Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Ah the ever popular brat pack type casting line up, a selection of young Hollywood faces either on the edge of becoming major stars or falling into obscurity. In this forgotten action thriller its Gomez Addams son Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton who are the main rising stars, the rest of the youngsters have fallen by the way side. But unlike some other young gun lineups this film also includes various adult stars to add that bit of quality to the film.Dare I say it? the plot is basically Die Hard in a boarding school? sure it is. Group of terrorists take over a posh school for kids of rich families. Their purpose is solely to see the release of the terrorist leaders father who is some kind of drug kingpin. So its up to this small band of plucky smart ass teens to take back control of their school from the nasty bad guys with automatic weapons.The similarities to that certain Bruce Willis franchise are clear to see. If you take the basic premise of Die Hard and mix it with 'The Goonies' and 'The A-Team' you see what I mean. The teens in the story use their skills, knowledge of the school and cheekiness to somewhat outwit the bad guys and slightly disable them for the special ops guys to mop up. There is a very fine line between a happy go lucky boys own adventure flick and in your face bloody squibbed violence which is a bit odd actually.Its difficult to know what the film is trying to be, an adult action film or a light hearted teen flick. The young cast are clearly enjoying themselves in their roles which gives off a vibe which clashes badly against the older actors. The bad guys and their leader played menacingly by Divoff are really going for broke and being damn ruthless gunning innocents down and chucking them out of helicopters etc...Problem is these two sides just don't gel too well together, seeing Astin playing an older version of 'Mouth' from 'The Goonies' and Denholm Elliot playing an old lovable professor set against Divoff's cold blooded killer feels uncomfortable (Divoff really relishing his gritty evil Colombian drug lord role). Its like two different films.Yet despite the moments of bloodshed the action is so predictable and almost childish as it unravels. The special ops guys at the end come across as inept, plus there is like a whole army of them and it takes them some time to take out just two bad guys. There are only twelve bad guys and it really feels like there needed to be more to make the ending more exciting. The action and soundtrack was reaching such a crescendo in the finale...but because there are so few bad guys in the end it feels totally deflating. Also the way the special ops storm the school, they could of just done that straight away! apparently it would of made no difference.I love how all the Colombian bad guys are dressed up as sweaty, dirty, vest wearing guerrilla fighters with headbands and lots of stubble. Not too stereotypical then. The very end is also terribly corny and unoriginal, surely Divoff could of gone out in a slightly more exciting way?. Oh yeah there's even a crawling in an air duct homage to 'Die Hard'.This was one of those films that I enjoyed back in the day when I was much younger mainly because the young cast were appealing. I kinda looked up to them as I did with other similar brat pack flicks (wanted to be them) and I was around their age when I first saw it (or a bit younger). Looking back now the film isn't really too good, its actually really dumb, looks silly and has an even sillier title. It sounds predictable I know but it really does feel as if they wanted to make a 'Die Hard' for teens.4.5/10

I think that for the most part this was a great movie. This movie had a whole lot of really well portrayed drama and quite a bit of comedy here and there. This showed how It really did portray what terrorism was like and it was showing how the students and people outside of the school had remained strong especially out of the hostage situation. It was funny in some ways when the students were on the way of fighting back with the terrorists. It was like the terrorists thought they had everything under control until the Billy Tepper and the gang fought back and laid out their plans very well. The background Music was a good match and very well fit for the movie as well as sounding perfect. It was all well played and well acted by people. This movie definitely should deserve better ratings than this.

Toy Soldiers (1991) *** (out of 4) This here is pretty much DIE HARD via a boarding school but if you're a fan of 80s then you're going to find quite a bit here to enjoy. A terrorist group takes over a boarding school full of "important" kids in hopes that the American government will release the main guy's father who is in prison. Soon the rejects, led by Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton, must try and figure out a way to bring the terrorist down. If you need brains with your action then it's probably best that you skip this thing but if you just want to have fun then this film offers quite a bit. Most people will remember Astin and Wheaton from THE GOONIES and STAND BY ME among others but if you're fan of those films then you're going to enjoy seeing them grown up and taking on a new adventure. We also have a strong supporting cast that includes Louis Gossett, Jr. playing the stern Dean who will certainly remind people of his role in AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. Also on hand is Jerry Orback playing a Mafia boss and R. Lee Ermey as a General wanting action. The entire cast fit into their roles quite nicely with Astin playing the rebellious teen who must eventually grow up and try to out-smart the terrorist. He has wonderful chemistry with the rest of the boys in the cast and his time with Gossett comes off extremely well and realistic as they go for that father/son relationship. What also helps the film is that it at least tries to be above-average in terms of story. The way the boys go to get their freedom isn't just a simple plan but instead it's rather well thought out and in the long run the movie at least rises above the type of film you'd expect to see on TV. Director Petrie actually manages to build up some nice suspense towards the end and he handles the material very well. Another major plus is Andrew Divoff who plays the main terrorist and eats up the scenery left and right. When there is action in the film it's bloody just like fans of action want it. The movies biggest problem is that it runs nearly two-hours, which is a tad bit too long but if you a fan of any of the cast members then you should find yourself having fun with this one.

didn't sound like it was from a fantasy film. The film is dark, with dark overtones. The soundtrack way too uplifting to the point it intruded on the visuals. I'm sure they were aiming for something militant, but it just didn't work. The scene when Astin is attempting to escape is a perfect example. Why does it sound like the Goonies? There is no comedy, there is no brightness to this!! The idea of the movie is great, and the acting is very good as well. I enjoyed everyone's performances. It's available on Netflix's online viewing. Definitely worth a viewing, but write your own soundtrack!!