Jungle Wolf

Jungle Wolf

JUNGLE WOLF (1986)

Directed by: Charlie Ordonez
Written by: Ron Marchini, David Donaldson
Starring: Ron Marchini, Laura Abeyta, Joe Meyer, Romy Diaz

You know how it goes. It’s the 80s. Action movies are big business. Rambo is a big hit. Your name’s Ron Marchini. You’ve got muscles. You know karate. You decide to “write” your own Rambo flick. You’re the hero. You have to leave your idyllic life flying stunt planes and living with your son to go rescue some American diplomat who has been kidnapped. You get your knife, your Uzi, your leather gloves and your 2 vests (one black, one yellow) and you head off to the Philippines to rescue said diplomat. You shoot stuff, you have Nam flashbacks and you blow an awful lot of shit up. And, bam, you have Jungle Wolf.

Oh, and you not only have all the awesome stuff happening above you also have a kick ass theme song (called Back in Action) that is sung about six billion times throughout your movie. Man, Jungle Wolf is awesome. Ron Marchini may be a charisma vacuum but he knows how to kick and blow stuff up and Jungle Wolf, while no classic of the jungle-set-military-action-Ramboesque-explosion-fests that populated video stores in the 80s, is not too bad either. It’s all pretty straightforward as Marchini sets off into the jungle with a dude he busted out of prison (in quite possibly cinema’s least thrilling prison break out!) to trade for the life of the diplomat. Along the way he has flashbacks to Nam (another 80s action cinema staple), hooks up with a jungle babe, utters all of 14 lines throughout the entire film and for the most part dispenses a ton of ammo and blows most of the jungle up.

Despite it’s cheapo shortcomings, ridiculous villain (complete with Pirate hat!) and slower than molasses car chases, Jungle Wolf delivers the jungle based action goods. Good use of locations, some decent photography and lots and lots of running, shooting and explosions (and even a little karate) make Jungle Wolf a fun time. Marchini is no Norris but damn he can wear muscle shirts, fire two guns at the same time and rock a samurai sword like the best of them. The action is often firepower and explosion heavy and there is a lot of it, as dialogue for this film must have run to all of two pages.

The ending is ridiculously abrupt (leading the way for no less than 2 sequels: sweet!) and the theme song will be stuck in your head for days but Jungle Wolf is some solid jungle based action cheese.

Cool Target: Action Movie Reviews

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