Soldiers discover "where civilization ends and survival begins" in OPPOSING FORCE, on Blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing.

A group of highly-trained and decorated soldiers have signed up for the ultimate escape and evasion training course run by the mysterious Becker (Anthony Zerbe, THE OMEGA MAN): among them seasoned Lieutenant Logan (Tom Skerritt, ALIEN), sole female officer Casey (Lisa Eichhorn, MOON 44), motor-mouthed thrill seeker Botts (Robert Wightman, IMPULSE), chauvinist navy officer Ripkin (Paul Joynt, ECHOES), and bumpkin Conway (Ken Wright, PRINCE OF DARKNESS). Despite a warning from her superior General MacDonald (John Considine, DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS) that the course has not been in any way altered for her and that she will not receive any special treatment, Casey anticipates changes to the military with regard to women and wants to be ready for them; and, while she can anticipate that paired up partner Ripkin will split off on his own, neither she or any of the others is prepared for live rounds being fired at them as soon as they land or enduring real beatings as soon as they are captured. None of the soldiers wants to be the one to tap out even as they conditions get worse for them, and tension increases between Logan and Casey when he tries to use his rank to stop what he sees as inappropriate treatment of her by the guards no matter how much Becker claims that they all must learn to deal physically and emotionally with capture and whatever comes with it (including rape). Becker's right hand man Stafford (Richard Roundtree, SHAFT) confides in his feelings about Becker's stability to Logan; however, while Logan senses that he is being fed a routine, he also thinks there may be some truth to it, and becomes even more defiant when Becker becomes fixated on breaking Casey (feeling that it is a challenge since he has never put a female officer through training) whereupon Logan must convince the rest of the group to put their escape and evasion training into practice for the sake of their survival.

The second feature of director Eric Karson whose debut was the Chuck Norris vehicle THE OCTAGON which came just before Norris' Cannon Films tenure, OPPOSING FORCE is an efficient little action flick set and shot in the Philippines but not really looking like many of the other low budget action films lensed there during the same period. Performances are strong, with Zerbe and Roundtree particularly entertaining, but the film is most successful with the tension as to whether Becker really has gone over the edge or if it is all training (and whether that justifies his actions). The action scenes are competently staged for the most part, although it seems as if the filmmakers were mindful of the MPAA more so for the violence than the nudity, with plenty of soldiers riddled with machine gun fire without much in the way of blood (which makes some of their falls a little lame). Skerritt and Eichhorn are likable leads, but her centrality in the narrative in the opening and closing becomes muddled in the middle, but effectively so in that the ambiguity for Casey and the others as to motive behind Logan's protective actions (whether he is attracted to Casey and whether he is part of Becker's operation). Although Karson's directorial output was small during the eighties and nineties – the latter consisting of Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle BLACK EAGLE and Oliver Gruner vehicle ANGEL TOWN – he was also an executive for the company American Cinema behind A FORCE OF ONE, FORCE: FIVE, and DOGS among other eighties fare. The supporting cast also includes actor/stuntman George Cheung (GOING BERSERK) who appeared in several American martial arts action films during the eighties in addition to plenty of Asian character bits in episodic television.

Released theatrically by Orion Pictures and released to VHS by HBO Video, OPPOSING FORCE wound up with MGM and was released as part of their Limited Edition Collection of burned-on-demand DVD-Rs in an anamorphic transfer. Scorpion's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new 2019 master that reveals some differences little known until now. While the American version of the film previously seen on home video ran just under 100 minutes, Scorpion's Blu-ray features the film's international version (97:39) which freeze-frames one of the climactic shots, leaving ambiguous not only the survival of one character but the choice another character has to make with some added narration. The disc also includes the extended ending (6:29 with the addition in the context of the final scenes and including the full end credits crawl) from the American version which had two additional scenes as well as another alternate bit of audio which changes the answer given to the pivotal question in the American version. The new transfer is frequently impressive when it comes to facial detail, textures of costumes and jungle scenery, and in conveying the deliberate use of light and shadow during the night scenes to not reveal too much of any of the cast when unclothed. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track is clean with generally clear dialogue (some muttered exchanges will have you turning on the subtitles or turning up the volume) and effects while doing the mostly bland score no favors in equal clarity. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.