Warbus (1986)

Shockingly credible Italian / Filipino action movie from relatively early in the cycle, WARBUS will inevitably suffer from comparison to the jokey film it draws the most inspiration from, STRIPES. Comedy is not an easy genre to export so the Italians responded with two totally straight-faced films involving soldiers armoring up a bus to go on the warpath. Of the two, WAR BUS COMMANDO has slightly more notoriety for starring 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS lead Mark Gregory in his final role. It is, however, utter garbage and being an Afghanistan-oriented actioner filmed in Italy, is essentially the same movie as DAYS OF HELL with an even lower budget and even less enthusiasm behind the camera. Well don't let all that fool you. WARBUS is in no way connected to the Mark Gregory vehicle and is markedly superior in every way. Daniel Stephen, Rom Kristoff, and Urs Althaus make for a dynamic ensemble action force and exhibit some good chemistry with each other as they lay waste to communist forces. Surprisingly the film has a decent script and boasts several well-done action sequences with an extremely high body count and numerous big and beautiful slow-motion explosions. The most memorable scene has to do with some "dead" American soldiers boobie-trapped with explosives. How our heroes deal with this trap is something of a head-scratcher but notable for providing us with more solid entertainment.