Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Pluskylang Great Film overall

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

poujenthaimei I AM A GREAT FAN OF SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). WATCHED ALMOST ALL SAS MOVIES WHICH USES GAS MASK (RESIDENT EVILS INCLUDED).. RATING WILL BE GIVEN AFTER ENG SUB IS PROVIDED.. THANK YOU..

bkoganbing The Final Option has American players Richard Widmark and Robert Webber joining a British cast playing the American Secretary of State and head of the Strategic Air Command over in London for an arms limitation conference. What happens is that they get taken hostage by a radical group of terrorists who are nicely moled into the peace movement.British action star Lewis Collins gets a rigged incident so he can resign from the SAS the British equivalent of the Delta Force and infiltrate the peace movement. Clearly he doesn't fool anybody, but Collins has his uses and Judy Davis the head of the radical cell finds him useful in many ways.In fact the two female terrorists Davis and Ingrid Pitt really walk off with this film with their brand of fanaticism.When the shooting starts toward the end it is the best part of the film as SAS does what it does best, kill enemies. Final Option is a well done action flick that the Margaret Thatcher government must have loved.

johnfuen Other people will and have commented on weaknesses in the plot line and logic. This is by no means a great movie. But on the other hand if you're channel surfing and come upon this action movie, I've seen far worse action flicks. If you can't find a decent flick you can get a few hours of mindless action flick entertainment out of this one.In some ways, in tone and pacing it kind of reminds me of the Chuck Norris/Lee Marvin flick "Delta Force". That one also dealt with a special forces group (in this case, an American unit) having to take action to rescue hostages from terrorists. But in this case, it's the British SAS troops to the rescue.

Joxerlives I was 7 years old when the SAS stormed the Iranian Embassy, watching it live on TV. They seemed like characters from my 'Warlord', 'Victor' and 'Battle' comics brought to life. In the next few years they took part in the liberation of the Falkland Islands and killing of IRA terrorists at Loughgall and Gibraltar. Soon the 'Battle' comic became 'Battle; Action Force' (the British version of GI Joe) of which 'SAS-Force' became my firm favourite. I was too young to see this film at the cinema despite drooling over the posters but when it came out on video I had my older brother rent it for me time after time (oddly 'Dangermouse' was our other favourite pick). Growing up I loved 'The Professionals' and this really is 'The Professionals' movie that never was (the show still being broadcast when this hit the cinemas). Lewis Collins is just perfect in the role. He was a real life Territorial Army paratrooper and legend has it he applied for the Territorial SAS regiments but got turned down because he was too famous for their undercover role. A great deal of the film is highly realistic. The SAS training in the 'Killing House' at Hereford and escape and evasion in the nearby Welsh mountains is spot on. In the 1980s Arab governments such as Libya, Iraq and Iran really did sponsor terrorism in the UK and were supported by extreme left-wing politicians (the 'looney left') in the British parliament. The scene where the SAS storm Skellen's flat in order to rescue his family,(boring tiny holes in the wall in order to insert bugs, blasting in using a shaped explosive charge and killing the terrorists with 'double taps'to the head)is extremely true to life. The sequence where an SAS trooper catches fire whilst breaching the US Ambassador's residence is taken directly from real life events, Sgt John MacCleese of the SAS doing just that at the Iranian Embassy siege. Igrid Pitt's character is very blatantly based on Ulrike Meinhoff of the infamous German Baader/Meinhoff terrorist group. Bad points? Skellen's infiltration method is just plain ludicrous, seducing the terrorist leader in his blazer and tie? Come on, he should have gradually won their confidence by joining the movement at an entry level, handing out leaflets, taking part in marches etc When he rescues the hostage VIPs he should stay with them and protect them rather than take off on his own to hunt down the terrorist leaders. The scene where the SAS troopers dangling from the helicopter blast out the windows with grenade launchers before swinging through them is pure Hollywood. When the assault begins Edward Woodward's police commander should have made sure to phone the terrorists in order to distract them rather than refuse to answer their calls. All told though it's a great film. Some say it's anti-CND but that's not true, we see the terrorist's true colours when they use the CND peace symbol as target practice. It's made quite clear that the Bruce Kent figure disapproves of killing in the name of the 'cause'.I remember watching this with my unit of Sappers with us cheering all the way. When Skellen's character is asked by the terrorist played by Professionals/Dempsey and Makepeace regular Tony Osaba "What's happening?" only to get blown away as a result we all chorused together 'NOT YOU MATE!" So 'Who Dares Wins'? Great film but don't expect subtlety