AAction Force The Movie: my take.

[Sundance]

please note, I am not out to "rape people's childhood" (god, i hate that phrase), but this is my modernistic take on AF.

The movie opens with an SAS team on an op in Afghanistan, when they uncover a Taliban cave base with a load of weapons and money, their leader, a Major, suddenly turns on them and kills nearly all of them. Two survive but are badly wounded. The major flees with a load of the cash and kit.

Then, we see Ironblood leading his troops, the Red Shadows, in an attack on a German army base. The German troops struggle to cope in the face of the Shadows' attack. A second attack takes place in Russia, on a nuclear warhead disposal site. A third attack, led by the SAS major, now dressed in black, takes place in the US.

NATO secretly orders the formation of a multi-national force to hunt down Ironblood and his troops. Action Force is formed, with three of its commanders coming from Britain, largely so the French can't bitch about America running it.

Eagle is an SAS Captain, promoted to Major, who leads the covert infiltration and special ops group. He recruits Stakeout, Sparrowhawk, Barracuda (who's from the SBS), Beaver, Quickfire and two Americans; Hunter - an African-American sniper- and his partner Longshot, an Asian-American. Since several are from the SAS, they nickname their unit the SAS.

Skip is a Major in 2 Para, who's promoted to Lt. Col. and commands Z-Force, the armour and assault unit. Skip recruits Tracker, a sniper and his partner Sureshot from the Royal Marines, Wheels, Blades from the US 160th SOAR regiment, Chopper from the Army Air Corps, Quarrel, Jammer from the Royal Signals, and Gaucho, an Argentinian soldier who went 'off the reservation' after his girlfriend was raped and murdered, fled to the US and was recently arrested. Gaucho's secretly transferred to the AF and hides his face behind a mask as he's still wanted in Argetina.

Dolphin is a Royal Navy Lt. Commander who commands Q-Force, the naval unit. Their ranks include Leviathan, Mako, Shark, Phones, Akula - a Russian, and Fathom a US Navy SEAL.

Sky Raider, a USAF Major commands the Aero-Space Force, nicknamed 'Space Force'. They have 2 experimental X-78 single-stage-to-orbit craft nicknamed 'Cosmic Cruisers' and six Triads, a prototype three-engined Stealth jet used for air cover. Sky Raider's unit includes Moon-Dancer, Kiwi, Hot Jets, Blast-Off, Hawkwind, Cloudburst - a Chinese pilot, and Raven, a Russian.

Ironblood's Red Shadows are mostly common criminals and mercenaries. Red Wolf leads the Hyenas, a new design of tank with twin guns, Red Jackel leads the Shadowtraks, a six-wheel assault vehicle. Roboskulls are VTOL attack craft, while Kraken leads the naval unit and their 'sea snake' assault boats.

AF under go selection and training, before Ironblood launches an attack on the European Union Parliament. AF battle the Red Shadows, sending Ironblood packing. Sky Raider's group track them to a camp in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains...

SAS parachute into the camp and knock out the ZSU-23/4 air defence vehicles. The Triads fly in and draw out the Roboskulls, leaving the camp open to Z-Force's attack, which comes by assault helicopter, with Hawks (new design, still a single-seater though) providing back-up.

A mass battle ensues, but Ironblood, the Black Major, Red Wolf and Red Jackel flee in a plane. Just as Moon-Dancer is about to shoot it down, Raven shoots down his Triad and escorts the plane out.

AF has struck a blow to Ironblood, but he's not defeated. The movie ends with Ironblood showing the newly-rechristened Red Vulture around his former tractor factory in an unnamed country, which is now manufacturing Hyenas...

A lot of new characters would be added, several from E. Europe and also more black and Asian characters. New deisgns for the Panther, 'Rhino' (replacing the Wolverine to avoid copyright issues), Hawk, Hyena, Z-Force tank and Rapid-Fire bike. Breaker, Steeler and Stalker would be renamed to avoid copyright issues.

new members:
Playback, Short-Wave and Ring-tone (communications)
Sandstorm (Desert warfare)
White-Out (Mountain and Artic Warfare)
Throttle, Rev, Redline and Roadhog (jeep drivers)
Kickstart (bike rider)
Cloudburst and Strafe (Triad pilots)
Whirl and Downdraft (Z-Force copter pilots)
Raider (Royal Marine)
Akula, Undertow and Fathom (Q-Force)
Sabre, Shade (woman), Prowl (SAS)
Recoil, Backblast and Blast-wave (Z-Force anti-armour)
Jarhead (US Marine tank driver)
Red Devil (2 Para, parachutist)
North Star (SAS from Canada's JTF-2)
Anzac (Australian SASR member)

[Golden Puma]

sounds good, I'll be an extra if it ever hits production

[Sundance]

i'm just glad i got that out of my system now. maybe, now i can concentrate on finishing my book...

[Golden Puma]

what's your book about?

[Sundance]

it's an SF short story anthology following a the exploits of Dave Danger: Space Pilot.

it's a retro-homage adventure series. Aliens invade in 2031, Earth kicks ass (the rest of the world joins forces to save America (the anti-Independence Day) ) and they then reverse engineer FTL travel and stuff, and go colonise space and meet aliens and largely kill them, apart from a race of Cat-Women and a race of Hawk-Men. and yes, those are seriously what two of the races are called. by humans. who don't speak their languages.

[The Baron]

Sounds cracking, although I do think Hawkmen have been done before...

[Sundance]

yes, Flash Gordon features Hawkmen. and there's a DC comic called HawkMan.

(surely you'vev seen the 80s Flash movie with BRIAN BLESSED playing Prince Vultan, leader of the Hawkmen?)

my Hawk-Men are different though. instead of merely being winged humans with hawk-style masks/helmets etc. these are literally humanoids evolved from hawks on an alien world. they have beaks, feathers, talons and communicate by squawking, screeching and cawing.

[The Baron]

I have, and don't call me Shirley.

[Muton]

"Danger's alive!"
It could work! Has anyone seen Brian Blessed on Have I got News for You? Completely mad..

[SteveD]

Said it before and I'll say it again - everybody needs to see the TV show where Brian Blessed went bird watching with Bill Oddie. Unfortunately I haven't got it on video, but it was hilarious.

I swear, the birds outside my house were so scared of his attempts to whisper they migrated for good. Having said that, it could have been me - I always scare the birds off.