In the rustic, woodsy town of
Troma City, California, a war is being waged between a corrupt political
machine (personified by racist sheriff Tom “Tex” Bodine, played by David Crane) and an evil corporate
syndicate (personified by Colonel Denton, played by William J Kulzer and the mercenaries of the Fortress of Amerikkka
guerilla group). After shooting and
blowing up a young couple who just wanted to do “The Beaver Call” (and other
people, to be fair, who may or may not have wanted to do the same), nobody
still seems to grasp what’s going on up in the hills. Into this strife struts ex-con John
Whitecloud (Gene Lebrock) who is
burning for revenge against the sheriff but instead winds up doing just about
everything else but taking it, including re-hooking up with his ex-girlfriend
Jennifer (Kellee Bradley). Meanwhile, characters are dying and boning
all over the place.
When a film begins with voiceover
narration explaining that “this is a story about you and me,” and then goes on
to detail the greatness of America and touting the plight of the little man,
you really need to consider if the filmmakers are earnest or not about their
story. Eric Louzil’s Fortress of
Amerikkka (aka Fortress of Amerikkka:
The Mercenaries) is just such a film.
Bearing in mind that this is a Troma production, the possibility for a
humorous approach is high, yet I never got any indication that the filmmakers
were joking about their subject; this despite the film being over the top in a
great many ways. Having fun with it,
yes, but speeches like those in the voiceover are completely outside the tone
of the rest of the film. Later in the movie,
we’ll get something similar between two completely insignificant (despite the
amount of time spent on them, though the larger part of that time is strictly
to showcase Kascha’s gigantic, fake
breasts) characters. Actual dialogue
between the two consists of howlers like, “People like us are the backbone of
America,” and “We have freedom in this country.
But with that freedom comes a responsibility of doing what’s
right.” This is during a scene set
immediately after they have escaped from the mercenaries (I’ll leave out the
full context of all of this so you can witness it for yourself). As the film wraps up, our narrator returns to
enlighten us with, “In America, one little guy can stand up to the evil that wants
to destroy our Bill of Rights.” The
commentary in lines like these overplays the filmmakers’ hand, and it’s
delivered so straight-faced, you can’t help but laugh, particularly because
none of the rest of the film backs lines like these up in the slightest (unless
it’s so slyly subversive as to elude all detection).
That the rest of the movie is a
mess composed of some enjoyable bits is perplexing. The premise is simple. Theoretically, there should be no way to fuck
it up. Nevertheless, Louzil and company manage to lose the
thread at every turn. Disregarding
lapses in logic like the fact that John wouldn’t be allowed to purchase
firearms because of his criminal record, or that Jennifer would likely have
been killed for what she witnessed, or that no one raises an eyebrow at the
myriad cars blowing up out in the forest multiple times a day and connects this
to Fortress of Amerikkka, the script seems to intentionally veer away from
tying its multiple plotlines together.
John claims that he craves vengeance for the death of his brother, but
does absolutely nothing to forward this agenda.
He just visits his brother’s grave (inside Bronson Caves, no less) and
whines a lot. The sheriff and his police
department suggest that they know that there are war games going on up in the
hills, but don’t connect the dots to all the people being killed (some even
turning up with “Fortress of Amerikkka” carved into their flesh). There is a bar brawl that stands out as being
even more superfluous than normal cinematic bar brawls, which are, by
definition, superfluous. The only reason
anything gets resolved is because the film eventually has to end.
But the mercenaries themselves
take the cake. Colonel Denton is a
zealot who believes that he and his army have been ordained by God to “serve
freedom and peace.” He has a trespasser
torn apart between a tree and a moving car rather than simply putting a bullet
in his head, just because. He believes
that, “winning is everything, and losing is defeat!” Furthermore, there is no purpose to what the
mercs do. If we believe the opening
narration, they are in service of an “evil corporate syndicate,” but all they
do is tool around the woods, shooting people and blowing up cars. Are they terrorizing the area because some
company wants the property? Are they
claiming this section of land as their own in some half-assed secessionist
plot? Who fucking knows? There are odd interludes at the mercenaries’
camp which include spouting pseudo-spiritual horseshit, getting laid, a cat
fight to the death, getting laid, killing soldiers who don’t want to be in the
gang (and it is a gang) anymore, and getting laid. There are lines about adhering to some type
of code, but the majority of these guys don’t give a shit, and the other half
are just plain psychotic (one in particular, a female skinhead who heavily
resembles Lori Petty and loves caressing
her rifle, stands out as being the most clearly insane, so you kind of have to
wonder how she got recruited at all; maybe that’s the point?). And it all revolves around animal instincts,
especially sex. There are very few
scenes in Fortress of Amerikkka
without naked breasts in it, and oddly enough, this is one of the few things
that actually fits into the film.
For all of its stupidity, its
piss poor line readings, its apparent intent to be as incoherent as possible,
its inappropriate (what sounded to me like) library music track, its
non-narrative (in the sense that things happen, but they have little or nothing
to do with each another) approach to its story, I found myself liking this
film. Every scene that doesn’t have
naked female breasts in it has action in it, and despite everything, the
picture is fast paced. What ultimately
holds it all together (if that expression is even suitable for this movie) is
its success at what it does well. This
boils down to boobs, bullets and blowing shit up. Regardless of whether or not this movie is supposed
to be taken seriously (maybe the insanity of the film is mean to reflect the
insanity of the world as Louzil sees
it? It’s a theory, I suppose), I don’t
think it’s possible to do so in the slightest, and I’m okay with this. Fortress
of Amerikkka is certainly a memorable experience, and it isn’t painful
enough to make you regret watching it.
MVT: The action scenes in
the film are plentiful, and they are also well-handled, by and large.
Make or Break: The opening
scene gives you everything this film is about while simultaneously being both gratifying
and nonsensical. Not that those concepts
are mutually exclusive.
Score: 6.5/10
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