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Flashback Review: Invasion USA (1985)


If you are in the mood for a mindless, action packed, unrealistic B movie, Invasion USA starring Chuck Norris is the movie you want to see. It is actually a typical 80's Action Movie with lots of stuff blowing up with little conversation. This movie was released in 1985 and reportedly made about $1.2 Million in domestic box office earnings.

The movie plot is a little complex so bare with me. The movie is about an invasion attempt of the US through Miami. It is never really revealed from where they are from (Cuba, South America). Their leader, named Rostev, sometimes sounds Russian so maybe they were in the mix too. Several boatloads of rebels all on a mean streak, wash up on the shores of Miami in huge container type boats. Once landed, they all pile up in Caravan truck vehicles and spread out across Florida leashing extreme violence using what seems to be military issued arms (grenades, machine guns and bazookas). They blow up and destroy anything that represent a typical American image. For example, they blew up school buses full of kids, shopping malls, churches and even suburban family houses that just finished decorating for Christmas.

Their goal you might ask? That their random acts of violence will bring down the United States, which in turn will bring on anarchy. The rule of law will collapse and they will take over. Not bad for a B movie plot...sounds like something Dr. Evil would come up with.

Chuck Norris is brought out of retirement by the "Agency". He goes by only two rules: he works alone and drives his own vehicle which is a pick-up truck that appears to be indestructible. We see it take bullets, go through glass windows and yet besides a couple of scratches, it keeps going like a tank.

Check out this clip and you will understand what I mean.....

Chuck Norris character is a one man wrecking crew. A man of few words, but definitely a man of action. We know little about his background besides being one of the best operatives the Agency ever had. He works his way up the ladder and the movie ends with Chuck killing Rostev and of course another win for Americana.

The Bottom Line

As I mentioned before, this is a typical 80's Action movie where I think the film makers of that era felt that just blowing things up on screen would get viewers and a loyal following. If you like this type of movie, then this is definitely the movie for you. There are lots of machine guns, grenades and explosions. Then there is the Chuck Norris performance. I always felt he had some type of charisma on camera, but always lacked dialogue or played a character with little words to say. He was always typed cast as either a military or cop that could kick some serious ass and this movie is not any different. The script is definitely not worthy of an Academy Award. There are lots of one liners which was probably based on the success of the Terminator of the time, but certainly did not achieve that level of success.

Despite being a pretty bad and unrealistic movie (both in plot and dialogue), most people who grew up in the 80's know this movie and reminisce on how bad the movie was. Some might go as far as saying it is a masterpiece. I would not go that far, but I am forced to admit that the film makers knew what they were doing and at the time, it was a success. Probably that is why Chuck Norris continued to make these types of movies, the same as a Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Bottom line is that it is entertaining and you have to look at it for what it is. You will not learn anything from this movie nor will it strike an emotion from you. It will provide you with an escape for a couple of hours, and that is basically it.

I am giving it a 6 on 10, just because I do enjoy seeing things blow up on screen. It brings be back to my youth and the 80's era. The rest of the movie, well I think this review is self-explanatory.

Let us know your opinion of this movie, we love to hear from you.

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