It is a performances centric movie

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I only saw a small part of this film, but three-fourths through the movie there is a politically correct monologue from the Caucasian actor about how stupid Caucasians are and how the native people know better. I was offended by the "Caucasians are bad" stereotype.

When some tribesmen in an African village stage an insurrection, the President of Africa (yeah, that's the ticket…) calls in some foreign White Devils to quell the rebellion, presumably to distance himself from all the local killing and destruction. Vietnam vets T.J. Christian (Brown) and Cliff Taylor (O'Neal), along with Wilson (Mitchum) and some other guy are under the command of Virelli (Fonda), also a 'Nam veteran. However, as some of our "Mercenary Fighters" come to know the people of the land they're now in, alliances and allegiances change. Will they Fight to the finish? We can safely say that Mercenary Fighters is…something you'd find in a video store. At least back in the golden age. Its overall mediocrity ensures it being standard shelf-filler, or, perhaps more accurately, "Cannon fodder" (heh heh. Has anyone ever used that one before?) Nevertheless, the movie contains all the standard stuff we've come to depend on: explosions, exploding huts, exploding guard towers, guard tower falls, jungles or jungle-like locations, and plenty of shooting. Peter Fonda has a big gun that is a one-shot hut blower-upper, and most of the war violence occurs during the final battle. It is also at this climactic moment that we finally get to hear Reb Brown's time-honored "Reb-el" yell. He even gets so deep into his screaming, he does practically a whole dialogue scene in a helicopter, let's just say, not using his indoor voice.While Reb's shoutings were apparently such a selling point in the 80's that he's even seen screaming on the front cover of the VHS (apparently by the late eighties they had really caught on), Peter Fonda's silly hair is NOT front and center on the box art. It's obscured by a mysterious hat. His long, scraggly locks seen in the film seem to be a leftover from his more hippie-ish acting roles, but on a dime about halfway through this film, he snaps into a tough commander role, as if he woke up midway through the production and realized he was supposed to be tough this time around.Even though Mercenary Fighters on the whole is fairly middling, no one can accuse it of shortchanging us of our favorite stars. Besides Fonda and Brown, we also have Ron O'Neal – even though the credits misspell his name as "O'Neil" – and yet another fan favorite, Jim Mitchum. Mitchum here is classic Mitchum. Mitchum. He wears a shirt that says "Bad Boy", when he's not wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and is never seen without his Walkman. If it was somehow possible to not shave for 25 years and not grow a full beard, that's how his face looks. Surprisingly, his mellow performance would indicate he might not care too much about the proceedings.On the whole, we've never cared too much for what we call "Africa Slogs", and this is certainly one. Truly this movie is no Red Scorpion (1988), the exception that proves the rule. Despite getting to see some of our favorite actors all together at once, and some decent war violence, somehow, Mercenary Fighters left us unsatisfied.

If action is your genre, this film won't disappoint. The story never sags as it follows its band of mercenaries through a mine field of shifting loyalties and enemies. This movie has great visuals throughout and a solid ensemble cast led by Peter Fonda. Characterization is minimal, which is typical with this type of story, but the actors do a good job of keeping it real. The female love interest is especially good in her role as the nurse who risks her own life to defend the tribe. While it's true that nothing in this film stands out as truly memorable, it is definitely one of the better, older action films I've come across. If you're in the mood for something literary, skip it, this is pure pulp, but it's entertaining and delivers the goods the genre demands.

This is of the category of action films, and action is the yield with very little reprieve in this generic tale of contemporary mercenaries in central Africa, entangled with intratribal warfare as the party in power in an imaginary nation hires them to protect construction of a dam which will displace villages of the rulers' historical adversaries. The leader of the hirelings, Vitelli (Peter Fonda), assembles a group of individuals to his unsparing taste, including characters played by Ron O'Neal (listed as O' Neil in the credits), James Mitchum, and Reb Brown as D.J., among other stalwarts, and they decamp to the mythical nation where the stunt work begins. We are then privy to watching vicious attacks without stint by our heroes, with helicopter gunships and, of course, sophisticated ordnance, as croutoned bodies are sent flying by a seemingly limitless progression of explosions while one marvels at the determination to persevere of the luckless quarry. The type of creature who enjoys this sort of fare would undoubtedly be delighted if this course of behaviour were to continue, but the well-funded producers apparently prefer that a love element be present (with Reb Brown!) as well as a midstream shift of allegiance by D.J. which makes no sense at all. Brown obviously has a forbidding time with any dialogue, but does enjoy yelling, and does a great deal of that, making it, if possible, even more surreal that a collection of tribesmen, with a distinct cultural history, would desire that sharp shift of mores required to accept D.J. as their warrior chieftain. After all, being a mercenary is just a job, as we are notified often from the script; unfortunately, not a very capable job is evident in this production, with sloppy direction, flawed tactics followed by all combatants, and some very poor cast performances, although O'Neal tries to rise above it all.