Studio: MVD Rewind Collection
Release Date: 2/24/2026
Rating: R
Film Grade: C+
The Story: The charismatic Reverend Rhee has gathered a flock of young people to his secretive island paradise. Most of the kids hail from elite families and have generously pledged control of their wealth to the betterment of the congregation. This has raised suspicion around Rhee being a cult leader, so Jim Martin has been recruited to investigate. He’s carefully selected an elite group of five others to join him, each skilled in different forms of combat. Joining them on the trip is a senator, giving them cover for their covert mission.
My Take: While I’m not a huge fan of martial arts action movies, this was surprisingly fun. It uses the fear and skepticism that surrounded the Unification Church as the set up for the story and it’s a solid hook that was timely for the early 80s. While that threat has waned, the overall concept will never go out of style since there’s always going to be a segment of gullible youth that can be easily warped and preyed upon.
There’s a lot of story packed into the script, making the 96-minute runtime breeze along. The movie builds quickly from the opening scene that features a failed assassination attempt, moving quickly to the recruitment phase where we’re introduced to each of the team members via quick action scenes. Each has its own flavor, showing their talents in a variety of sticky situations.
We get a variety of domestic settings and two international locations that help things move at a brisk pace. There’s an interesting set piece that is evocative of Greek mythology, an unexpected surprise for this kind of movie. Fights scenes are swift. While most are well done, a few lean towards the clunky side. One slow motion sequence looks particularly puzzling, as one of the lackies reacts to a series of kicks before they actually land. Those instances are rare and never distract from the overall story.
As a mercenary group, it almost felt like a larger budget precursor to The A-Team, which would premier a few years later. We have a crazy helicopter pilot, the pretty-boy, and street tough Black guy, with the movie featuring a larger and more diverse group of protagonists. Joe Lewis leads the team in the role of Jim Martin, with his perfectly coiffed hair remaining in place through most of the action. He’s the mastermind of the operation, never losing his cool and exuding confidence. The rest of the team members are mostly there for their fighting talents, with each having their own particular quirks. Together, they do feel like an integrated group, even if they don’t all get the same amount of attention.
Bong Soo Han easily slips between being a pious reverend and coldly calculating leader depending on his audience, all while sporting hair that is the equal of Martin’s. But the standout here is Peter MacLean, who is perfect for the part of Sen. Forrester giving his lines just the right weaselly touch. He gets to close out the film with dialog that would be just as fitting today as it was forty-some years ago.
Visuals: MVD has done a good job of cleaning up the movie without removing the film look. There are occasional specs of dirt and scratches, but they’re very minor, and like the grain, never distracting. Colors are in line with what was typical for the era, and there’s good contrast throughout. Some of the scenes look a tad soft, but this is due to how it was filmed, not how it was transferred. It’s a fitting presentation for a movie from that time that gives it a warm sense of nostalgia.
Audio: The disc features the original mono soundtrack delivered to the left and right channels. Dialog is clear, although some shows obvious ADR work that was common for the time. Composer William Goldstein gives us a score that’s heavy with piano and brass that punch up the action scenes, while a short romance section gets a soft jazz theme, and church scenes get appropriate organ music. In a way, it feels like a high-quality TV score, and I mean that in a good way. It’s lively and keeps the energy level up when needed.
Special Features: The extra features are heavy on the fighting side of things. The interview with Joe Lewis talks a lot about his early career and training with Bruce Lee. Benny Urquidez gives a demo about how to wrap your hands for fighting, followed by a discussion of the sport of kickboxing and how he got into it, with a second feature about various fighting moves.
The mini poster and limited-edition retro slipcover (pictured above) are clever bonuses that fit perfectly with the vibe of the movie.
- Archival Interview with actor Joe Lewis (50:08 )
- Archival Interview with Benny Urquidez (8:59)
- Archival 'Benny Urquidez Fight' featurette (6:41)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (HD)
- Collectible Mini-Poster
- Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)
Final Verdict: Force: Five is a fun look back to the early 80s, with lots of full-contact fighting, rounded out with light dialog and a fast pace that raises it above average for the time. The story is surprisingly wide in scope, never getting bogged down in extraneous details or deep themes. It’s a movie that knows exactly what it is and does it in an entertaining way, leaning into the charm factor.
Recommended for action movie fans of the early 80s, my wife and I both ended up enjoying it much more than we would have guessed.
Fun Dialog: “Thank God for Black and Decker!”
This review was written by a human without the use of AI.
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
0 Replies
110 Views