Book Review: Dirty War - Mack Bolan

In the late 1960s Don Pendleton wrote an action adventure series featuring Vietnam vet Mack Bolan.  Mack Bolan aka the Executioner was an Army Special Forces soldier who came home from a tour in Vietnam when his family was murdered.  Bolan's father was involved with the Mafia who was pressuring him to pay off his debts.   The pressuring was so intense that he went crazy and killed himself and his family.   The only person who survived was Bolan's brother, Johnny Bolan.   After burying his family, Mack decided to start his own one man war against organized crime.  Each book in the series details Mack's exploits against different Mafia families throughout the United States.   He uses the same tactics from Vietnam such as "role camouflage", where he impersonates someone and infiltrates from the inside, to gun blazing action scenes with his 44 auto mag, 9 mm Beretta and M-16 assault rifle.  Despite the fact that he is a one man killing machine,  Pendleton made Bolan a character that you could sympathise with and relate to.   Pendleton wrote the first 37 books before turning the series over to Golden Eagle publishing.   From then on Pendleton's name became a house name and different ghostwriters picked up where Pendleton left off.

This particular novel was written in the 1980s by Stephen Mertz.   It serves as a prequel when Bolan was still a soldier in Vietnam.   The story is about how one of Bolan's fellow soldiers went rogue and started shipping drugs to the U.S. in body bags of dead soldiers.   Bolan and his team captured the soldier and put him in the brig.  Afterward , the NVA attacked Bolan's base and the soldier escaped with a list of spies working undercover in Northern Vietnam.  Bolan and a few of his team members hunt for this solider through the jungles of Vietnam until they meet Bolan's nemesis of the book, Major Linh.  This story is filled with tough action sequences, tough dialogue, and narrow escapes.  

I had a tough time getting into this book when I first read it.  I actually had to put it down for awhile and try again later.  I enjoyed it the second time around because it took me awhile to get used to the author's writing style.   I felt that the characters weren't quite as developed as Pendleton's Bolan books but it was still good. This book shows how Bolan's character developed in his early years and how he interacts with his fellow soldiers.  You also see how he earned his nickname "Sergeant Mercy" when he delivers a baby during a fire fight with the Khmer Rouge.

It is also interesting to note that his moniker "the Executioner" was originally used while a soldier in Vietnam. Just like in the Pendleton books,  Bolan's enemies and friends feared and respected him.

All in all this is an enjoyable book in the Mack Bolan saga.   You don't have to read it first but it is a good place to start.   Especially if you want to see what Mack was like in his early years.

The Predator - Why I think this is Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movie

This movie is by far Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movie.  I thought this one topped all of the other movies that he made during this time period.   For some reason I couldn't get into Commando, Raw Deal and even the Terminator as much as this one.   I have always enjoyed action movies with a small group of commandos going on a mission instead of large armies going to battle.  There seems to be more camaraderie between a small group than a large one.   I like to watch how they have to overcome odds and put their differences aside to achieve their objectives.   The odds are stacked against them and they can't afford to trouble with small stuff.  

One of the major criticisms of movies like this is the amount of violence and foul language.  I can understand that but if you look deeper you will see that these movies have more than that.   They also show the importance of brotherhood and sticking together.   One example is when Jesse Ventura's character is looking for the predator after one of his squad mates gets killed.   Not too long afterward he gets shot through the chest and his costar Bill Duke comes running in to save him.   He sees Jesse's body laying on the ground and goes into a rage.  He sprays the whole jungle with machine gun fire and then picks up Jesse's gun once his runs out of ammo.   Later on the rest of his squad mates show up and continue the onslaught.   Even though they didn't hit anything and wasted a lot of ammo,  they definitely showed a lot of commitment to their fallen brethren. 

Duke's character did the same thing when he was protecting Jesse's body late at night.  He started reminiscing about the old times him and Jesse's character had on other missions.  During that monologue, he was getting emotional because he lost his friend.  Another great scene is when they were setting a trap for the Predator by using logs and vines.   You can see the teamwork and effort they put into it even though they were exhausted and overwhelmed. 

Sometimes you have to look deeper into these types of movies to see the hidden messages behind it.   If you can ignore the foul language and the violence you might come away with a better appreciation for these types of movies.  

The Lone Ranger

After reading the poor reviews on Rottentomatoes.com, I was hesitant to give the Lone Ranger a try.  RT gave it a 23 percent rating for over 130 reviews.   Usually when a movie gets that much bad press I tend to avoid it.  The fans enjoyed it so I thought I should give it a try.  It turns out that the movie was much better than I expected.   The plot line was all over the place and the acting was pretty silly but it was still good overall.   I enjoyed watching Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and felt the same here.   I also liked watching the Lone Ranger go from being a by-the-numbers prosecutor to being a gunman.

I wasn't surprised to see this movie as an over the top actioner with Johnny Depp in it.   I mean, did you really think that it was going to be that serious?   Most of the critics seemed to be upset watching Jack Sparrow as Tanto but I thought it was great.   This movie was more of an origin story but I can see them coming out with a sequel.   I did feel that some parts of the movie could have been left out but overall I could watch it again.

I guess the next time I won't listen to the critics as much and see a movie for myself.   Critics try to sound to "Shakespearean" in their reviews when it's not necessary.   They will take an action adventure movie like the Expendables and review it like their reviewing Hamlet or Macbeth.  Half the time their reviews do not make any sense and come across as being arrogant.   Movies like the Lone Ranger are not high art nor are they trying to be.   They are just over the top fun movies that allow you to escape your stressful lives.

So if you want to check out a fun action filled movie, check out the Lone Ranger.