Do you dig on hard rockin’ tune-age playing over non-violent b-roll stock footage of the Vietnam War? It doesn’t matter, Bruno Mattei’s Cop Game kicks things off in exactly that way!
Following that, we begin our tale in the final days of the war… which appear to have stretched on all the way to the late ’80s if the clothes, hairstyles, and vehicles present are to be believed.
Into that anachronism steps macho mother fucker Morgan (Strike Commando 2‘s Brent Huff) and his equally match-oh pal Hawk (Max Laurel, whom you may remember as the creature Zuma from the 1985 film of the same name) who are called into service to investigate the assassination of a high rankin’ military man by a gang of heavily armed and masked soldiers.
Said investigation sends our heroes into a world of slow-motion gunfire-based destruction (and a shit-ton of it too), overly-long nightclub dance routines, car chases involving no actual cars (more on that in a bit my cats n’ creeps), and a military cover-up of the actions of a war hero that is in truth anything but!
Lovingly sculpted from raw, primal elements including explosions, sweat, wise-crackin’, swearing (you know there’s a lot if it sticks out to my fucking ass), unenthusiastic sexy dancing, and the aforementioned stock footage; Cop Game is nothing if not deliriously daffy… especially when it’s trying to be serious!
Written by Troll 2’s Rosella Drudi and Claudio Fragasso (and if that’s all you know them from I strongly urge you to dive way deeper into their oeuvre), Cop Game is packed fat with one-liners, heavy handed war commentary, and dastardly schemes which when combined with the gruff charm of leads Huff and Laurel (though my fav performance in the flick is Robowar‘s Romano Puppo as hard-assed Captain “Skipper” Kirk), dynamic directing and editing from Mattei, and a bonkers score by Al Festa (Robowar again… which I should mention comes from the same team responsible for this picture and also featured Laurel) swirls and coalesces into an irresistible concoction that travels at rocket speed from one explosive (literally) action set-piece to another!
And while you are bullet-drunk on all of the above, this film throws it’s most insane curve-ball straight to your eyes when it has you attempt to believe that a series of model cars rolling through miniature sets are, in fact, a real, honest-to-goodness car chase. It’s as wonderful as it is inept, and is a true highlight of the film!
Speaking of “highlights”, the fine fiends over at Severin have included some choice bonus material on this Blu-ray release which feature interviews with Fragasso (where he details the film’s production and the story’s inspiration from the film Off Limits which was released the same year), Drudi (who elaborates on the script’s creation), and producer Franco Gaudenzi (who discusses the process for Italian productions such as Cop Game to be filmed in the Philippines in the 1980’s).
Also included are a collection of extended scenes, and the film’s theatrical trailer.
One of the most outrageous ‘Namsploitation flicks out there, Mattei’s Cop Game is a delirious delight from the first rock number to the last freeze frame… and all of the explosions in-between!
