Battle Drone, Mercenaries vs. RoboCop Monsters

As the #MeToo movement becomes more about exploitation and publicity rather than the pursuit of justice and equity in Hollywood, it is important for all of us film enthusiasts to remember the horror which has been exposed over the past year. Revelations about Harvey Weinstein opened our eyes to an injustice we have conveniently chosen to ignore. The fat ugly monster we call Harvey Weinstein is only the tip of a bloody iceberg that has claimed the honor and virtue of so many actresses and actors. No story bares this out better than Natassia Malthe's account of her rape at the hands of Weinstein. Brutal and heartbreaking as it was, Ms. Malthe endures and remains a top-notch actress (and a favorite of this blog). The horror she will face in 2017's "Battle Drone" will be ominous, but pale in comparison to the real life terror she faced at the hands of a Hollywood Slime-ball.

A deadly mercenary team is hired by the CIA to overthrow a brutal dictator. The team is headed by Riker (Louis Mandylor), considered a traitor for his actions in Afghanistan. Riker's most notable cohorts include Val (Malthe) a sultry sniper with plutonium bullets and Dax (Jason Earles) a psycho who likes murder and torture. There is a condition the CIA imposes...Riker's people must be matched with several CIA operatives to complete the mission. First stop...Chernobyl! Don't ask. There it becomes apparent that there is no mission and Riker and company were sent there to walk into an ambush.

Bad news...two Bio-Synthetic Shock Troops await...think RoboCop with a demented attitude. Riker's smart and after the things inflict heavy damage, mostly on the CIA guys, he has a heart to heart with the CIA team leader, the sultry Agent Hayes (Dominique Swain). Hayes was ignorant about the double-cross and now fights with the mercenaries to survive. All looks hopeless until Val plugs one with one of her plutonium rounds and after some nifty combat, the team believes they have won. Ha! Not so fast. International arms dealer Karl (Michael Pare), working with the CIA, is eager to show what his drones can do. He then unleashes an army of them to wipe out Riker's team. Refusing to be a victim, Riker's strategy is to hit them hard, not run. As Riker's mercenaries take the battle to these high-tech monsters, the fight becomes a fair one.

Will Agent Hayes and Val have an opportunity for a nice cat-fight? Will Ms. Malthe's Val survive (Ms. Malthe's characters die a lot in her films)? Will Riker be able to prove his innocence for the war crimes he's accused of and in the process be able to woo Agent Hayes? This is a comic-book on film and is so much fun. Ms. Swain and Ms. Malthe are great eye-candy and terrific femme fatale type characters. Oh yes, the aforementioned Dax? He's quite the psycho...you'll see. Available on Netflix, see "Battle Drone" directed by Mitch Gould.