32 reviews
Thrilling story about some mercenaries hired to break out Rudolph Hess from Spandau Prison
This inferior sequel deals about a new group of the much-wanted mercenaries (Scott Glenn, Edward Fox, John Terry among others) assigned by a rich television network (Robert Webber, Barbara Carrera) to free famous arch-Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hess.
The film is packed with noisy action, thrills, suspense, tension and lots of violence . It contains uncomfortable mix of flaws and gaps with little believable situations and is badly developed. The picture is middling directed by Peter Hunt who made one of the best Bond films : ¨On her majestic's secret service ¨, furthermore ,¨Death hunt¨ and ¨Shout the devil¨. The movie is dedicated to Richard Burton , he played the original film (along with Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger,Richad Harris, Stewart Granger), that was better than you would expect.
Adding more details about those described on the movie regarding Rudolph Hess - very well played by Laurence Olivier- and his Spandau prison, the events were the following : Hess was privately distressed by the war with Great Britain, because he, like almost other Nazis , hoped that would accept Germany as an ally . He thought to score a diplomatic victory by sealing a peace and attempted to contact the Duke of Hamilton in Scotland. On 10 May 1941 , Hess took off in a Messerschmitt. Hess parachuted over Renfrewshire , Scotland, there a farmer named David McLain declared to have arrested Hess with his pitchfork. Hess then became a defendant at the Nuremberg trial of the International Military Tribunal where in 1946 was found guilty on two counts and he was given a life sentence. On 1987 , Hess died while under four power imprisonment at Spandau prison in west Berlin , at the age 93. He was found with an electric cord wrapped around his neck. Spandau prison was subsequently demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine
The film is packed with noisy action, thrills, suspense, tension and lots of violence . It contains uncomfortable mix of flaws and gaps with little believable situations and is badly developed. The picture is middling directed by Peter Hunt who made one of the best Bond films : ¨On her majestic's secret service ¨, furthermore ,¨Death hunt¨ and ¨Shout the devil¨. The movie is dedicated to Richard Burton , he played the original film (along with Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger,Richad Harris, Stewart Granger), that was better than you would expect.
Adding more details about those described on the movie regarding Rudolph Hess - very well played by Laurence Olivier- and his Spandau prison, the events were the following : Hess was privately distressed by the war with Great Britain, because he, like almost other Nazis , hoped that would accept Germany as an ally . He thought to score a diplomatic victory by sealing a peace and attempted to contact the Duke of Hamilton in Scotland. On 10 May 1941 , Hess took off in a Messerschmitt. Hess parachuted over Renfrewshire , Scotland, there a farmer named David McLain declared to have arrested Hess with his pitchfork. Hess then became a defendant at the Nuremberg trial of the International Military Tribunal where in 1946 was found guilty on two counts and he was given a life sentence. On 1987 , Hess died while under four power imprisonment at Spandau prison in west Berlin , at the age 93. He was found with an electric cord wrapped around his neck. Spandau prison was subsequently demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine
More interesting than people say it is.
If you're expecting lots of action and gunplay, don't bother; you'll surely be disappointed. The movie focuses more on intrigue and endless spy games. The complicated story maintains interest throughout, but ultimately it's all for naught. Still, there is a sly performance by Edward Fox to be enjoyed (if you can stand his deliberately curious accent!) (**)
These Geese Flew South
Richard Burton was to star in this sequel to the original Wild Geese, but he died before shooting started. Edward Fox was rushed in as his younger brother with a script change. The film was dedicated to Burton.
Probably a much better film could have been dedicated to Burton, I think he would have liked some Shakespearean production dedicated to him. Not that the first Wild Geese would ever rank among the great films of all time, but it was nicely done story about the comradeship of the military fraternity.
These guys headed by Fox and Scott Glenn aren't mercenaries, they're heist guys. And it's a who they're trying to heist not a what. The last prisoner in Spandau where all the surviving Nazis were contained, those who weren't hanged.
Sir Laurence Olivier takes out his mitteleuropa Albert Basserman accent for the last time to play Rudolf Hess, former Deputy Fuehrer of the Third Reich who escaped the hangman at Nuremberg because of insanity and the fact he'd flown to the UK and was captured there. He sat out World War II in a British jail while the Holocaust was going on. Hard to prove complicity in it in that situation.
Hess was a symbol to neo-Nazis everywhere, a last living reminder of Hitler's Germany. But the man himself was essentially a nobody. What he did do was attach himself early on to Adolph Hitler, served time in jail to him. As a faithful scribe he took down Hitler's prose in what later became Mein Kampf.
When Hitler came to power, he gave Hess a nice high falutin' title of Deputy Fuehrer, a reward for services rendered. But Hess was never in the inner circle of things and gradually moved farther and farther out of Hitler's orbit as he consolidated power in Germany.
So in 1941 poor Hess cooked up this whacko scheme to fly to the United Kingdom on his own to try and negotiate a separate peace. Of course when it was realized that he spoke for no one, the British clapped him jail. It was a sad pathetic attention getting gesture by a very mediocre man, shoved aside by those in power.
The premise of this story is that Glenn and Fox are hired to spring Hess out of Spandau so he could tell what he knew about Hitler to the world. The plot gets needlessly complicated as the Russians, the Palestinians, and the IRA all get involved.
Knowing what we know about Hess the question to all this is why bother?
Even Laurence Olivier doing a part by rote is better than most players giving their all. The rest of the cast just goes through the motions as Olivier does.
Not a great tribute film for Richard Burton.
Probably a much better film could have been dedicated to Burton, I think he would have liked some Shakespearean production dedicated to him. Not that the first Wild Geese would ever rank among the great films of all time, but it was nicely done story about the comradeship of the military fraternity.
These guys headed by Fox and Scott Glenn aren't mercenaries, they're heist guys. And it's a who they're trying to heist not a what. The last prisoner in Spandau where all the surviving Nazis were contained, those who weren't hanged.
Sir Laurence Olivier takes out his mitteleuropa Albert Basserman accent for the last time to play Rudolf Hess, former Deputy Fuehrer of the Third Reich who escaped the hangman at Nuremberg because of insanity and the fact he'd flown to the UK and was captured there. He sat out World War II in a British jail while the Holocaust was going on. Hard to prove complicity in it in that situation.
Hess was a symbol to neo-Nazis everywhere, a last living reminder of Hitler's Germany. But the man himself was essentially a nobody. What he did do was attach himself early on to Adolph Hitler, served time in jail to him. As a faithful scribe he took down Hitler's prose in what later became Mein Kampf.
When Hitler came to power, he gave Hess a nice high falutin' title of Deputy Fuehrer, a reward for services rendered. But Hess was never in the inner circle of things and gradually moved farther and farther out of Hitler's orbit as he consolidated power in Germany.
So in 1941 poor Hess cooked up this whacko scheme to fly to the United Kingdom on his own to try and negotiate a separate peace. Of course when it was realized that he spoke for no one, the British clapped him jail. It was a sad pathetic attention getting gesture by a very mediocre man, shoved aside by those in power.
The premise of this story is that Glenn and Fox are hired to spring Hess out of Spandau so he could tell what he knew about Hitler to the world. The plot gets needlessly complicated as the Russians, the Palestinians, and the IRA all get involved.
Knowing what we know about Hess the question to all this is why bother?
Even Laurence Olivier doing a part by rote is better than most players giving their all. The rest of the cast just goes through the motions as Olivier does.
Not a great tribute film for Richard Burton.
- bkoganbing
- Jun 16, 2006
- Permalink
This is a good film.
I saw this film just once in the mid eighties immediately after it's release. For anyone mildly interested in the historical events of the 'cold war' era, it is an excellent example(without giving away any of the plot) of how the East and West used Hess as a pawn. Olivier as always, does a truly remarkable job portraying the latter day Hess. I could not imagine any other actor being able to portray him so convincingly, and with the usual attention Olivier paid to his visual appearance, he gives a first class performance which has remained in my memory some 17 years on. It left such a good impression on me that I have spent the last 15 years scanning the TV film pages for it - to no avail. Scott Glenn too returns a creditable performance, and Edward Fox steps into the shoes of Richard Burton quite seamlessly. Good story line for anyone with even a scant knowledge of modern history, and well directed. This film has never seemed to make it to the TV screens and I cannot understand why. Nor have I seen a video available in the UK. It is an excellent film, but probably not of much interest to the younger viewer who has no interest in the era and the history
A worthless mission leads to a worthless film.
Unlike 1978's The Wild Geese which was chock full of story, action and even some moral values this apparent sequel comes up short on all accounts. A plan to spring Nazi War criminal Rudolf Hess from his cell in Spandau prison by a team of Mercenaries is the basis of the movie. The story is slow and fails to establish any likeable characters as the original did. Sadly Richard Burton who was to recreate the Colonel Faulkner role died before filming began and was replaced by Edward Fox who seems shallow in his performance. As the film progresses the viewer keeps waiting for something to get going but it never seems to. In all a sad disappointment.
Not good, but not too bad
Not good, but not too bad. Takes a while to get going, but then the action is pretty good. Ending is a bit lame, and unnecessary. The movie could have been ended 10-15 minutes earlier.
Plain and simply lousy
When I bought the original The Wild Geese (mostly for nostalgic reasons) on Blu-ray I got The Wild Geese II on DVD included. I would probably not have bought it otherwise. This movie is typical example of the "follow ups" that where done in the 80's. Base it loosely on the title of the original, none of the original actors are present, give it zero budget. In short this movie is lousy. Why it was made, apart from being a cheap attempt to squeeze some more money from the success of the original, is beyond me. It is claimed that Richard Burton was going to reprise his role in this one but that he died before he could do it. I would be surprised if Richard Burton would have accepted to play in this movie. At least not without some major rewrites.
The story is dubious to say the least. Sure the story in the original was not very ground breaking either but in the original The Wild Geese the actors had charisma. Richard Burton was the infallible (almost) though guy that knew what he was doing. In this one Scott Glenn runs around looking like a wimp and generally do not really seem to know what he is doing. He gets captured by the oldest of tricks. He is too stupid to realize the most obvious of things, like that the girl might need protection.
There is little of the actual mercenary action that was present in the original one. The good guys mostly walk around scouting, planning or screwing up. The little enjoyment that can be found is in the performance of Edward Fox who is also the only guy who remotely seems to know what he is doing.
The end is just silly. All that effort, not the least by the viewer having watched this crap to the end, is simply wasted.
The story is dubious to say the least. Sure the story in the original was not very ground breaking either but in the original The Wild Geese the actors had charisma. Richard Burton was the infallible (almost) though guy that knew what he was doing. In this one Scott Glenn runs around looking like a wimp and generally do not really seem to know what he is doing. He gets captured by the oldest of tricks. He is too stupid to realize the most obvious of things, like that the girl might need protection.
There is little of the actual mercenary action that was present in the original one. The good guys mostly walk around scouting, planning or screwing up. The little enjoyment that can be found is in the performance of Edward Fox who is also the only guy who remotely seems to know what he is doing.
The end is just silly. All that effort, not the least by the viewer having watched this crap to the end, is simply wasted.
Better than it's reputation
So Wild Geese II, Nearly every review I have ever come across regarding this film has been very negative and to be honest from reading a lot of them I don't even think many had watched the movie to begin with...
The original Wild Geese - these days a Sunday afternoon guilty pleasure classic that when looked at objectively is actually a fairly routine action film with a join the dots script and pedestrian direction. What makes that film work I suspect for most people is the actual African location photography and seeing a lot of mainly washed-up actors hamming it up ridiculously to pay their bar tabs.
Wild Geese II is very different from that movie, new cast, mainly new crew and made nearly ten years later - Wild Geese II is more of a spy thriller than action film. It offers a much more intelligent script, Great location work in Cold War era Berlin and some genuine storyline surprises. One aspect of the film that I think it really shares with the original is that any of the main characters can get killed at any time although it is a bit more edgy this time around.
Another aspect - in this case bad unfortunately is seeing another washed-up actor hamming for the alcohol bills, Edward Fox in this case who is just plain awful here taking over from what would have been Richard Burton's role. He plays second fiddle here to Scott Glenn - at the time flavor of the month upcoming star to appeal to the American market. Glenn although usually good in other movies is positively catatonic here. The interesting thing is that bad as the two leads are they do not bring the film down as the rest of the cast is filled out with mainly good supporting actors - the standouts being Barbara Carerra in a pretty thankless role as the love interest, an actor who plays an IRA gunman and another actor who plays a British Sergeant-Major. Also Peter Hunt the director deserves credit for keeping the fairly convoluted story moving along at a brisk pace.
So overall not as dated as the original but still dated, better story and better direction but with a bad rep - I think this is an unusual case of a sequel surpassing the original but audiences seem unwilling to give it a chance probably because the first just wasn't that good to begin with.
The original Wild Geese - these days a Sunday afternoon guilty pleasure classic that when looked at objectively is actually a fairly routine action film with a join the dots script and pedestrian direction. What makes that film work I suspect for most people is the actual African location photography and seeing a lot of mainly washed-up actors hamming it up ridiculously to pay their bar tabs.
Wild Geese II is very different from that movie, new cast, mainly new crew and made nearly ten years later - Wild Geese II is more of a spy thriller than action film. It offers a much more intelligent script, Great location work in Cold War era Berlin and some genuine storyline surprises. One aspect of the film that I think it really shares with the original is that any of the main characters can get killed at any time although it is a bit more edgy this time around.
Another aspect - in this case bad unfortunately is seeing another washed-up actor hamming for the alcohol bills, Edward Fox in this case who is just plain awful here taking over from what would have been Richard Burton's role. He plays second fiddle here to Scott Glenn - at the time flavor of the month upcoming star to appeal to the American market. Glenn although usually good in other movies is positively catatonic here. The interesting thing is that bad as the two leads are they do not bring the film down as the rest of the cast is filled out with mainly good supporting actors - the standouts being Barbara Carerra in a pretty thankless role as the love interest, an actor who plays an IRA gunman and another actor who plays a British Sergeant-Major. Also Peter Hunt the director deserves credit for keeping the fairly convoluted story moving along at a brisk pace.
So overall not as dated as the original but still dated, better story and better direction but with a bad rep - I think this is an unusual case of a sequel surpassing the original but audiences seem unwilling to give it a chance probably because the first just wasn't that good to begin with.
- unclecessna
- Sep 19, 2009
- Permalink
Wild Geese ? More Of A Cynical Turkey Than Anything Else
- Theo Robertson
- Apr 10, 2013
- Permalink
"What I have done in the past, is done".
After the original with its star studded distractions; this only in-name sequel would see a small tag of mercenaries led by Scott Glenn hired by an American TV station to go behind enemy lines (Berlin, Germany) to take part in a very dangerous mission (freeing Nazi prisoner Rudolf Hess, who holds many secrets that some people would want to keep it that way).
"Wild Geese II" is a hardy, but cleverly plotted and lavished boy's own adventure. Maybe too complicated for its own good, as some of the scheming tends to be silly and dubious. However with that in mind, it still remains cracking entertainment by delivering many unpredictable developments, dangerous intrigue and few exhilaratingly edgy action set-pieces amongst its illustrative Berlin backdrop. However don't go in thinking its going to be an all-out action assault like "Wild Geese", it's not. It plays out more so like a spy-game. Director Peter R. Hunt ("Death Hunt", "Gold" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") durably puts its together, making it gripping as what starts of as simple reconnaissance becomes a knotty web of deals and plans where it's hard to know who's really playing who. A diligently compact script (which agreeably has a slight sense of humour) keeps it interesting and on the move, as the narrative constantly shifts about and the strategies keep on changing due to circumstances. So it's rather calculative in its build-up, in what seems like a waiting game and then picking the right time to set it all in motion. Although when it comes to its climatic ending, you feel like it has all come to nothing. Performances are rather modest from its game cast. A stoically glazed Scott Glenn is equitable in the central role (and is quite fancy with a switchblade), but its Edward Fox who effortlessly steals the show as a lethally cunning English mercenary. Barbara Carrera offers capable support. Also showing up are John Terry, Robert Webber, Patrick Stewart, Ingrid Pitt and Laurence Olivier as Rudolf Hess.
"...Death ate its way into me and it never left."
"Wild Geese II" is a hardy, but cleverly plotted and lavished boy's own adventure. Maybe too complicated for its own good, as some of the scheming tends to be silly and dubious. However with that in mind, it still remains cracking entertainment by delivering many unpredictable developments, dangerous intrigue and few exhilaratingly edgy action set-pieces amongst its illustrative Berlin backdrop. However don't go in thinking its going to be an all-out action assault like "Wild Geese", it's not. It plays out more so like a spy-game. Director Peter R. Hunt ("Death Hunt", "Gold" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") durably puts its together, making it gripping as what starts of as simple reconnaissance becomes a knotty web of deals and plans where it's hard to know who's really playing who. A diligently compact script (which agreeably has a slight sense of humour) keeps it interesting and on the move, as the narrative constantly shifts about and the strategies keep on changing due to circumstances. So it's rather calculative in its build-up, in what seems like a waiting game and then picking the right time to set it all in motion. Although when it comes to its climatic ending, you feel like it has all come to nothing. Performances are rather modest from its game cast. A stoically glazed Scott Glenn is equitable in the central role (and is quite fancy with a switchblade), but its Edward Fox who effortlessly steals the show as a lethally cunning English mercenary. Barbara Carrera offers capable support. Also showing up are John Terry, Robert Webber, Patrick Stewart, Ingrid Pitt and Laurence Olivier as Rudolf Hess.
"...Death ate its way into me and it never left."
- lost-in-limbo
- Jun 3, 2011
- Permalink
Waste Of Good Actors
Wild Geese 2
I want to give it an 8 to counter the low numbers . . .
. . . but 7 is well enough deserved. I don't get the jaded reviews - and to think I nearly passed on this gem. It was better than Wild Geese One. Former Marine, Scott Glen was the quintessential cool, (almost cold) operative. Laurence Olivier's role was short, but profound. Shot, on location, just before they demolished this historic piece of architecture after the actual death of Hess, supposedly of suicide.
A Sequel In Name Only
- timdalton007
- Apr 23, 2007
- Permalink
Mission: Impossible British style
This is a highly underated film. For those of you who love Hard action films , this is perfect. Peter Hunt gives the procedings a no frills, lean and mean pace. He brilliantly captures the tough World the characters live in. I loved the first film, this isn't as good but is entertaining enough. It is very much like 'Who dares Wins' in its uncinical approach to fast and heavy violence. The characters are not nice people so there is little love loss between them. Scott Glenn plays the lead Emotionless and I believe this is done on purpose.
- glynnewiley
- Jun 15, 2001
- Permalink
Wild Turkey Two Is More Like It!
'Wild Geese 2' Is a contractually obliged sequel to the original mercenary classic, Richard Burton Was due to reprise his role, but sadly Richard Burton, succumbed to a fatal brain hemorrhage, This time around Edward Fox, Fills in as the younger Brother of Faulkner, who is approached by news reporter magnates, who want Faulkner to free the infamous war criminal, Rudolf Hess,(who is incarcerated in the equally infamous Spandau prison, in Berlin,Laurence Olivier,) plays the aging Nazi.Faulkner Decline's the perilous operation,but Recommend's another mercenary for the impossible feat, John Hadad, Played By the ever moody Scott Glenn,who literally sleeps through this performance, Naturally Glenn Cant pull off this mission, so Fox Agrees, 'Wild Geese 2', is watchable but don't be expecting sheer brilliance,
Wild Cheese 2
'The Wild Geese' ( 1978 ), by no means a classic, was Oscar winning stuff compared to this stinker. Edward Fox plays the brother of the Richard Burton character; the dialogue at the start tries to imply that Eddie was out there alongside Richard in the African veldt. Oh no he wasn't! Based on Daniel Carney's 'The Square Circle', this is rubbish as adventure, lacking in action, being a compendium of the worst spy movie clichés of all time. At one point, someone even says: "We ask the questions!". Roger Moore had the good sense to turn it down, instead we get Scott Glenn looking as though he's stepped off the set of 'Westworld', and Barbara Carrera as the token crumpet. The plot concerns a publicity seeking U.S. news network hiring mercenaries to free Rudolf Hess from Spandau prison. Whilst it was possible to root for the original Wild Geese as they rescued a democratically-elected Prime Minister, its impossible to care if Glenn, Fox and Carrera spring Hess. Luckily for us, Euan Lloyd retired not long afterwards.
- ShadeGrenade
- Sep 13, 2006
- Permalink
Could have been a masterpiece....
Poor Sequel to a Great Original
The Original Was a Minor Classic.it was Action Packed and contained Plenty of Humour.Infact it was like a British Dirty Dozen With Mercenaries instead Prisoners.The cast Seemed to Enjoy themseleves.unlike this movie where most of the cast look like there going to fall asleep.Scott Glenn is so wooden in this Chuck Norris would of been better.the Action is very Rare.Only Fox Plays it tongue in Cheek.The Script isnt Great and the story goes nowhere.Dull.However Roy Budds Music Score is typically Great.4 out of 10
- filmbuff1970
- Apr 28, 2002
- Permalink
more of the same
- dillonryanbauer
- Jan 4, 2023
- Permalink
Like Ronin, only made earlier and not quite as good
- Leofwine_draca
- Dec 10, 2016
- Permalink
Mediocre at best
Not near the movie the first one was. Scott Glen is not much of an actor IMHO. He displays almost no personality. The story is rather weak im this one. There are a lot of stars in it but it still doesn't make the movie any better. Lawrence Olivier does a good job with his character of Rudolf Hess. To make up for lack of acting they threw in an unnecessary, albeit tame sex scene. The movie creates lots of dead bodies with close ups of the blood plus a lot of f bombs. It makes this one a pass as far as I'm concerned. I stuck with it to find put the solution but it was disappointing. Find some more entertaining with better acting and less foul language.
Don't treat this as a sequel .....
Not Bad...
I have just seen this film, and l thought it was quite good, not up to the original but the story line was good, the acting was good, in fact it was a good film with a fantastic idea.
Olivier and Fox add to the cast with Olivier doing his best to convey a hard part...
I have read in books that this film was a "bomb" and a lot of folk don`t like it, but why has every film got to have a message, why can't people just see a film for what is should be a bit of fun, l give this film
8/10
Olivier and Fox add to the cast with Olivier doing his best to convey a hard part...
I have read in books that this film was a "bomb" and a lot of folk don`t like it, but why has every film got to have a message, why can't people just see a film for what is should be a bit of fun, l give this film
8/10
- goldfinger2a-2
- Mar 31, 2003
- Permalink
New Group, Different Mission, Same Hell
An American TV network hires a group of mercenaries to spring the notorious high-rank Nazi officer and war criminal Rudolf Hess who is being held at Spandau Prison, East Berlin. The purpose is to elicit secrets about Hitler and his Nazi Party that have not been revealed to the world and, simultaneously, raise the popularity of the TV network itself. Haddad (Scott Glenn), an American mercenary heads the squad with another British mercenary Faulkner (Edward Fox).
The mission gets complicated when the KGB and another covert operation team attempt to sabotage the plan, eventually leading to the lost of lives of Haddad's men and endangering the target man Hess.
This film was a bomb when it played at the cinemas because a lot of viewers had the misconception of what they would see and expected wall-to-wall, masculine battle scenes like those in THE WILD GEESE. The other reason was that the leading cast was not superstars: Scott Glenn was an up-and-coming star then and Edward Fox's career had dwindled. Barbara Carrera was only cast as an eye candy, though she is billed second in the opening sequence. And finally the plot itself that sounds ridiculous.
I watched it on video when I was 13 and didn't like it either. But having watched it again on DVD recently, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was not as bad as I thought it was.
The film has a slow, step-by-step build-up that follows the "planning-surveillance-organizing-executing" structure, something like a "Mission Impossible" episode that fits very well with the plot. Modern audiences may not like the lack of tension but viewers who are accustomed to espionage action thrillers of the 70's and 80's will not have much to complain about.
Despite some negligible flaws, Scott Glenn, Edward Fox, Laurence Olivier and the others all play their part well. There's also an Irish mercenary Hourigan played by Derek Thompson who chews one of the scenes with Paul Antrim, playing Murphy, a military trainer of the group.
The action sequences are sparse but inserted in the required scenes: the shootout in the alley, the night raid at the warehouse, and the kidnapping. There are also a few violent scenes involving torture by suffocating, two gunshots at the knee and backstabbing ,which are pretty tame by today's standards though.
The music by Roy Budd serves the scenes fittingly and even enhances them. Peter R. Hunt's direction moves in a rather slow pace but doesn't bore viewers (of course, you need concentration when watching this because there are some rather confusing sub-plots going on) and eventually takes speed during the last 35 minutes (of the 125 run time). The shooting locations in East Berlin depict the beauty of the era, not the negative views Westerners used to have about the Eastern block countries at the time.
Despite the farcically contrived ending, WILD GEESE II is an interesting, pretty exciting, and well-executed espionage action thriller not to be watched as a sequel but a film in its own right.
The mission gets complicated when the KGB and another covert operation team attempt to sabotage the plan, eventually leading to the lost of lives of Haddad's men and endangering the target man Hess.
This film was a bomb when it played at the cinemas because a lot of viewers had the misconception of what they would see and expected wall-to-wall, masculine battle scenes like those in THE WILD GEESE. The other reason was that the leading cast was not superstars: Scott Glenn was an up-and-coming star then and Edward Fox's career had dwindled. Barbara Carrera was only cast as an eye candy, though she is billed second in the opening sequence. And finally the plot itself that sounds ridiculous.
I watched it on video when I was 13 and didn't like it either. But having watched it again on DVD recently, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was not as bad as I thought it was.
The film has a slow, step-by-step build-up that follows the "planning-surveillance-organizing-executing" structure, something like a "Mission Impossible" episode that fits very well with the plot. Modern audiences may not like the lack of tension but viewers who are accustomed to espionage action thrillers of the 70's and 80's will not have much to complain about.
Despite some negligible flaws, Scott Glenn, Edward Fox, Laurence Olivier and the others all play their part well. There's also an Irish mercenary Hourigan played by Derek Thompson who chews one of the scenes with Paul Antrim, playing Murphy, a military trainer of the group.
The action sequences are sparse but inserted in the required scenes: the shootout in the alley, the night raid at the warehouse, and the kidnapping. There are also a few violent scenes involving torture by suffocating, two gunshots at the knee and backstabbing ,which are pretty tame by today's standards though.
The music by Roy Budd serves the scenes fittingly and even enhances them. Peter R. Hunt's direction moves in a rather slow pace but doesn't bore viewers (of course, you need concentration when watching this because there are some rather confusing sub-plots going on) and eventually takes speed during the last 35 minutes (of the 125 run time). The shooting locations in East Berlin depict the beauty of the era, not the negative views Westerners used to have about the Eastern block countries at the time.
Despite the farcically contrived ending, WILD GEESE II is an interesting, pretty exciting, and well-executed espionage action thriller not to be watched as a sequel but a film in its own right.
- Filmfandave
- Feb 22, 2010
- Permalink