User Reviews

THE LAST MERCENARY is a dark and gritty Italian action/war film of the 1980s. It looks like it was shot in the Philippines, although the extreme poor quality of the print I watched means that it's hard to tell you too much about it. The grubby storyline has the titular character, Rolf, coerced into going on another job, only to have his girlfriend raped and murdered in a sequence which goes on far too long. The rest is a mix of the usual exploitation scenes, low rent action, and bad taste elements, with the execution of children providing a shocking set-piece. There are no recognisable cast members here, but the director is none other than Mario Siciliano, who once made 'proper' thrillers back in the day.

Rolf (Marsina) is a fairly troubled loner working as an airplane courier in (what we think is) Tunisia. He's trying to forge a relationship with Joanna (Nichols) but things are always going between smooth and rocky. When gangsters want him to carry a shipment of drugs, he is conflicted, because his mother died of a drug overdose. The gangsters beat him up and assault Joanna. Rolf then has no choice but to go into the jungle and get revenge. Rest assured, huts will explode and guns will go "pew pew"! Will Rolf come out victorious? If you're going to name a movie after a man's name, Rolf is one of the better names you can name it. With its silly dubbing, absurd situations, good pace and killer music (by Fabio Frizzi - the Modern Talking-like title song is sung by one Chris J. King), Rolf comes out a winner. For example, after he is attacked by the gangsters, Rolf summons the power of worms and leeches to heal him. Presumably he has Dr. Doolittle-like powers? And the main bad guy is so evil he literally uses children for target practice. When Rolf's hands are injured, it recalls not just fellow Italian production Django, but also none other than Jesus himself. Far from a dude with a "shirtless shirt" and high pants, the filmmakers secretly tried to make Rolf a new hero for our times.

Try to imagine a crazy Italian cross between Cartel (1990), Heated Vengeance (1985) and Best Revenge (1982), but better. And the main song repeats over and over again as in Laser Mission (1989) and White Fire (1984). Luckily it is catchy and enjoyable. We were lucky to see this movie, as it doesn't seem to have gotten a wide release, but the version on the "Mercs" DVD box set leaves a LOT to be desired. It looks like a simple dub directly from an old VHS - and the VHS has tracking problems! There are even glitches burned into the DVD. Wasn't anyone monitoring this stuff? Again, we were lucky to see it, but Rolf deserves better.

Tony Marsina really Rolfs it up in this simple, but crazy and down-and-dirty revenge thriller. We recommend it.

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Ex-mercenary living in the Middle East or Balkans is harassed by the local police who don't like his profession. It also doesn't help that the police chief has eyes for his girl. Trying his best to stay out of trouble things turn ugly when the mercenary's old buddies show up wanting him to fly drugs for his operation. He refuses and he not only ends up beaten and left for dead his girlfriend is raped to death by the pack of them. He of course looks to take revenge. Mean nasty ugly little film that is good if very unpleasant in tone. The villains are BAD guys and the abuse he receives by the police is really uncalled for. The weird thing about the film is that in its way it's a Christian film, with our lead character looking to god for help and redemption. I liked the film in its own way. It's a dark little exploitation film that was never the sort of thing that ever would have been made in America. Those looking for that sort of thing are directed to this film, though I think you may want to shower afterward. Between 7 and 8 out of 10

ROLF is a personal favorite and one of the cinematic revelations for my 2006. I am sure it is hated by most but I believe it will definitely satisfy lovers of sleaze. It uses like every cliché that an exploitation picture could use, for example the prostitute mother who gets addicted to heroin, movie opening with explosions and killing of black people by mercenaries etc. The Fabio Frizzi score is ultra-cheesy Italo-disco and the title track (Rolf) is so damn addictive.

Of course there is rape, drug abuse, some gore, extreme cruelty, black babies used for target practice, taking of fingerprints using feces instead of ink, etc..... I believe Siciliano reached the elite of Italian sleaze makers with this one. So if you don't mind the combination of sleaze and extreme racism, I recommend this highly.

By looking up the IMDb page of this film, i take it that Italian genre cinema already has a place in your heart whether you like it or not and you are seeking the next Strike Commando. Sorry to disappoint, but The Last Mercenary is a more downbeat affair to Mattei's Rambosploitation opus. However, If you're in for some Greek style revenge tragedy in trash o vision, look no further.

Labelled as the most politically incorrect exploitation film ever made (obviously not counting in The Amazing Mr No Legs, The Black Gestapo or Passion of the Christ), I'm happy to report that The Last Mercenary DOES contain several scenes of cruel sleaze and set pieces that the more sensitive among us would label as offensive.

But for those who can approach the film on its own terms, which is operatic Italian revenge action, they'll find a suitably grimy yet accomplished work which comes off as a cross between a Christ parable and a anti-hero origin story (titular character theme song included).

The best way to describe The Last Mercenary is being the Django of Macaroni Combat films, featuring prolonged scenes of brutality, a long suffering hero getting his hands busted, his doomed lover and sadistic thugs who kill innocents for sport. Lest we forget Django's 24 year banishment from British screens and later box office smash re-incarnation by Tarantino.

A key factor to both these film's effectiveness is in their brutal depiction of the revenge cycle. The Last Mercenary i must add gains an upper hand somewhat by giving the main character Rolf a personality (the tragic and traumatic kind however), something Nero's Django was severely lacking, being reverted to being just an allegory for government sanctioned mercenaries. The Last Mercenary was slightly more engaging because of this i found.

Overall, good film, check it out.

PS: Sorry to hark on the supposed Un PC rep of the film, but i want to point out that it is my opinion that the film is not racist as some have pointed out, but merely depicts racism by characters established as being racist. Thin line, i understand, but The Last Mercenary does not cross it. The point of the film's more infamous scene, the flashback in which African children are thrown in the air to be used as target practise, is to establish the mercs Rolf just killed as being complete arseholes who got what was coming to them and to establish himself, a former merc, as not being the same as them. He saves a few villagers even and kills a few mercs in the process. Besides, the scene is so obscenely dreamlike, the actual motive which was cheap shocks is embarrassingly evident. Admittedly, something could be said about the depiction of the local law enforcement in the present day segments. They're cruel in their treatment of Rolf, but this depiction is clearly just to re-enforce Rolf's character as a down on his luck drifter who can't rely on anyone but himself. Writer/Director Mario Siciliano was even kind enough to give the chief of police something resembling character dimension; admittedly though the will he/won't he law enforcer was already an established trope in revenge films by 1984 thanks to successes such as Death Wish and The Exterminator. One thing i can't defend in The Last Mercenary is its tactless depiction of rape (gang rape at that) and by far the most overtly exploitative element of this piece. Bordering on the absurd, this scene features lingering faces up and close accompanied by Frizzi's depressing disco synth. For me it's unintentional surrealism, for others its just unacceptable and i reckon we're both right. Although again, its justified by the narrative as being the catalyst for revenge, so take it as you will.