Non-Horror Exploitation: Thunder (1983)

All right, I know I'm not watching them in the right order. Only one day after watching Thunder II I watch the first one. But like I said at the Thunder II review, It really doesn't matter in which order you watch these. 

A native America named Thunder returns home only to find that his ancestral burial ground is being destroyed by construction workers. He tries to put a stop to it, but the law is not only not on his side, but he is banished from town, beaten up, and left for dead. Now he wants his revenge...

Where Thunder II only ripped off First Blood at the end of the movie, this one is just a complete rip-off. The woods have been replaced by the dry landscapes of Arizona, and Vietnam vet Rambo has been replaced by angry indian Thunder. One thing is for sure. This movie is certainly not better than part II.

Bo Svenson and Raimund Harmstorf both stared in this one, like they did in part II. And again, they do a fine job. The main reason why Thunder is such a disappointment is because of the lack of fine action. Apart from a lovely chase scene the movie stays quiet tame throughout. Mark Gregory actually only appears every once in a while. We mainly just have to do with cops sweeping the area and a boring sub-plot about a pro native American reporter. The few action scenes we do get to see are mainly boring bow and arrow shots. Not really impressing.

Fortunately, like in part II, the last 30 minutes make up for it. Thunder manages to get his hands on a bazooka, and he likes using it. Finally the explosions we all desired during the first boring 60 minutes start turning up. The best scenes of the movie though appear when Thunder decides to hop in a bulldozer and bash through roadblocks and buildings.  

Thunder turned out to be a somewhat boring First Blood rip-off. There should have been way more explosive action scenes. Compared to part II the soundtrack is a disappointment too. Fortunately the bulldozer scenes manage to make up for the boring scenes a bit.