“VFW,” a blistering new addition to action cinema’s siege subgenre, may just be the movie America needs now to kick, punch and claw its way out of its current pandemic chaos.
The film is a throwback to the cult classics of the 1970s and 1980s when films like “Assault on Precinct 13,” “Escape from New York” and “The Warriors” took viewers for a whirlwind descent into relentless carnage and madness.
Even better, it features an A-plus lineup of some of Hollywood’s toughest and most experienced sumbitches, including Stephen Lang (“Avatar,” “Don’t Breathe,” “Tombstone”), William Sadler (“Die Hard 2,” “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,” “Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight”), Martin Kove (“The Karate Kid,” “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Steele Justice”), Fred Williamson (“Black Caesar,” “1990: The Bronx Warriors,” “From Dusk Till Dawn”) and David Patrick Kelly (“48 Hrs.,” “The Warriors,” “The Crow”).
Hell, even George Wendt gets to kick some ass.
VFW
4 out of 5 stars.
Rated: Unrated
Run Time: 92 minutes
Directed by Joe Begos
Starring Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Fred Williamson, Martin Kove, David Patrick Kelly, George Wendt, Dora Madison, Josh Ethier and Travis Hammer
What exactly is “VFW”?
It’s a full-throttle roller coaster of gore and violence contained almost entirely inside a lowly Veterans of Foreign Wars bar in an undisclosed city that is about to be overrun by drug-fueled anarchists.
Director Joe Begos opens with an ominous text scrawl that is very reminiscent of John Carpenter. In the near future, as America’s opioid crisis worsens, a new designer drug called Hype has turned city streets into battlegrounds. Police no longer patrol, leaving society at the mercy of a generation of addicts with no remorse and no conscience.
Fred Parras (Lang) runs the local VFW, which sits in the shadow of an abandoned multiplex movie theater that is now controlled by drug lord Boz (Travis Hammer) and his loyal crew, including Gutter (Dora Madison), Roadie (Graham Skipper) and Tank (Josh Ethier).
His mainstay patrons are all former military buddies like Walter (Sadler), Abe (Williamson), Lou (Kove), Doug (Kelly) and Thomas (Wendt). They spend each day getting drunk, telling war stories, watching "Aerobicise" videos on grainy VHS and waxing poetic about female landing strips.
“I like pussy hair,” Abe says at one point. “What gives her the right to shave off her pussy hair?”
“It’s her pussy,” Fred fires back.
But this day will be different. It’s not only Fred’s birthday, but the VFW is about to find itself at the epicenter of a new kind of conflict between an amped-up Hype army and a young girl named Lizard, who runs screaming into the bar after stealing all of Boz’s drugs.
It’s a classic setup—seven grizzled soldiers, one young sniper just home from a tour and a terrified teen girl against an unforgiving horde thirsty for blood—that Begos milks for maximum effect.
Fred immediately snaps into combat mode, rallying his troops and assigning tasks, which gives Begos the opportunity to replicate a classic staple from ‘80s cinema—the montage—as the group starts fabricating weapons from any materials they can find inside the bar.
The soldiers break down stools to use the legs as batons with nails hammered through. They Jimmy-rig a keg with wooden spears affixed to it over an entrance door. And best of all, they convert potatoes into makeshift brass knuckles with sharp wooden skewers sticking out between their fingers.
The dialogue throughout by writers Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle is pitch perfect, and often hysterical.
Outside the bar, Boz muses about the establishment. “VFW? What does that stand for?” he asks. “Soldiers? Soldiers are good at dying.”
Inside, Lizard tries to warn the codgers as to just how evil Boz really is, saying he will kill them, their children, their grandchildren, even their… great-grandchildren.
“Jeez, how old are you guys?” she asks.
Once the siege erupts, Begos does a masterful job of allowing his camera to capture the full scope of the battle even as he zeroes in on specific kills. The sheer number of practical effects on display is staggering. And each death is executed to near perfection.
Given the nonstop carnage that dominates the third act, it’s safe for viewers to assume that not all of the heroes will survive the night, but what elevates “VFW” above its contemporaries is how each iconic actor is allowed a proper and fitting moment to truly shine.
It has been a long, long time since action fans were treated to this kind of nostalgic yet relevant viewing experience.
And now, maybe more than ever, we’d be well-served to allow ourselves to get lost in the fantasy of watching a handful of beloved actors standing tall in the face of insurmountable odds and spitting straight in death’s eye.
"VFW" is now available to rent or own on most streaming Video-on-Demand platforms, as well as on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD.
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
This article appears in Apr 2-9, 2020.