duke Guerera.
I know that a movie like Megaforce isn't for everyone.
It was soon relegated to the wastelands of cable TV, where it became a staple for my generation.Directed by Hal Needham (Smokey and the Bandit, Rad), Megaforce looks and feels very much what a live-action G.I. Joe film would have had it been made during that era.