Attack Force Z (1981) User Reviews

Low budget "commandos" flick

[SgtSlaughter · 5/10 · 10 February 2003]

ATTACK FORCE Z is the only Aussie war movie I've seen yet besides RETURN FROM THE RIVER KWAI. It's fast-paced, fun, cheesy and plenty entertaining.

Jon Phillip Law (DEATH RIDES A HORSE) stars as an Allied commando who leads 4 international commandos to rescue a Japanese defector from a Japanese-infested island in the Pacific.

The movie features a lot of familiar plot elements, and strongly resembles the earlier American features AMBUSH BAY and BEACHHEAD. Only here, the movie is based on fact; a similar mission involving the "Z" Special Forces team was actually undertaken in the Pacific. The cast features a lot of young actors who were unknown at the time, including Mel Gibson (WE WERE SOLDIERS) as the team leader and Sam Neill as the radio operator.

The movie is obviously pretty low budget, as the action scenes involve few extras and are mostly skirmishes between the 5 commandos and Japanese patrols. There's some great martial arts action as a Chinese commando judo-chops dozens of Japanese soldiers to their deaths. The final battle scene, in which a handful of Chinese resistance fighters hold off at least a few dozen Japanese soldiers with shotguns is corny, as the Japanese always charge right into oncoming fire and never attempt a flanking movement. One resistance fighter stands in the alley blasting away with a shotgun, only dying once he's taken 6+ direct hits and grenade fragments. The Japanese soldiers look and act like idiots and use American machineguns, and the Aussies have M3 machine-pistols with silencers that never run out of ammo and never miss -- but what the heck, it's pretty entertaining and logic-free entertainment.

The musical score is great patriotic stuff by Eric Jupp, and the cinematography is pretty stunning. The Taiwanese crew does a great job with the little budget they had.

The version shown on TNT and TBS once in a very great while is of good quality. Unfortunately, there were some scenes in Japanese and others in Chinese which lacked subtitles. The closed captions weren't much help either as they read, "Speaking in Oriental Language". I haven't seen the NTSC video yet because it's far too expensive for my taste.

All in all, this really isn't the best war film out there. The action scenes bring the worst excesses to WINDTALKERS to mind as they're excellently photographed by defy all logic known to man. Still, the pace is fast, the characters good and the scenery is stunning. I give this a 6/10.

Forgettable

[slightlymad22 · 5/10 · 27 December 2016]

Continuing my plan to watch every Mel Gibson movie in order I come to Attack Force Z from 1981.

Plot In A Paragraph: A group of commandos go on a secret mission to check for survivors of a plane crash.

By the numbers, cliché ridden, dull, flat and instantly forgettable. There are some good individual performances, but the film, though produced with efficiency and what looks like a decent budget, is tough to say great things about this movie.

It probably wasn't helped by my DVD having a poor transfer. I'd go so far as to say if Mel Gibson and Sam Neil weren't in this movie it probably would have even had a DVD released.

A decent war movie

[iainidc · 6/10 · 10 July 2007]

A little-known World War 2 drama despite featuring the talents of Mel Gibson and Sam Neill. The film follows an Australian Special Forces team led by Gibson on a mission to rescue the occupants of a plane crash-landed on a Pacific Island. Naturally, the island is swarming with Japanese determined to thwart the mission at every turn.

The film is not without its weaknesses; Gibson & Neill are a little flat thanks to a script that doesn't allow them to show off their talents to the full(compare to Gibson's brilliant performance as Frank Dunn in Gallipoli made around the same time). The music is poignant but fails to add much to the drama and there is a low-budget feel to much of the film in general.

Having said that, Attack Force Z is fairly entertaining; it moves at a good pace and there are plenty of well-staged action sequences. The ending makes a strong statement on the futility of war. A decent addition to your war movie collection but for fans of the genre only.

A childhood favourite.

[Jonny Frost · 24 August 2001]

War films formed the basis of many a childhood, mine included, and this film is a firm favourite of mine, my brother and my cousin.

Made by the Australian film industry it is one of two films about the Australian Special Task Force Z during the Second World War. It shows that the war in the Pacific was not won solely by the Americans and that the Japanese occupation of China was brutal to anyone who would oppose them. Having seen photos of what the Japanese did to Chinese relatives of mine and to the population of China in general this film goes someway to highlight a rather forgotten piece of history.

Having said that, taking the film as an action/ war drama it is well paced and fairly realistic with but one feat of fantasy. As cinematic trivia it is noteworthy for the performances of Mel Gibson, Sam Neill and singer/actress Sylvia Chang pre-stardom. The star that never was, John Phillip Law takes centre stage for the most part but is beaten for intensity by Gibson as the young officer. The effects are a bit ropey, the blood has the red paint quality of war films of the late 60's - early 70's, but this adds to the charm.

If you like "men on a mission" films you should enjoy this.

NB- For more films on the Z Special Forces see "Heroes" 1 and 2 (made for tv). "Heroes 2" follows the same failed real-life mission as the second of the two Australian films whose title escapes me.

A rugged war combat drama following the feats of a small platoon in a Pacific island

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 13 August 2019]

Low-key WWII adventure film with noisy action , thrills , patriotic events and impressive battles . Moving warlike production set during WWII on the South Pacific at a location plenty of Japanese and a crew of New Zeeland soldiers battling an important base . As a group of Australian commandos launch a secret mission against Japanese forces in World War II. The brave commando is assigned a perilous mission on Chinese Islands already inhabited by stranded Japanese forces , they have some hours to get their objectives . The Americans are commanded by a Captain P.G. (Paul) Kelly (Mel Gibson) , along with Lieutenant J.A. (Jan) Veitch (John Phillip Law) , Sergeant D.J. (Danny) Costello (Sam Neill) ,Able Seaman A.D. 'Sparrer' Bird (Chris Haywood) , Sub Lt. Ted 'Kingo' King (John Waters) . At the beginning the soldiers successfully in wiping out Japanese and they endeavor to blow up a pivotal Japanese installation , but one of them early dies . Then they are spotted and descended upon by enemies forces ; meanwhile suffering casualties , exhaustion, dangerous encounters until execute their mission and to be rescued . They must go to the other side of the island to a beach , being really besieged by Japanese forces . Then , the daredevil captain and his underlings find themselves vying during the escape . The group must try to survive enemy that undergo a chase and a mini-war , as they fight all by themselves and finally find how wrong his misconceptions are .

A well known plot all before the end of WWII : an elite of corps of Australian military is Force Z volunteers are chosen for a risked mission . Australia/Taiwan Co-Production realised thru Roadshow Film, The Australian Film Commission and Umbrella Entertainment and written by Roger Marshall . Flag-waver , jingoist wartime movie with a typical crew of Anzacs battling the 'yellow menace' and to find the aircraft that crashed somewhere and rescue a defecting government official on board . The film packs warlike action, thrills, drama and being quite entertaining . All the potentially thrilling set pieces are thrown away with a disregard for the basic mechanics of suspense and the climax is literally cardboard thin . The story contains a brief studio character seeking human frailty beneath surface heroism . Talented cast is partially wasted , being effectively directed in this limited budget adventure, featuring two young newcomers actors : Mel Gibson and Sam Neill , both of whom to have a long , long career . Splendid Mel Gibson , he is consistently watchable for the whole damned poor show with no much emotion ; however , appealing the WWII enthusiasts . Gibson plays as a tough captain , in one of his first roles when he starred early Australian successes such as : Tim , Chain reaction , Mad Max , Mad Max 2 , Beyond thunderdome , Gallipoli , The year of living dangerously , Mrs Soffel . A cool cast, nimble direction from Burstall with riveting climax and enhanced by energetic score make this a must for wartime hardcore fans, though it has some flaws , gaps and failures . The picture was filmed entirely on actual locations in Taiwan . The producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the New Zeeland and Taiwan government and its armed Force . Thanksgiving to Department of Defense , New Zeeland Navy , Army Corps and Coast Guard , for their invaluable assistance .

This medium budget movie was professionally directed by Tim Burstall (1927-2004) . Director Burstall's skill with the thrills overcomes the artificiality of the story . He was a craftsman who made several TV series such as Return to Eden , Water Rats , Snowy River : The McGregor Saga , Special squad and films such as : Naked country , A Descant for Gossips , The Last of the Knucklemen , Duet for Four, Eliza Fraser , End Play , Getting Back to Nothing , Libido , Pesadilla en Bitter Creek , among others .

Others movies concerning the warfare sub-genre about Allied soldiers battling Japanese on the Pacific islands and Philippines during the WWII are the following ones : Guadalcanal diary (43) by Lewis Seiler with Anthony Quinn and Lloyd Nolan ; the classic Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) by Allan Dwan with John Wayne ; Beachhead (1956) by Stuart Heisler with Tony Curtis and Frank Lovejoy ; None but the brave, directed and starred by Frank Sinatra. In addition, Between heaven and hell(1956) with Robert Wagner, and Ambush Bay (1966) by Ron Winston with Hugh O'Brian , Mickey Rooney , James Mitchum , Peter Masterson , among others.

War...What is it good for?

[greenheart · 7/10 · 28 August 2005]

I presume that this movie was meant to be a tribute for the Australasian special forces operating in WW2. Now, I've no doubt that they were totally professional and highly trained individuals, I just don't think this movie did them too many favours. They made so many tactical errors and decisions based on emotion that I'm quite sure in real life, thy wouldn't have made. Individuals leaving their unit as they'd fallen for a girl! Sorry, but it just wouldn't have happened with so much at stake. On the positive side, this had a great cast and terrific authentic locations. The action sequences were well done and the torture scenes particularly harrowing. But at the end of the movie, I just sat there thinking, what were they really fighting for and was it all necessary? So many lives taken without a second thought and for what? Not a classic, but thought provoking which in my book, is never bad.

Strictly grade Z.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 5 January 2022]

It's the war from Oz, the Australian View of the war against Japan, filled with violence and action, but ultimately rather ordinary and unimpressive. The only thing memorable about it is the casting of one secondary star and two future stars: Mel Gibson, John Phillip Law and Sam Neill. The John Waters that is billed is not the cult American director, but a well-known Australian actor. The rest of the ensemble are mainly Asian, including a bunch of adorable children who are obviously horrified by the war surrounding them.

It's allegedly based on a real mission in the Dutch East Indies where this group of Australian soldiers go to search for survivors of a plane crash and end up hiding out from the Japanese who have taken over the island. They are helped by Asian locales in hiding, willing to kill the Japanese to help the allies prevail. It's rather dull even though some of the elements of violence a rather shocking such as the threat on one of the Asian children's lives to get information.

Rather cheaply made, it's not aided by its poor photography which lacks any real depth of perception. That makes it nearly unwatchable. But it is realistic as far as the brutality is concerned, especially when it shows how people are willing to sacrifice their lives so freedom fighters can fight on.

Cliché Australian Version of American War Movies

[bkrauser-81-311064 · 6/10 · 26 June 2016]

Attack Force Z; A movie saved from obscurity solely because it provided early rolls to Mel Gibson and Sam Neill. Throw parallels to The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Where Eagles Dare (1968) and you got yourself an Australian knock-off of early tough-soldier- man American bravado.

A group of Australian special forces is deployed during WWII to recover the passengers of a downed plane in Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies. There they kick the proverbial hornets nest and try to stay alive thanks to the help of an underground resistance movement.

It was hard to get into this one largely due to its constant clichés. I guess I have seen the dramatic self-sacrifice of a noble comrade and stealth gone awry because a twig snapped way too many times. The characters themselves aren't incredibly developed and any attempt to flesh them out feels jerky and unnatural. At one point it just gets absurd as one character stays behind to protect the love interest he had shared a room with only a few cuts ago. Granted she prevented him from being discovered but besides a common enemy they had little to really bond over.

Another major problem I had was the elongated scenes involving other languages like Japanese and Cantonese. Perhaps it was just the version I saw but with no subtitles provided, I was forced to guess what they were saying and only later confirm what was going on. Plus if I'm not mistaken, they speak Malay in Indonesia not Cantonese.

Like a WW2 era American propaganda film.

[Sleeper-Cell · 3/10 · 1 October 2018]

I was just a kid when this film came out but even then watching the trailers for it, I knew it was a turkey. For whatever reason I never watched the film itself until last night simply because it starts with an "A" and was therefore the first in a list of films.

This low budget film is known now for having Sam Neil and Mel Gibson, 2 rising stars who would star in some very big movies. I doubt that if those 2 weren't in it that this movie would still be spoken about today.

It starts promising. It has a note from the Z Force Association stating that the film takes an unflinching look at Z Force operations. Hmmmm ok let's see....

Z Force was a real life Australian Special Forces unit which operated in WW2, they performed behind the lines, risky missions. All sounds great.

The acting is pretty average, standard Aussie fare. I often wonder how people like Sam Neil and Mel Gibson started acting differently in American films. There are some Taiwanese actors in the film, in fact they outnumber the Aussie ones, there is some karate scenes which made me laugh as they looked a bit out of place and like they were thrown in because karate films were still big in 1981 and the Taiwanese actor seems to know how to do it.

The action scenes are pretty small, it makes sense that these guys wouldn't fight pitch battles against huge armies they are not Rambo's but even so they are no where near as stealthy as you would think they should be.

Overall the film is entertaining but I found myself feeling like I knew nothing more about the "Z Men" and that what I just watched was a fabrication. And a poor one at that.

Quintessential special ops for an 11yr old

[jonboyd37 · 7/10 · 20 September 2023]

Watched this movie at 11yrs old, and for a youngster who ran around in the woods of southeast Alabama playing "WAR" it was one of my favorites. Typical mission orientated film, starting off well until "MURPHY'S LAW" takes effect. Then it's on like donkey Kong to not only try and complete the mission, but to also survive in the process. It was good enough that my father joined me the second time I watched it and that made it even more special to me. As young as I was, it never occurred to me that Mel Gibson and Sam Neil starred in this movie until many many years later. My father was a US ARMY veteran and our discussions on the suppressed "grease guns" and other weapons and tactics were rememberable and hold a place in my heart. Can't say that it had any affect whatsoever to me becoming a US MARINE seven years later but I have always remembered this movie, simply because of the time spent with my father watching it. The "contact" scenes were entertaining, although lacking the special effects of other movies of this time and future followers. What can one expect at that time frame and for what appeared to be a mediocre budget. I can say this though; from this point on, in my future rolls of special forces war games in our local woods, my weapon of choice was a Volkswagen beetle car jack, which if anyone knows what these are, it closely resembles the "grease gun" style weapons used by the men of Attack Force Z, and I was the only one that had one...lol...I would own this movie if I could figure out how, so that I could watch it many more times, with my two sons. I also believe it would be entertaining for anyone in that similar situation... of course, there was no "CALL OF DUTY", "PLAYSTATION", "X-BOX" in those days, we did all of that in our little stretch of woods, with real camo and real friends that we talked to without headsets sitting in a chair... so, yes, I give it 7 out of 10, and we watched it, again and again because we had imagination and a spirit of play that has long left children of these days. SEMPER FI!

Pretty average

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 5/10 · 19 October 2009]

I don't know enough about Aussie involvement in WWII to say if this has actually happened, but I understand that there are definitely some things that don't ring true, accuracy-wise. The plot is fine, though I can't claim that this ever gripped me. Not even a firm handshake. The pacing is reasonable enough, and the battles and such have their moments. Acting is mixed, none of it got me that engaged in this. Was Gibson not a name yet? Mad Max was out, as was its first sequel. Did he not get recognition before Lethal Weapon? I am not sufficiently familiar with his career, and I frankly don't care to be. Neill, come on, he's got talent, had that not been realized at this point? Did he need a paycheck? That badly? Seriously? While I suppose I may have just watched a half-heartedly put together copy of this, I gotta say... there were a lot of speeches in, I guess Mandarin, that seemed to be important and like they should affect the audience, in spite of the fact that they were not subbed. What gives? I did follow the story, however, if the words were meant to evoke emotion, they failed. Still, this is not useless, or it doesn't have to be. If so inclined, you can make drinking games for it. How about every time a gun fires without making a sound? Each time the piece of music playing in this is one that belongs in a film at least one or two decades prior to the release of this. And of course, whenever you spot a tired action flick cliché. Make sure to stock up. I recommend this to the biggest fans of war movies. 5/10

Interesting curio of a movie because of who its stars would become

[Aldanoli · 8/10 · 13 June 1999]

An odd little curio of an Australian action movie, made in 1982, enjoyable in itself as a popcorn movie for its WWII commando story. But it would largely be forgettable were it not that two of its lower-ranking actors--Australian Mel Gibson and New Zealander Sam Neill--were soon to became big international stars. Gibson, it's true, had made *Gallipoli* and a few other Australian movies, and Neill had starred in a delightful little picture called *My Brilliant Career* (with Judy Davis, no less), but both were largely unknown at this time. The headliner in *Attack Force Z* was good ol' American pulp-action hero John Philip Law, whose credits went all the way back to the early '60s and included the likes of *The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!* Yet Law, for all his good looks and occasional noteworthy appearances, never reached anything like the fame that awaited his two co-stars in this minor action picture. It's worth seeing if only to be reminded that *everybody* has to understudy somebody else early in his or her career.

'Men-on-a-Mission' / action / adventure flick, filmed on location, and featuring two of Oceania's most promising international stars !!

[DeuceWild_77 · 7/10 · 18 October 2019]

January, 1945. A group of Allied Commandos from 'Force Z' (or 'Z-Men'), led by the young and less experienced, but with the highest patent, the Aussie Captain Paul Kelly (Mel Gibson) and his subordinates, Dutch Lieutenant Jan Veitch (John Phillip Law); Aussie Sergeant Danny Costello (Sam Neill); the British Able Seaman 'Sparrer' Bird (Chris Haywood) and the New Zealander, Sub Lt. Ted King (John Waters), are given the mission to rescue the dissident Minister of War from the Empire of Japan which holds strategic secrets that could end the Second World War in the Pacific. The plane the Minister was travelling to Washington crashes in an Island of Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia, and this 'Z Special Unit' elite are the Allied Forces only hope, before he falls into the hands of the Japanese again...

Based on true facts, even if the mission's target is fictitious, one of the many covert missions that 'Force Z' carried predominantly on Borneo and the islands of the former Netherlands East Indies during the Second Great War, namely 'Operation Opossum', "Attack Force Z" is a low-budget 'men-on-a-mission' / war / drama, a co-production between Australia and Taiwan, filmed on location, and produced on the field by the veteran, Australia's most prolific filmmaker in the 50's, Lee Robinson.

Phillip Noyce, who wrote the first draft of the script and developed the film, was fired during pre-production due to constant clashes between the producers, including the hiring of the American B-movie star and 'pulp hero', John Phillip Law, from "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!" ('66); "Barbarella" ('68) or "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" ('73), for the leading role of Veitch, and he was replaced by the lesser, Tim Burstall.

Even if competently filmed and strictly realistic in the Z-Force Commandos techniques and their rules of engagement in open combat, "Attack Force Z" have a feeling of a rushed production due to its delays during director's replacement and the stage of the action scenes, could have been better handled, sometimes it's too cheap looking, too confusing and defys logic and, even if they were short on budget, Noyce's own vision on the material and his capability on staging action sequences, it would have improved the overall film.

The movie opens with an explanation on the screen, about who this 'Z-Men' were and their exploits as specialists in reconnaissance, rescues and sabotage and was even signed by John R. Gardner, President of the Z Special Force Association of New South Wales. It looks like a serious / profound take on World War II Commando missions in the vein of "The Guns of Navarone" ('61) or "The Heroes of Telemark" ('65), but it's more 'straight to the action' beefcake war / adventure vehicle on the footsteps of "The Dirty Dozen" ('67) or "The Wild Geese" ('78), minus the humour. And that's one thing peculiar about "Attack Force Z" it lacks the humour and witty dialogues that this 'genre' requires, even the Navarone Elite Team had its sardonic member in David Niven's exchanges with the others, but here maybe the producers aspired to the 'big thing' hoping for a realistic, somber and 'artsy' film during wartime, but the budget, the re-writing and the direction didn't allowed it.

Talking about the screenplay, they cut off some development made prior by Noyce, who had enhanced the plot (he wanted to explore aspects of colonialism) and the characters which in this final product were just there, we needed to know more about the team and each of them individually.

The pacing is kind of uneven, and some scenes in the Second Act are worthless, maybe because the movie was heavily edited (or re-filmed) and the problems of continuity related to that are way more evident than reasonable.

The cast had in it two major rising stars that were still virtually unknown for audiences outside Australia, Mel Gibson and Sam Neill. Gibson was in the first "Mad Max" movie and did a couple of Aussie indie films, but he only became an international star after the release of "The Road Warrior" ('81), which was a huge success around the world, and Neill was still to perform the adult Damien Thorn in "Omen III - The Final Conflict" ('81). So, if this movie had been released theatrically after the new found success of its stars it could have been better received than the tepid box office return it had in Australia, but later become a hit on the VHS rental circuit.

The casting choice of John Phillip Law was one of the major disagreements between the original director Noyce and the producers, but in this case i stand with the producers, even if the material wasn't there, Law gave his best, giving a heart and soul to the movie with his likeable redeeming character.

Gibson is playing here the second fiddle to Law, even if the characters part ways during most of the film, and even if i absolutly adore him (he's one of my all time favorites), his performance here is just passable, kind of robotic and not at all charismatic, i can blame it on the underwritten character, but Gibson's heart wasn't there. He's playing the authoritative, almost insufferable Official and he's upstaged everytime Sam Neill's coolness hits the screen. Just check how Neill handled his machine gun in combat and put it to rest afterwards.

The Aussie stars, Chris Haywood, as the 4th billed, loudmouth, half-Scottish radio operator and John Waters, in a thankless role (he's killed whitin less than 10 minutes of screentime, due to his role being shortened when Burstall came aboard), completes the main cast. Thai actress Sylvia Chang playing a native and Veitch's love interest and Chun-Hsiung Ko playing her father, the Resistence leader, they make a good impression.

In short, "Attack Force Z" have some flaws, but despite that, it's a strangely rewatchable obscure little Aussie flick that deserves better.

I give it a 7.5 !!

Law's looking for love in war, but Gibson's only got eyes for the prize

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 13 February 2024]

Melodramatic war film which sometimes focuses too much on the forbidden romance shared between lead Law and the character played by Chang, daughter of the village elder who despises the Japanese but is also wary of the impact allied forces will have on his village. Elsewhere it's a capable action film concerning an elite group of soldiers who infiltrate an island village in Taiwan to extract a Japanese defector and his American minder who crash landed on the island.

There's plenty of future star power to rev the engines with Gibson showing glimpses of the livewire character he went on to regularly play, Neill as the reliable interpreter (who has an especially unenviable task to perform early in the mission that should make you gasp), and then Haywood and Waters occupying smaller roles. The child actor who plays the young son (Ti) covertly assisting the members of Z Force to carry out their dangerous mission is also good value.

I've read that original director Philip Noyce was replaced just prior to filming due in part to his desire to inject colonialist themes. Fortunately the moralities of war lessons are kept to a minimum, Neill giving us a half-hearted reminder that the allies are also the enemy, before a reasonably tense escape plan is executed (in the style of 'The Magnificent Seven', but bloodier) with mixed results.

Overall it's a fairly bleak tale with just enough action to hold the attention, which it obviously has gained more of since its stars have risen.

Enjoyable enough, but jarring to those familiar with the setting

[Euromutt · 9 October 2011]

"Attack Force Z" depicts a fictitious operation by a five-man team from Z Special Unit, a predominantly Australian special operations unit in World War II, who are assigned to infiltrate a Japanese-occupied island in (presumably) the Dutch East Indies to rescue the aircrew of a downed Allied aircraft. The team is plagued by recurring bad luck (which quickly alerts the Japanese to their presence) and by friction between the inexperienced team leader, Captain Paul Kelly (Gibson), and his more experienced but erratic subordinate, a Dutch lieutenant named Jan Veitch (Law), the team's most fluent Chinese speaker. When the team manages to enlist the aid of the local resistance, further friction develops between Kelly and the local cell leader, Lin Chan-Lang (Ko), who resents Kelly's holding back information about the plane's occupants. About halfway in, however, we do discover why Kelly is under strict orders to keep clam.

For a (relatively) low-budget war movie, "Attack Force Z" is pretty good. The costumes and weapons are about as historically accurate as feasible, and the filming location--Taiwan--is convincing enough as an island at the other end of the South China Sea. Particularly enjoyable is the fact that Asian characters speak their respective languages on screen, rather than accented English. This, however, does lead me to the film's main problem, at least to me, which is that it's a mess ethnographically and consequently linguistically. Because it was shot in Taiwan with a mostly Taiwanese (or otherwise ethnically Chinese) cast, the island's population appears to be entirely ethnically Chinese without a single speaker of Malay (as it was then called) in evidence, the occasional pitji cap-wearing extra notwithstanding. This also results in the somewhat unlikely situation of Veitch being fluent in Chinese rather than Malay.

Veitch is the most problematic character in the film. The original director, Phillip Noyce, left the project at least partly because he disagreed with the producers over the choice of John Phillip Law to play Veitch, and bluntly, he was right: Law simply doesn't pull off anything resembling a credible Dutchman. It's not entirely his fault, though, because the writer and producers don't seem to have ever so much as met a Dutch person, as is apparent from the fact that Veitch isn't even a Dutch name (insofar as I can make out, it's Scottish). Admittedly, I am myself Dutch and my paternal grandmother's family lived in the East Indies so this is a niggle that maybe affects me more than the typical viewer but it's emblematic of what's wrong with an otherwise perfectly enjoyable film. Enough so that I can almost overlook how all the team members manage to stay clean shaven despite not having time to shave.

A galaxy of stars

[safenoe · 6/10 · 10 March 2024]

Attack Force Z, a movie from Australia is set in world war two and is based on the real life events of the elite Z Special Unit, and was filmed in Taiwan. Sylvia Chang, a Taiwanese actress, writer, singer, producer and director, starred in Attack Force Z. Also two unknowns at the time, Mel Gibson and Sam Neill, starred. John Phillip Law heads the cast. He and Gibson are the only Americans in the cast.

Chris Haywood and John Waters also starred, and Chris Haywood has had a stellar career, along with John Waters, who played John Lennon on stage. Anyway, Attack Force Z is worth watching for the historical aspect.

A low budget war feature from Australia

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 18 January 2017]

ATTACK FORCE Z is a little-known low budget war film from Australia, featuring an all-star cast of familiar faces. The film was shot in Taiwan and also features a wealth of talent from a Chinese cast, including former Shaw Brothers star Jimmy Wang Yu who is completely unrecognisable playing a Japanese official.

This film follows the usual men-on-a-mission format with Mel Gibson, John Phillip Law, and Sam Neill teaming up rescue the survivors of a plane crash who are hiding out from local Japanese forces. The low budget nature of the production actually works in the film's favour, giving it a grittily realistic look, and I loved the small scale nature of the action scenes which zing with excitement. None of the cast are at their best here, but Gibson, Law, and Neill are all reliably good and, most importantly, likable.

Film kind of under attack

[videorama-759-859391 · 7/10 · 3 July 2018]

Attack Force Z is a strange one. Based on fact, regarding an elite squad of soldiers on a mission to rescue an important man, believed to be a plane that's crashed, this is a group that takes no prisoners, and are frighteningly unrelenting Gibson had done this the same time as Gallipoli and is strong, in his role, as the head honcho, with great support from Neil, Haywood, and sadly a short lived Waters. The other, John Phillip Law, who played a character I really liked is more a lover than a fighter, and I was grateful, the screen time I had with this guy, one near 20 minute duration, before we cross back to Mel and squad. Yes, this film has great action, but I found the film, sloppy in bits + some cheesy moments. Yes, good research has gone into it, but this is just a forgettable film. Great music score, one the film's assets, above not many years. Definitely worth a view, for the actors, in their young, talented prime.

Fiction based on history

[cashbacher · 8/10 · 4 January 2021]

When the Japanese invaded the area of the Western Pacific in 1941-42, their occupation was a harsh one. The people native to the areas were brutally treated and often killed for minor transgressions. Due to the wide area occupied by the Japanese and the difficulty of mounting large scale amphibious operations, the Allied forces formed a set of small commando teams that would engage in quick strikes against high value targets. This overall unit was called Z Special Unit and was primarily made up from Australian and New Zealand volunteers. During the war, small teams from this unit engaged in some very successful raids, particularly against Japanese shipping docked at Singapore harbor. The rate of survivability of the members of a mission was very low, it was not unreasonable to consider them suicide missions. This movie features a team of five members of the Z Special Unit going ashore from a submarine in order to find what may be survivors of the crash of an Allied airplane. Only the commander knows all of what they are there for and there is a significant Japanese presence on the land. After some fighting and with assistance from the non-Japanese locals, the team discovers that there were survivors of the crash and the viewer learns why they are considered so valuable. While there are some incredulous moments in the action, it is generally realistic. By this, the end results are a questionable outcome with deaths among the members of the Z Special Unit. The Japanese are depicted as being brutal in pursuit of their goals. There are no super soldier moments, they are all depicted as no more than well trained soldiers. It is a good movie and while a work of fiction, it could and likely did happen.

Multi-Cultural War in the Pacific!

[spookyrat1 · 6/10 · 11 November 2018]

Better than average Aussie "B" feature, where the producers have certainly gained maximum bang for their buck in more ways than one.

Let's be clear from the outset. This is a fictional story, supposedly based on the real life exploits of the Z force. The high body count pretty much attests to that. But high body counts do mean there is action and I have to admit some surprise as to how well director Tim Burstall, not really known for action films, choreographs the action sequences in this movie, bearing in mind that the budget he was working with was minimal. Still he cleverly manages to include realistically; a submarine, an exploding plane, fire - fights, martial arts and a climactic battle (of sorts). Attack Force Z may be many things, but it can't be accused of being dull.

Burstall even manages to throw in a couple of unexpected twists. One of the supporting cast members who was (and arguably still is) a very well-known Australian actor of the 70's and 80's, plays a character who barely has 5 minutes of screen time before suffering a probable unforeseen fate.

A bonus of course is we get to see both Mel Gibson (complete with Aussie accent) and Sam Neill playing together in pre-Hollywood fame roles. Gibson is the mission leader and Neill is effectively his trusty sidekick. I have to also say John Phillip Law plays the (token) American-Dutch, mandarin-speaking (LOL) character very competently.

The story itself too is quite interesting with its variation on the war against the Japanese in the Pacific, by this time, strongly highlighting the involvement of the ethnic Chinese.

I was pleasantly surprised with this film, as I'm sure others will be too.

A great Anti-War film

[thethumbthing · 10/10 · 9 May 2006]

Under the conditions this film was made, I think it sends a powerful anti-war message. When the film was made the original director left due to differences with the producers, a new director was brought in at short notice and that was an unfortunate setback for the film. This film has a great Australian cast plus John Philip Law. Mel Gibson plays his character with the conviction and talent he is famous for, he had just completed Mad Max and was well on his way to Stardom! This film focuses on a team of special ops Commando's call the "Z Force", similar to the green beret's, these were highly trained soldier's, equipped to handle the most impossible missions, this is one story of one mission which really happened during WWII, had this mission been a success,it is believed this would have altered the outcome of the war with the Japanese, unfortunately their mission was a failure and this is the message which is so powerful.. the total waste war creates. I enjoyed this film and i think you will enjoy it as well.

What an excellent film!

[Jenny-83 · 10/10 · 16 January 1999]

Sam Neill is such a hottie. And I love that Mr. Box! And my favorite scene in the whole thing was the one where the trees were talking to each other with the subtitles. Brilliant filmmaking!