Ever seen an elephant try and stop a helicopter from taking off? The fun action-war flick, Battle For The Treasure, is one of the better cut and paste films from Filmark, under the watchful eyes of the prolific Godfrey Ho (here named as Burt Petersen) and producer Tomas Tang. With snippets from a 1983 co-production between Taiwan and Thailand called Dragon Killer (which I review elsewhere), this original film has some great action pieces and stars Shaw Brothers legends David Chaing and Norman Tsui Siu Keung, along with Thai action legend, Panna Rittikrai in his second film - most of which have some appearance in this re-edit!
Ho presents a war based film about a cop sent on a mission to find and retrieve a priceless piece of Cambodian jade. It just so happens the Vietcong also want to get their hands on it. The jumps from the scenes in the city to the jungle aren't as distracting as usual, much like Ho's ninja movies, and the story actually moves along quite smoothly as if one neat production. There's plenty of action, fights, gun-play and explosions, so its hardly boring...
This YouTube version is presented in clean wide-screen, with English dub which makes for a great watch. Think Fantasy Mission Force meets Aces Go Places, with a hefty dash of Eastern Condors thrown in (even Iron Angels 2 & 3), complete with music from any number of Hong Kong movies, and you'll have a fair idea of what Battle For The Treasure is all about!
I have to say, watching this side-by-side with Dragon Killer is quite interesting in seeing how its action scenes and storyline have been re-edited and fitted in. The epic end battle of the original film features here around the halfway mark, opting for a huge, explosive and fight-filled war finale instead. Regardless, it all makes for a fun film and one of the better Filmark entry's that is well worth a watch...
Overall: While silly on story and unintentionally funny, Battle For The Treasure is big on action and great entertainment!
