Raider Platoon (Philippines Action, 1988)

1988 – Raider Platoon (Ticar/SQ Films)

[Philippines release date 7th July 1988, original title "Philippine Marines: Raider Platoon"; export version released by Davian International and Sunny Films, also referred to as “Raiders Platoon”]

Director Jhun Ortega Cinematography Zosimo Corpus, Edmund Cupcupin Editor Monico Conrado

Cast Jess Lapid Jr, Philip Gamboa, Amanda Amores, Lezette Cordero, Ernie Ortega

EXPORT CREDITS Director Federick Moses Cast Jerome Leo, Frannkie Catas, Doris Mann

 
Mini-review by Andrew Leavold

Ignore most of the Anglicized credits, designed by exporters Davian International and Sunny Films to throw you off the scent: it's really another predictable, formulaic Pinoy actioner with Jess Lapid Jr and Philip Gamboa leading a platoon of faceless goons deep into NPA territory to defeat Ernie Ortega and his equally anonymous rebels, and rescue the two kidnapped children of a military commander and his wife hacked to pieces by Ortega's henchmen. At just 81 minutes it's shorn of a third of its running length to mostly combat sequences and exploding huts, and is STILL tedious, and despite some over-the-top gore (head shots, intestines pulled out of torso) is basically a loud, dumb, lazily-executed nod-fest stitched together with footage of real-life Marine manoeuvres. The result: less of an entertainment than an exercise in anti-Communist propaganda. Take that, rebel scum!