Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Tom Dooley Made in 1991 and starring Sean Astin of 'The Goonies' fame this is about a nasty Colombian drugs lord who gets himself extradited to the United States to serve a lengthy prison sentence. His son decides he will get his father back to nose candy heaven and so attacks the prep school where the son of the judge – who sentenced his father – is boarding. This is to use the hostage to gain daddy's freedom. When he gets there with a small army all hell breaks loose. The boys though decide they are not going to take it lying down and organise a fight back. Now this is not a feel good movie with good winning with a smile on its face. There are some pretty nasty scenes here of violence and some full on action. There is no CGI either and you can tell that a lot of cash was thrown at this and mostly to good effect. There are also some noteworthy support stars here in the shapes of Lois Gossett Jnr and the legendary Denholm Elliott. Some of the outcomes are predictable but despite that this film has stood the test of time reasonably well and is still a very good watch indeed.

Shawn Watson I remember seeing TV spots for Toy Soldiers in October 1991. I had recently seen The Goonies and I was surprised at how much Sean Astin had matured since then. It made me wonder how I would look once I stopped being a child. I didn't actually see the film until now (the 15 certificate meant I could not see it at the cinema and I just never got around to renting it later) but I seem to associate it first with that particular memory.I was expecting it to be an action comedy, something along the lines of Home Alone meets Die Hard. How wrong I was. Toy Soldiers is surprisingly grim and serious. Directed and co-written by Beverly Hills Cop creator Daniel Petrie Jnr the film features a lot of well shot and staged action. The opening scene in particular has a memorable freefall stunt and there are innumerable blood squibs aplenty (a dying art in an age of awful CGI blood effects). Billy Tepper and his gang of misfit Rejects draw the ire of Dean Parker at their prestigious boarding school, but he refuses to expel any of them as he sees their potential and wants to make real men of them. One of the kids is taken away by the FBI for protection when a terrorist group attempts to put pressure on his dad. Said terrorists promptly take over the school and are dismayed that their target has vanished. Instead they make do with the crop of students that they have and begin making demands. Billy and his gang do not take well to this plot and plan to strike back using whatever limited resources they have at their disposal.It's here that Toy Soldiers sort of disappoints me. Instead of taking place in a concise time-frame it drags on for a few days and nights and features low-octane plotting for the most part. It would have been much more exciting if the gang were efficient and ready for action instead of fighting back with trickery and subterfuge. I guess it does ultimately work and hang together but the suspense could have been ramped up significantly further.There is a great supporting cast featuring Louis Gossett Jnr, Denholm Elliot, Jerry Orbach, R. Lee Ermey, and the terrific Andrew Divoff who doesn't get as much recognition for his many bad guy performances. The movie also features a lot scenes with the boys hanging around in their Y-fronts. I am not sure to whom the director was trying to appeal with this but it feels very unnecessary. There's not much surprise in the fact that it's fallen out of popularity and become a cult movie. Toy Soldiers had a high concept but is too low-key for it's own good. Certainly a good movie to discover but not as good as it should have been.

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.

fact275-1 Toy Soldiers is an okay action movie but what really stands out is the amount of effort that the scriptwriters and director put into portraying American counter-terrorist forces accurately. Just check out the end credits--there are more than a dozen US military officers and officials listed. The movie accurately portrays the FBI as having control of the hostage situation but turning it over the US Army's Delta Force (who are unnamed in the movie as the Pentagon was still denying their existence at this time) once the President waived the Posse Commitatus Act of US Code. The US Army forces at the end are accurately dressed and armed for the time. And even the use of an AH-64 Apache for air support--which might seem a bit over the top, is not terribly unrealistic. Far more expensive and frankly better movies have portrayed American counter-terrorist forces with far less accuracy.