Skeleton Coast (1988)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Good concept, poorly executed.

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

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

SKELETON COAST is a very low rent action/war film, made in South Africa and shot in the Namibian desert. If you're going to watch it, it's going to be for the various ageing actors who have been coerced into appearing, because otherwise it's a film with no value. The action is cheap and repetitive, and the 'mission' plot feels meandering and lacking in plot.Ernest Borgnine headlines the piece as a mercenary who must break into a fortress to rescue his kidnapped son, but what plays out is cheap and lacklustre. Watch out for a gruff Oliver Reed cameo, a sheepish Robert Vaughn as the baddie, and Herbert Lom in an early part. Arnold Vosloo's here too, years before HARD TARGET and THE MUMMY, and he has a full head of hair! It says something that this is the most remarkable thing about the movie.

When Michael Smith, a CIA agent, is captured by government forces in Angola his father, retired US Marine Colonel Bill Smith sets out to rescue him. He flies into South West Africa and learns that his son is being interrogated by an East German officer in an Angolan fort. He hires a group of mercenaries and heads through the Skeleton Coast desert towards the border. Things go wrong when they cross paths with Captain Simpson; a cruel man who is employed by the diamond mines to hunt down smugglers. This leaves them a man down and more importantly their vehicles are destroyed. He leaves Smith and his people to die in the desert but they find a new way to Angola. Once there they run into the rebel leader Smith's son had been working with then head to the fort to attempt a rescue.This is a distinctly average film; the plot is fairly basic and much of the action is fairly laughable. That said it isn't terrible; it just could have been much better. Ernest Borgnine is solid enough as Col. Smith and Oliver Reid was suitably menacing as Captain Simpson; it was a pity that his character didn't play a larger role. Robert Vaughn was okay as East German intelligence officer Maj. Schneider; he played the role fairly straight when some over-the-top hamminess might have suited the film more! The direction isn't the greatest; if it wasn't for the fact that it was a bit violent in places one could be forgiven for thinking it was made for television. Overall I'd say that this isn't worth going out of your way to find… it was just about worth the 50p I paid for it.

It's yet another late eighties adventure/action film featuring such greats as Ernest Borgnine, Herbert Lom, Oliver Reed, Robert Vaughn and…Daniel Greene (from Atomic Cyborg and many, many Italian action films – maybe he got lost on his way to some Fabrizia De Angelis production?). This one has a kind of Dirty Dozen type deal going on which I'll explain….now: Over in some African country I never bothered remembering the name of, Borgnine's son gets kidnapped by the government (or the rebels, something like that), and Ernest goes to Africa to get him back, employing the help of Herbet Lom, then gathering together a rag tag group of mercenaries (Daniel Greene, token chick, token martial artist, old man, religious nut etc) and heads off into the desert with loads of guns to get him back. You know, the usual crap.It's fun watching Borgnine and his crew blowing the crap out of stuff, and facing off first against Oliver Reed's security forces (you've got to love the way the film makes you think that Reed will come back for another battle, but vanishes from the film instead) then Robert Vaughan's nazi-style forces. Things blow up, people fire machines guns at each other, and is it just me or did Borgnine and his crew just flat out murder those smugglers in order to get that plane? Why are action films from this era so appealing? I'm not sure. There's no barrage of over-stylised shots, no self-parody, no Tarantinoisms, and no modern film would end with such a cheesy freeze frame like this one does. That all helps. Plus, who doesn't like Ernest Borgnine? He was Mermaid Man!

One has to wonder why all these Hollywood actors signed up in 1987 to do a movie that was a co-production with South Africa. Even when you put that fact aside, what you still have here is a very strange production. For one thing, can anyone figure out why Oliver Reed's character is in this movie? He makes a couple of appearances, then bam! he's gone and never is seen again. Herbert Lom's character could also easily be written out as well. Anyway, the movie overall is kind of talky and a little dull. Though there are some nice African locations, some decent action sequences, and Ernest Borgnine once again gives an entertaining performance. You get a little more out of him in this role because it gives you a rare chance to hear him swear (something Borgnine doesn't like to do in a movie), and you get to see him really ham it up when he disguises himself as a Cuban colonel (!) A movie to watch while you're reading a book.