By: John M Jerva
A few weeks back, I helped promote the live streaming event for the premiere of the full length documentary for the Cannon Films 80’s action classic Avenging Force which stars Michael Dudikoff snd the late, great Steve James.
The event lasted all weekend long and culminated in a special Q&A which included Sam Firstenberg who helmed the flick and the director of the documentary Kristian Smock.
If you were unable to catch the live event, we have you covered as the full documentary is now online for all to enjoy. I also got an email from Smock detailing the film, which is one of my personal favorites from that decade, as well as his love letter to the movie in the form of a movie length doc.
“Avenging Force” is an underrated, overlooked, action extravaganza starring Michael Dudikoff and Steve James, which was produced between the first two “American Ninja” films, Smock stated. “Released by the legendary, mini-studio, “The Cannon Group,” many die hard action fans consider this to be Michael Dudikoff’s onscreen tour de force. Sam Firstenberg agrees, and even believes this is his own best movie out of the 25 films he’s directed.
On the surface “Avenging Force” is a typical slam-bang, exploitation action flick, but the social/political themes of white supremacy and systemic racism are sadly much more relevant today than they were in 1986. The villains of the film, “The Pentangle,” are an extremist militant group of powerful elites that will destroy anyone that opposes their vision of what America should be.
“Avenging Force” was originally conceived as a sequel to the Chuck Norris film, “Invasion USA,” and it is a very unique movie that stands out from many other Reagan-era action films of the 1980s. No in-depth study has ever been done on this film before, so we’re very privileged and excited to be bringing this feature-length documentary to the fans, and hopefully expose new people to the movie that were unaware of it.
Smock also outlined that this documentary is one of several called “In the Trenches with Sam” and that we have more to look forward to in the future which will showcase the legendary director’s best films from that era.
While we wait for what comes next, check out the full length documentary to Avenging Force in the player below!
ACTION-FLIX 
