He Who Dares (2014) User Reviews

Oh dear

[whufc1980 · 3/10 · 10 April 2014]

I watched this after reading a few reviews and the comparisons to Who Dares Wins etc. What I was expecting, after looking at the cover. Which features S.A.S men abseiling down from a Russian Hind helicopter for some reason. Was an action packed film where the SAS overcome the terrorists using superior skills and tactics. Showing why they are the elite of Britain's armed services along with the S.B.S. I wasn't expecting the best film in the world brilliantly acted just a no brain action romp.

The lead villain is awesome a sadistic psycho played superbly, for me the highlight of the film. The plots OK. But then we have the S.A.S portrayed as inept, under equipped, ill disciplined morons. They have a massive knack in this film of walking into the most obvious ambushes. Looking as if they learnt soldiering from "Call of Duty" rather than being a highly trained elite force. They bumble along getting wiped out as they go.

That's pretty much the film. The end is predictable and along the way we have a good dose of clichés. For example the lead cop is an ex soldier who was discharged from the army while our hero, complete with "Action Man" beard joins the S.A.S.

It's worth a watch just for the villain other than that it was time spent I can never get back.

Give Zara Phythian her own film to shine in

[sixtydaysofhonestymovie · 2/10 · 20 April 2014]

Zara Phythian is the responsible for all the stars this review awards the film. She is more physically capable than the men supposedly playing S.A.S, and has more of a screen presence than all of the villains in the film combined. I hope she goes on to do far more, in work that is far more deserving. As for the rest... where do I start? This film was clearly made by a team where the quality was second to anything else. Script, story, logic, even effort, seems so lacking. Much like their "white collar hooligan" films, the sequel was in the works before this one even came out. So that sure isn't by public demand. Looking at the other reviews on here, the public has spoken. If the sequel picks up the slack left by it's predecessor it may surprise us all, but the track record of work does not suggest that will be the case.

why movies like this leaves the audience craving for peace of mind.

[deepak-narula · 2/10 · 12 April 2014]

So many movies just thrive on mass killing and lack of discretionary use of language to click with the norm of the times. He Who Dares happens to be no different.

To me it did not appeal from the word go. And here are the reasons.

Even a 10 year who has played Call of Duty or Battlefied series of games can tell you that you do aim down the sight and not fire from the hip. Wish the actors were told that.

Secondly now a days there is this new blood thirst in many low budget movies where the villain or the bad guy is glorified by mass murdering in order to achieve his goal. And when all the revenge is built psychologically speaking the valiant hero or one of the survivor in this case, kills the supposedly bad guy with one bullet, leaving the unsatisfied lust in the mind of audience that was generated by the storyline where the bad guy was the angel of death. Seriously ??

The movie is pure waste of time and resources.

Unbelievable movie with no redeeming qualities.

[m_lecarre · 1/10 · 8 April 2014]

Well, it has one redeeming quality - it ends! The lighting and direction may please IF you are a fan of this director or possibly if you're addicted to watching the gyrations of mindless disco dancers (the actors) who are all bombed out of their minds moving pointlessly (the acting) whilst illuminated by annoying flashing disco lights (self explanatory - the lighting). The plot, such as it is, is inanely simple: bad guys take a hostage from a disco or a pub with faulty lighting, wantonly kill lots of people in the disco/pub whilst doing so, then they go to hide in a big and impossible to defend parking lot. Conveniently for the scriptwriter it's Christmas eve and everybody is working late in the offices within the building and the bad guys kill most if not all of them also. Why did they kill them? Your guess is as good as mine but gratuitous violence is used throughout the movie to hide the absence of any sane and sensible plot. The bad guys then spend the remainder of the movie killing off most of the rest the cast whilst trying to get into a bank account to steal money electronically. Okay, it's not a hostage/demand plot - what a surprise - and the (VIP) hostage is the only person that has the bank account password - another huge surprise - sarcasm. Inept cops, inept SAS, inept bad guys all acting out their inept script. The entire movie is cliché ridden and to make use of the title of an old British television series, it's all Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width. You'd better make sure that you have health coverage for a lobotomy because you'll want one if you make it all the way through this unbelievably bad movie.

i dare u to watch this till the end

[wow101 · 1/10 · 12 April 2014]

Hmm, i do rather watch Power Rangers or Ultraman as action movie than this anytime.

I don't understand why this is like a film produced by amateurs and even worse. There is way too MUCH unnecessary effects used. Slow-motion here, then flash flash there, slow-mo again, and most of the time, it's better without any effect. It feels like someone is getting really hyped about effects and applying it everywhere like a first timer get excited with a new toy.

Then, SAS? Seriously? ONE thing is surely missing in the opening of this film, and it's this line "This is for entertainment purpose only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental." A real disgrace to the elite soldier community and in this movie, it just seems like gang fights, rather than SAS vs Terrorists.

It's really that bad that i forced myself to write this.

Take Truth, This Dare's Not Worth It.

[tjbdtp · 1/10 · 10 April 2014]

Quite possibly the most inept and ridiculous depiction of the SAS ever committed to fiction. These lads look like they've never staged any operation in the field before. For elite experts, they come across as unwary and amateur. The story could have been marginally interesting, but there are far too many nonsensical actions take by the kidnappers.

What makes this film truly unwatchable, though, is the style! It looks like someone is trying to make a hip music video with unwarranted flashes of light, superimpositions, and jarring effects. Far from capturing a sense of anything (is there any sense to be captured?) this approach simply ends up with us detached from the action and feeling as though it's all being trivialized.

Do. Not. Watch.

Bang, bang kaboom, what a bomb!!!

[simongreen99 · 1/10 · 9 April 2014]

Absolute rubbish!!! I've seen better quality story lines and cinematography shot on a ten year old's ipod!! The story and characters are totally unbelievable and how any producer could feel satisfied that he invested wisely in this abomination is beyond me. Perhaps the writer should have done some research on the characters and organisations that he was trying to portray. There are countless books and even video about the Special Air Service that he could have referred to, and the fact that he didn't just goes to show what a complete idiot he is. Soldiers serving in the elite SAS and any of our special forces for that matter do not go running in like headless chickens without confirmed orders (Iranian Embassy Siege 1980, the Police had to formally hand over to the military, only after days of failed negotiations) These men do not do "emotional" if they did perhaps they wouldn't be members of the most revered and feared regiment throughout the world. In summary, I agree totally with the reviewer above who said you need a lobotomy to watch this, which is an operation that I am not intending to have, so I've switched off the film and am throwing it in the bin as soon as I've finished typing this. Spend your time and money elsewhere!

Very very enjoyable crap

[searchanddestroy-1 · 11 September 2015]

Oh what a crap, badly made with a terrible acting, editing and production design. I highly doubt that the actual SAS special forces proceed this way during action, and with such a poor equipment and warfare facilities, with no ballistic helmets(!!!) but who cares? I watched as a cheap one more DIE HARD rip-off. Everything here is lousy, tongue in cheek but I enjoyed it, every minute. There are twelve bad guys at the beginning of the assault and it appears that at least twenty of them are eventually killed all long the film. Search the error.. Many surprises here, many brutal killings and this is the perfect example showing that a piece of crap may be exciting to see; and that doesn't mean that the movie is good. I mostly loved the gorgeous female terrorist. Please if you watch it, don't do it with great expectations, just as an effective grade Z piece of work. Monitor your spirit and eye on what it actually is. Don't try to compare with a major Hollywood feature. And then and only then you'll enjoy it.

Good plot ruined

[nicholas_pepper · 1/10 · 9 April 2014]

The idea behind this film is good even if stolen from an old movie. Simon Phillips is about the only think that stopped me from walking out. The way the SAS is shown is a joke, didn't even get the uniforms correct let alone their standard operating methods. Sure some might say this doesn't matter but watch "Act of Valour" or "Special Forces" both much better movies. The acting in "Acts of Valour" was poor but much more watchable than this is because the special forces team are shown correctly. They apparently even used some ex-seal members. It doesn't look like they even did any research for this let alone consultant ex-members. Once again a lazy approach ruins a potentially great movie.

82 minutes of my life I will never get back!

[damo8604 · 1/10 · 15 May 2014]

I've seen some bad films in my life and this ranks up there with the worst of them.

The lead villain over acted so much, he was almost good, he probably has potential if he had a better film to act in.

I was a bit confused at first that I was watching some sort of GCSE media studies project, if that was the case, I might have given it a C...... But it wasn't, I'm really angry with myself for watching this the whole way through, should have gone with with gut instinct and quit after 30 secs.

Nonsense story, plot holes all over the place, extremely am dram acting, massive thumbs down. Half a star!

Disgrace

[vassiliospapadopoulos1 · 1/10 · 14 April 2014]

Simpy put, Paul Tanter, should resign from writer, producer and director. So should the cast of, best case scenario, awful actors. So should the special effects guy, anyone involved with the editing, and anyone involved in this project should have resigned in order to avoid having this complete and utter failure, on their CV. As for SAS behaving like idiots and cowboys on the loose, is simply a disgrace to an elite fighting squad. Not the best as some people say in reviews. But one of the best. Best, will be decided, when the moment comes. Everything about this movie is so predictable, boring, degrading, the speech, the absolute non-sense, horrible acting, the degrading fighting scenes, the incoherent, unjustified, and ridiculous killing of anyone we feel like killing, the cheap masks, this movie will blow your mind away so much, that a zero rating (as it is not an option provided by IMDb) would be unfair to zero. When you are faced with a decision such as producing such a movie, do us a favour and give it to charity. You are a disgrace to the film industry, to investors, and to the viewers. As they say in the UK, totally and utterly, rubbish mate! Rubbish! As for the end, having 'the' young girl, ending up killing the ARCH- villain, instead of the SAS commander, is.......next !!!!

Fun was had in this film.

[dariahsmethurst · 9/10 · 30 April 2014]

When i watch a film, whether its at the cinema or at home on a disc. I want to be entertained. Some films do it, some films don't. He Who Dares DID. It has its funny comedic moments, It has its action scenes and it has its basic but definitely interesting plot. Every film doesn't need to try and win an Oscar, but every film should try and entertain the viewer. He Who Dares does it!!! Bring on a sequel. I hear they are working on one. Cant wait to see it. With a great cast including Lorraine Stanley, Ben Loyd Holmes, Simon Phillips and a kick ass action start in Zara Phythian. This is a pretty good UK action film, something we haven't seen in a while.

If the Raid ever did meet Die Hard, I sure hope they would make a more coherent story.

[face-819-933726 · 6/10 · 8 April 2014]

Simon Phillips(who I have enjoyed a lot in other movies) plays the villain in this one, and for some reason he has been doing a lot of movies lately in which the entire movie is a copy of something from another country. This time nearly every Chinese Gangster, or bad cop movie from the 90's. There is some decent acting in this movie, but for the most part it's Simon Phillips being all psycho in every other scene, and a team of the country's "best" soldiers/swat style cops are all but slaughtered one at a time in very stupid ways, until of course there is only one left to finish off the bad guys, and save the PM's daughter. The story as you can tell is nothing special, rather predictable, and mostly just lines to move the clock along and a long long climb down the stairs that some how take a lot less time to climb if they are in a different building. I really didn't Enjoy this movie very much, and can only recommend it to folks who just love mindless action movies, and don't care if they have a story, anyone else will have trouble convincing themselves that there is any reason to watch this all the way through.

I didn't like it!

[harry-986-676699 · 1/10 · 27 April 2014]

The title hooked me and I bought this DVD on the strength of the description. This film is not worthy to use this title. The real SAS must have been rolling around the floor laughing at the antics of this bunch of no hopers. The story is very similar to a certain film set in a tower with a off duty cop trying to rescue a hostage. The story had a huge potential to make this a good movie but it let itself down from the first scene and went rapidly downhill after that. If I hadn't spent # pounds of my hard earned money on this I would have turned off after the first ten minutes. If you want to see something better then buy Who Dares Wins with Lewis Collins, it's ten times better than this effort.

Very Generous Rating Currently: 2.9

[mboyd1986 · 1/10 · 4 November 2014]

I gave it 1. I wish I could give really awful movies a score of 0. I mean, why not? It has been on my cable TV for no more than 10 minutes and I knew it was going to be rubbish. That is why I cam here to check the rating. 2.9 seems a bit too much.

Te main actor sounds like he is reading a script held up on one of those prompt boards with big letters on it. And he does tend to mumble so it's not too easy to hear what he is saying.

And the script he is reading... "I find myself wondering..." seems to be at the beginning of most of his sentences.

Well, I find myself wondering why people make such appallingly bad movies.

Ah well, I'll give it another 5 minutes but I can tell it's just one of those cheaply made B movies.

OK, the 5 minutes are up. It didn't get any better. I think the news is more interesting.

He who dares turns it off !

[tmsph555 · 1/10 · 18 July 2014]

A Very simple plot, group of terrorists take the prime ministers daughter hostage, barricade themselves up in a building and the hero's (SAS) are sent in to save the day. Sounds like it could be good right ? Wrong, the terrorists are portrayed as highly skilled and professional soldiers with a stereotypical psychopathic leader, however they shout at everything, shoot guns in the air and pretty much kill everything that moves on full auto, clearly demonstrating a rather unprofessional and unskilled mob. Then bring in the hero's ! The special air service, the most elite fighting force in the world ! From the start portrayed as bunch of idiots who act like idiots with no respect for protocol or authority, enter a building on a whim with no knowledge of layout, number of people, terrorists demands or anything really, clearly something the cub scouts would do that let alone this country's elite ! Of course most are shot within minutes, again not sure the worlds most elite would be humbled by a man wearing a skull mask and a pistol however most are until only a couple are left bla bla bla.. I think you can see where the film is headed... So to summarise its a film written and directed by someone with no knowledge of any forces let alone special forces, has done very little research into finding out anything of said forces, no knowledge of weaponry and there limitations, actors you get for free when you save up the tokens from tesco's, laughable script and lighting so dark you'll need night vision to view it properly. It's very disappointing the Americans make a film and make any of there's forces (which there are many) seem like the best of the best, we have the best of the best and make them seem like a joke. HORRENDOUS. 0 out of 10.

The worst "movie" I've ever seen.

[firefly900 · 1/10 · 13 April 2014]

I served in the Army, so to see the people who are the height of military achievement being portrayed by the walking jizz rags on screen is insulting , and so are the fake reviews on here, that are shockingly obvious you wonder why they bothered at all.

I done 25 minutes of this abomination.... I couldn't take any more it was that bad. Terrible CGI and obvious Airsoft-Guns..... Obvious because you never see anyone get shot, the "actors" move their shoulders up and down whilst the camera zooms to a face or pans back to something else. You'll see constant bad effects with the camera zooming in and out for no reason coupled with constant bad music which I can only assume the director thought was cutting edge cinematography. If only he at least read a book... Just one book before diving in and clearly not knowing a single thing.

Back to the walking jizz rags..... at the start we have the A.S.S..... Sorry the S.A.S having a Christmas eve dinner..... The guys have clearly never had any military contact in any way as they look like wannabe foot ball players, and the wives.... Wannabe footballers WAGS.

The bad guys are exactly that.... BAD!

Not knowing how to act, the lead bad guy actor plays like something out of Inspector gadget.... Hes more of a cartoon than anything else. The dialogue is atrocious. Don't waste your time.... not even to see how bad it is, its not worth it.

How does rubbish like this even get funded?

[Mark-457 · 1/10 · 19 July 2014]

When there are some great independent film makers out there, struggling to get funds, how does something as bad as this even get made? It can't even of looked good on paper can it? No real actors, not even moonlighting soap stars, a plot that just doesn't make any kind of sense and the SAS made to look like they learned their moves from a YouTube teenage kung fu submission. The SAS look incompetent in this, always having time to give moody looks and exposition while they are waiting for one of the bad guys to just shoot them and put us out of our misery. Out hero always seems to think punching someone is a better plan than shooting them. Just dreadful and yet it looks like someone gave them a lot of money to make this. What a waste.

An insult to British film makers

[maxwhoopee · 1/10 · 7 July 2014]

This review contains no spoilers, it would be impossible to spoil the "film" any more than the director / writer / producer and editor has already done. Do Not pay for this film, wait until it gets shown on some obscure free late night z-list movie channel and then watch something else instead whilst safe in the knowledge you haven't wasted 90 minutes of your life. It has no plot, no decent actors, extremely amateur cinematography, lousy sound and dreadful editing - there's also a major sync problem. The SAS are portrayed very badly in this flick leading me to think that no research was done pre-filming, the police and protection squads don't fare much better. I think the writer was trying to copy a lock stock kind of an atmosphere but fails dismally to achieve anything more than a painful to watch embarrassment which has no plot and fails to deliver on almost every level.

He who dares? should be labeled watch if you are clinically mental

[ianhorne1-16-647172 · 1/10 · 1 June 2014]

This film, a British film called He Who Dares is one if not the worst British film I have seen in a long time. It is based around a kidnapping of the British Prime Ministers daughter on Christmas eve whilst she is at a party, the so called hero's are the SAS, I say so-called because in this film it makes them out to be Gung-Ho trigger happy morons who rush into a situation without finding out everything there is to know about the incident. Other reviews say it's a bit of a comedy but I cannot see how murder and violence can be called a comedy. This film should be locked in a steel water tight container and thrown into the deepest canyon in the sea never to be seen again.

He who dares sit through the entire move is he who is desperate

[ajwinslow-1 · 1/10 · 11 May 2019]

A movie so bad that even the directors mother only rated it 1 star!

Dare you to waste 82 minutes of your life......

[greygoose-15393 · 21 April 2015]

......that you can't ever get back 'cause of watching this festering pile of film making pus.

Of all the movies made about special forces this has to be the worst ever,my Gran could have written a more convincing plot and my three year old son could have choreographed more believable fight scene tactics.

If you're into SAS style movies give this one a miss as the producers, directors and script writers (who are now hopefully unemployed and unable to insult us with any more such clichéd tedium)should have stuck with 'my little pony''cause they obviously know chuff all about the military (unless of course their plan was to deliberately insult soldiers) with this brain meltingly unbelievable helmet cheese of a movie.

I've never been motivated to write a movie review but when my senses have been so savagely insulted by such utter, 100%, undiluted excrement I feel it's my duty to warn others.

Never thought a movie could be worse than 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes', but this one is.

AVOID THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS

Great fun

[marcuswyler32 · 10/10 · 17 April 2014]

I see a lot of reviews on here about slight inaccurate points in the film. Who cares its a film. Its not a documentary and I have to say I haven't had this much fun watching a film since Die Hard. (yes the first one) Whoever played the main bad guy was funny as hell, really liked it, . I highly recommend this film to anyone that wants to be entertained - I was, so much I've loaned my friends the DVD and they loved it too (I want my DVD back now)

Film = fun and He Who Dares was a hell of a lot of fun. Ill be checking out other films made by this crew. I never knew the UK could make action films.

Probably the best lead villain in a British film for a long time!!!

[Dan_Finn · 6/10 · 10 April 2014]

I don't review films often but felt I had to due to the number of negative reviews with 1/10 ratings.

Look this film is flawed in ways too numerous to count but it is not without its good points.

First the bad points: # It uses the SAS name which is a big no no unless you are doing them some level of justice. # The fight scenes (bar the first one) are poorly choreographed, slow, lacking technical skill. # Some very mediocre acting as standard. # Fairly week plot. # Action scenes seem to have pacing problems. # Annoying flashy light effects when changing scene.

Now the good points: # The lead villain has great screen presence, he is psychotic, ruthless, humorous, witty, at times likable, unpredictable, and for his part the acting was excellent; the film is well worth a watch just for this character alone i rate the performance very highly. # Some of the film is deliberately tongue in cheek. # There's a fairly decent fight scene and at parts watchable action. # Its never boring.

If you're expecting The Raid or Die Hard (as it's billed), its not either or even close to either. However it is a half decent popcorn flick and despite its flaws I found it enjoyable. The film tries, it tries to be better than a B-Movie and that's the right direction for small budget British movies, if this film had got a few more of the action elements right (maybe 3 really good fight scenes)it could have really been onto a cult following, but there's no saying the director wont get those elements right next time.

absolute dross

[dominicboyle99 · 1/10 · 18 April 2014]

I am so embarrassed to admit this, I am utterly ashamed. I actually watched the film from start to finish! I watched because it could only get better but it never did. Was it a comedy? However, my opinion seems to match the consensus, what an absolute phlegm of a film. The acting is the worst I've seen. I have seen school plays with actors that have more presence and gravitas. The plot is diabolical. the dialogue is horrendous. Gratuitous violence and swearing do not paper over the flaws of this film. It is an insult to the SAS and Police. As if any response to an event like this would be managed as depicted by this film. PM's daughter has been taken hostage let's all run in and shoot everybody. I see the actor who plays the main police guy is actually ex military in real life, surely you could have had an input or maybe you did?? Simon Phillips is atrocious, like an angry David Brent, enough said. Three points that really irritated:- 1. Skull bandannas on your faces are not a substitute for a gas mask. 2. the PMs daughter is hostage, you have no idea what is going on, who is alive? Who is dead? Yet the Police Officer in charge, detective what ever, goes to the cafe for chips with chilli sauce. A real professional, especially after all the vitriol he spouted at the Downing Street guy at the beginning 3. David Brent using the same line about four times" that's a beautiful name". I can't be bothered to say anymore. Avoid at all costs.