Review of Toy Soldiers (1991) by Johnny T — 03 Dec 2012

Machine guns and adolescent boys -- oh hold me back. Honestly, no one expects me to like this kind of film, but they wrong me. I had a pretty good time at this fast moving little film about the insanely devoted son of a Colombian drug dealer who, with his small terrorist army, takes over a prep school to force the release of his father. 'Toy Soldiers' is a funny and pretty cool action, and certainly the better of hostage-crisis-at-school movies. I think most of the appeal comes from the teen cast, but also, the terrorists don't come off as completely useless whereas in some movies, they never seem to be quite the intimidating group that they should. Trapped inside the boarding school, and threatened to be killed if the military or police interferes, this is a very formidable challenge for these group of guys who plan to save the school. They're actually pretty clever about it, too. I was surprised that it was a pretty good movie. It keeps a steady pace and doesn't get ridiculously sentimental or anything like that. Astin and Gosset Jr. give good performances. I, too, agree that this is an underrated action movie.

VERDICT: "High-Quality Stuff" - [Positive Reaction] This is a rating to a movie I view as very entertaining and well made, and definitely worth paying the full price at a theatre to see or own on DVD. It is not perfect, but it is definitely excellent. (Films that are rated 3.5 or 4 stars).