IMDb > Troma's War (1988) > IMDb user reviews

IMDb user comments for
Troma's War (1988) More at IMDbPro »

Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]
Index 16 reviews in total 

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Good Spoof, with Tons of B Movie Excesses, 4 July 2007
8/10
Author: Jakealope from Albany, NY

This movie is a spoof of all those Rambo/Norris/Ahnuld commando bloodbath movies from the 80's. It is very unsubtle, full of cartoonish shootouts where the same bad guy terrorists get mowed down by the good guy plane crash survivors, some cheesy sex and boob scenes, with an original hard rock background music score. Basically, a random bunch of people crash on a Caribbean Island: punk rocker, Wall Street yuppie, hysterical woman, priest, etc etc; owned by Cuba. The island is a terrorist training camp for a motley bunch of cartoonish terrorists, loosely based on the 80's Communist types. There is a pig snouted redneck terrorist, a psycho Nazi Jew hating one, Russians, Arabs, a ninja, and even two Siamese twin leaders. They are going to land in the US and undermine us with AIDS and random violence, ala "Invasion USA", I guess. So this motley bunch of survivors, led by an ex Airborne Vietnam vet, start kicking some serious butt instead.

There isn't too much of a plot after that, but plenty of gratuitous violence on the level of Monty Python, with more shootout scenes than ten action movies put together. But the same bunch of terrorists keep getting mowed down by our heroes. It is funny yet the overkill grows on you after a while. But it definitely is chock full of special effects and weapons, especially for a low budget flick.

To call this a politically incorrect movie is a euphemism for a totally bad taste movie. But it does have it's charm, in a cheap, exploitative but not a stupid way. Definitely not for the weak at heart, while not gory compared to modern horror movies, it has some real bloody hamburger scenes

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
jaw-dropping, over-the-top satire, 2 August 2006
9/10
Author: (winner55) from United States

Author: plazma_dragon wrote 'The makers of this film tried to combine a comedy movie with an action movie'.

no, that's not what they did. what the wonderful folks at troma did in this film is to take all the conventions of all Hollywood action films set in the contemporary era, and push them to their logical extremes.

the action film is inherently illogical - that's exactly why we watch them. in the action film you identify with the hero and blow away a criminal as soon as you can, and move on to the next criminal to blow away.

in real life, if you shoot someone you think is committing a crime, you may miss and get shot; you may only wound him, in which case you have to listen to his squeals of pain, and later, in most states, he has the right to come back and sue you for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon - no joke. and if you do kill him, then you have to justify it to the police, and sometimes to a judge, and you have to listen to his mom weep in agony, and then she sues you for 'wrongful death' and you have to wonder - was causing so much pain to others and one's self really worth it - a question that may haunt you the rest of your life. finally, there's the possibility that he may shoot you - setting aside your possible demise, there's the problem of getting crippled for the rest of your life. you can sue the criminal, but if he's just the corner thug, you'll never see a penny.

this doesn't mean that you don't shoot the criminal - you may need to - if he's threatening a loved one, and i got a good shot, i certainly would. but what all this does mean is that you're stuck with all kinds of consequences that never happen to Stallone or snipes or Jackie Chan.

troma takes this basic principle - shoot the guy and move on, hero - to the extremes. any of the airliner survivors who show compassion are deemed wimpy and abandoned. the Rambo-wannabe wades into a whole regiment of enemy soldiers and doesn't get shot. the pacifist priest is sadistically tortured and shot in the goriest fashion, condemned to die by a neo-Nazi for being Jewish - even though he's clearly not - simply because the Nazi thinks everyone he kills must be Jewish, since he's a Nazi and Nazis kill Jews.

as for the nudity - it is rumored that steven seagal actually used to have it in his contract that there would be at least one female nude scene in any movie he made. nude scenes are pro-forma to the genre - but since this is troma's war, of course they need to be done as ineptly as possible.

one can say that 'this is not my kind of comedy', and leave it alone. however, don't for a minute think these people don't know what they're doing.

personally i think this movie is a jaw-dropping, over-the-top satire of the best kind. i hold back one star because there's no doubt the editing could have been a little tighter.

Was the above comment useful to you?

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
A recommended Troma-classic!, 5 January 2002
Author: Le Froque

Forget Coppola´s "Apocalypse Now" and Spielberg´s "Saving Private Ryan" because this film is the ultimate contribution to the genre of war movies! Typically Troma, you´ll find lots of cheesy F/X and bad acting in it, however this shot is not as awful as many other flicks produced by this company: "Troma´s War" is REALLY entertaining, what´s absolutely no guarantee for the other works of Lloyd Kaufman´s firm. The humor is not too silly this time, although there are many politically not correct jokes about Aids or Siamese twins. The violence in this film is business as usual, so prepare for cut off ears and fountains of blood! With its exaggerated patriotism "Troma´s War" is also a nice parody on all those soldier-movies like "Rambo" or "Delta Force", which were very popular in the Reagan-ruled 1980s. And some nudity of pretty silicon-chicks doesn´t hurt either..! I liked this movie even more than "Combat Shock", that is alleged to be a touching anti war-drama, but after all only a cheap and boring film! This one doesn´t take itself too serious and that´s no mistake!! So if you´re going out tonight to rent a Troma-flick... take this one!!!

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A good time for all (Especially for those with a twisted sense of humor)!, 28 January 1999
Author: David Choi from New Jersey, USA

One of the BEST exploitation films ever made! This movie has everything a B-movie lover could want: Shootings, explosions, a multifarious cast, action, violence, thrills, mayhem, and romance! One of the finest pieces of opus ever embraced by the human being.

Essentially, TROMA'S WAR is a spoof of the action and war genres. The film's contrived plot concerns a bunch of incompetent plane crash survivors on an island. They've encountered a conspiracy that will not only endanger the United States, but will place the whole world in jeopardy! Eventually, this leads to all sorts of scenes of random silliness...not to mention moments of bloodshed. Will the survivors beat the odds, or will the world spell doom?

TROMA'S WAR is a fine amalgram of the features expected in a comedy, horror, and action mixture. Unlike most Troma films, this satricial flick offers caustic political commentary about biological warfare and fascist terrorism. The black humor in TROMA'S WAR is subtle at times, conspiciously sleazy during most other parts of this movie. The explosive intensity in this film is buoyed by great one-liners and a feeling of tons of guilty pleasure. Also, the delightfully amateurish cast in Troma's War also must receive approbation for having lots of fun with this movie. Highly recommended movie to all connoiseurs of fun, low budget films. A movie treat guaranteed to provide an entertaining time with lots of friends.

RATING: ***1/2 out of ****.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Great., 20 July 2006
9/10
Author: spicymcboner from United States

Great Troma movie. The last guy who commented on it has obviously never watched a Troma film before. The thin plot, nudity and guts all come together to form a solid story. The cheesy humor is another staple in the making of a great "movie of the future" I mean, an evil general with AIDS? GENIUS! If you don't enjoy Tromas War, you probably don't love Bloodsucking Freaks either, which makes you a moron. If you've never watched a Troma movie before, don't comment on them as if your film tastes are so advanced. Although, you really don't need to know the whole story behind the company to enjoy this film. Lloyd Kaufman and Micheal Herz have done it yet again. Thank you.

Was the above comment useful to you?

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Another Troma masterpiece, 9 May 2000
10/10
Author: Frank Habets (fhabets@yahoo.com) from Ottawa, Ontario

Tired of all these typical Hollywood macho blast'em all pics? Does the name Rambo elicit in you flu-like symptoms? Well, Troma's War is the cure for you! A perfect send-off of La-la-land's testosterone pics! Unlike, say, the "Hot Shots" parodies, this flick's satire has a lot of bite.

Was the above comment useful to you?

Troma's Unsung Masterpiece Of Epic Proportions!, 28 December 2008
10/10
Author: Quinton Moad from Guthrie, OK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After The Success Of Class Of Nuke'em High, Troma Set Out To Make What They Call Their Masterpiece. Personally, I Think Poultrygeist Is Their Best Film, But To Each His Own. Anyways, Troma's War Is Basically Your Average Post-Nam Military Themed Action Movie If Troma Made It. It Follows The Mis-Adventures Of A Group Of Airline Passengers Who Find Themselves Stranded On An Island Lorded Over By A Terrorist Elite Who Plan On Invading The US. Our Unlikely Heroes Gather What Weapons They Can Find And Declare War On The Terrorist Scum Before Their Plan Can Progress Any Further. Virtually Ignored Upon Its Intitial Release, War Has Managed To Secure A Loyal Fanbase Thanks To The Wonders Of Modern Day Technology, That Allowed Troma To Re-Release War The Way It Was Meant To Be Seen. With All The Gore And Nudity That The MPAA So Stupidly Removed From The Original Cut. One Of The Best Action Films Of Its Period, And Easily One Of The Best Films In The Troma Library, Troma's War Is Sure To Please Fans Of Both!

Was the above comment useful to you?

Torma's long lost masterpiece., 26 December 2007
10/10
Author: Ton_O (toncyn@casema.nl) from The Netherlands

Finally, on DVD, represented in the brilliant director's cut version that no one should miss!! This is Troma's answer to the Rambo kind of films that were doing well all around. This should have been as big a worldwide hit in theaters all over the world, if it weren't for the censors who always kindly cooperate with the big conglomerates, but while Rambo got it's R-rating with it's countless bullets, shot wounds, amounts of senseless violence and streams of blood, Troma's War wasn't treated with the same courtesy. While not more excessively violent or bloody than any of the drek that the big studio's poured out over the audiences, Troma's War was submitted to countless cuts, making it a rather senseless film, of which all the guts (literally and metaphorically), storyline and message were deleted, with the predictable result that no one really could care for the film anymore. A bloody shame, since it is – when seen in the original director's cut – so much better than the poor substitudes with the bid budgets spent on ridiculously overpaid mediocre actors from Hollywood. Troma's War in it's entirety is a masterpiece, a brilliant film that seems to pretend to be the Rambo-kind-of-film, and should please audiences that like that stuff, but in the meantime is so much more than that: it is an intelligent film with a layered texture, a superb story and a lot of fun. Furthermore, the film features the first appearance of Troma's soon to be Superstar Joe Fleishaker. And it is the first movie to address the aids problem, long before any of the bigger studios even dared to touch it, again proving how much ahead of it's time Troma has always been. The director's audio-commentary is, as is always the case with Lloyd Kaufman's tracks, a wonderfully insightful feature, worth the price of the disc itself, and it explains in depth the evil works with which the big guys in the film-making world go to great lengths to put the independents out of business. But Troma's War still goes on – 35 years and counting! Get this film, it is a historically significant one.

Was the above comment useful to you?

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Troma's Best!!, 17 January 2005
10/10
Author: edwardsje_526 from Boston Mass. USA

Thank God for troma! This is the epitome of low budget classic film making. Lloyd Kaufmen delivers the goods with TROMA'S WAR. GORE! GORE! GORE! NUDITY! AND it's funny to!

Troma is not known for it's big budgets but this one appears to have the biggest budget of any of their previous works. And you can tell that every dime went into the production.

Lloyd put together an impressive cast for this one, and introduced us to the great Joe Fleshieker (who returned in other Troma classics). The action is great. This is what we have coem to expect from Troma.

This is troma at it's best. I also recommend Toxic Avenger 1-3, Citizen Toxie, and Bloodsucking Freaks.

Jesse

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Not Saving Private Ryan, more like Saving Ryan's......, 19 November 2001
Author: Glenn Andreiev (gandreiev@aol.com) from Huntington, NY

WAR! is another quickie exploitation film churned out by the Troma Team. Like all of Troma, the film is heavy on the bad taste (even comes with AIDS jokes) nudity, action, etc. etc. At the end of the film, all the film's heroes and heroines face the camera and cheer "America!" I guess this is so we don't boo and hiss the film too bad. I saw TROMA WAR's in the best possible enviorment for a Troma film, the old Times Square, in a run down theatre with a wall made up of tarp, along with a local lunatic who decided to sit in his seat in the lotus position and face the audience during the film. Now it's all Disney and Yuppie-Moneytraps on 42nd Street. Too Bad.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]

Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Ratings Awards
External reviews Parents Guide Official site
Plot keywords Main details Your user reviews
Your vote history