Navy Seals features a very recognizable cast, Micheal Biehn, Charlie Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, Rick Rossovich, Bill Paxton, Joanna Whalley. Unfortunately, the script is less than stellar, and Teague, while a capable director, has never been given a budget or script that has served him as well as they should.

It’s a b-movie, with a solid cast that just wants to be a balls-to-the-wall-actioner but is too busy ignorantly portraying most of the Middle East as nothing but terrorists, and American forces, despite their behaviour are always the heroes, no matter the cost, or how moronic or how racist they sometimes behave – I’m looking at Sheen’s Hawkins for that.

It’s amazing how a little colour timing and lighting could have improved this one a lot. Not to mention better editing and camera angles. It never looks like anything better than a b-movie, which is sad considering the cast.

The subject material is interesting but isn’t executed very well. A SEAL team led by Curran (Biehn) is trying to track down a shipment of stingers that have ended up in the hands of terrorists. One has been used to bring down a plane already, and every lead they can exploit is explored, including a reporter, Claire (Whalley), who has an in-depth knowledge of the region and the players.

Filled with cringe-worthy dialogue, and a shoot that seems constrained by a budget that went with casting alone, and ignored the needs of the rest of the production.

The production was allowed to shoot in Norfolk, Virginia on naval bases, and military locations, but it never actually looks like it adds production value to the film. And it totally should have. It should have looked amazing, it should have been a tightly-paced techno-thriller of a script, it should have let the cast shine, and it should have been an adrenaline rush of a pic.

It wasn’t.

I remember the ads for this film all over the comic books that were being released around that time. They definitely knew who to target, but it was just so bad.

And it seemed like such a great idea to not only pair up Biehn and Paxtion again, but they don’t get a lot of moments together. And Dennis Haysbert is completely wasted in his role. That being said, it was fun to see Rick Rossovich doing something besides being Slider in Top Gun (I know he’s done other things, but he’ll always be Slider to me).

I hadn’t seen this since it came out, and I should have left it in the past. Just ugh.