Toy Soldiers was a 1991 film starring basically nobody except for Louis Gossett Jnr, whose shiny bald head played a minor role. It’s one of those films you assume everyone has seen but in reality only Aussie kids who didn’t go anywhere on school holidays between 1993–1995 know what the hell you’re talking about. In a nutshell the movie is about a group of terrorists taking over a big school for some reason and holds rebellious kids hostage and then the police and FBI have their standard jurisdictional argument in a tactical van overlooking the crime scene, then all sides work together and eventually everyone respects everyone. At least I thought that’s what it was about.
inter-jurisdictional debacle of the highest order
After reading Wikipedia it turns out the film I watched because it showed rebellious kids outsmarting grownup terrorists with remote control planes actually touched on some delicate geopolitical issues, powerful family dynamics, international intrigue and the shortcomings of the early 90s US judicial system. It seems there were multiple storylines running in parallel, with plot twists and turns at every corner of this ostensibly simple 90s action movie:
you need a Masters in International Relations and 20 years at the UN to follow this
Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, saying:
“Since the plot of the movie is utterly predictable, we hope at least for some cleverness in the gimmicks. Here the movie is so disappointing that I wonder if the screenwriters were really trying.”
Well Roger, if that is your real name, you obviously weren’t watching the part where Billy made it back just in time for the headcount, because I could’ve sworn the terrorists were going to uncover the entire rescue operation and butcher hundreds of All-American teens halfway through the movie.
They always stand like this
It cost $10 million dollars to make — though half of that probably went straight to “Greedy” Gossett Jnr — and they made $15 million on the Box Office so on balance I’d say it did pretty well, despite Greedy Gossett siphoning the entire catering budget to fund his fancy jacket obsession.
yeah laugh it up, Gossett.
Maybe Ebert was right, maybe Toy Soldiers isn’t as complicated as I made it out to be. But at least it had something going on beneath the surface, and it kept me entertained while my friends were on waterslides. And I’m grateful for that.
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