I sat down and watched this for the first time in 16 years, and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it's bloody. Yes, it's violent. Yes, the cast is not all on the same playing field, but the message of the film is exceedingly simple: Don't get complacent.
Some of the film is a little chilling in light of Sept. 11, but there's enough silliness to keep you from getting too depressed. 1. You can laugh at the clothes, 2. You can laugh at the dialogue, and 3. You can laugh at how homely they managed to get Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson to look. Also, keep in mind that this is from the screenwriter of Magnum Force and Apocalypse Now, and the screenwriter/director of Dillinger and Conan the Barbarian. Kevin Reynolds wrote the original screen story, which was supposed to be a sort of preteen Lord of the Flies type scenario (which would have been interesting, but we'll never know how it would have turned out; oh wait, there was that horrible remake of LOTF in 1989), and has since gone on to such illustrious classics as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the unforgettable Waterworld.
Now that you know what you're getting yourself into, throw yourself in with wild abandon and enjoy yourself watching the antics of a gun-happy (yes) C. Thomas Howell, his hunting expert buddies, and the whiny kids who just happened to come along for the ride. Don't worry; they're disposed of in an appropriate manner. Enjoy the low budget constraints of substituting New Mexico for Colorado, and a surprisingly sympathetic Cuban communist leader. Just don't take any of this too seriously. It can't stand up to that kind of scrutiny. The guerilla raids of the "Wolverines" are sometimes laughably implausible, but it doesn't matter. Plausibility went out the window on this one.
Some of the film is a little chilling in light of Sept. 11, but there's enough silliness to keep you from getting too depressed. 1. You can laugh at the clothes, 2. You can laugh at the dialogue, and 3. You can laugh at how homely they managed to get Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson to look. Also, keep in mind that this is from the screenwriter of Magnum Force and Apocalypse Now, and the screenwriter/director of Dillinger and Conan the Barbarian. Kevin Reynolds wrote the original screen story, which was supposed to be a sort of preteen Lord of the Flies type scenario (which would have been interesting, but we'll never know how it would have turned out; oh wait, there was that horrible remake of LOTF in 1989), and has since gone on to such illustrious classics as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the unforgettable Waterworld.
Now that you know what you're getting yourself into, throw yourself in with wild abandon and enjoy yourself watching the antics of a gun-happy (yes) C. Thomas Howell, his hunting expert buddies, and the whiny kids who just happened to come along for the ride. Don't worry; they're disposed of in an appropriate manner. Enjoy the low budget constraints of substituting New Mexico for Colorado, and a surprisingly sympathetic Cuban communist leader. Just don't take any of this too seriously. It can't stand up to that kind of scrutiny. The guerilla raids of the "Wolverines" are sometimes laughably implausible, but it doesn't matter. Plausibility went out the window on this one.