I don’t know if this is necessarily forgotten but I’ll admit I had never seen The Base 2: Guilty as Charged until I picked it up on trusty VHS a few weeks ago. My expectations were minimal as Mark Dacascos wasn’t returning for this sequel but this time he is replaced by Antonio Sabàto, Jr. who actually does a fine job as Sgt. Hawks, the Pentagon’s top soldier who they send to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of two dozen soldiers.
Director Mark L. Lester (Commando) returns so we already know the action will be well done and it doesn’t disappoint. We have several fight scenes, satisfying kills and some quality explosions but most importantly I found the story tense and engaging. This is mostly due to James Remar’s sadistic Lt. Col. Strauss who runs his own military “tribunal” for people he thinks have gotten away with committing crimes unbefitting of soldiers.
Strauss and his loyal followers never become sympathetic and are really are the bad guys from the start as they hunt these men essentially for sport. There is definitely a Hard Target/Surviving the Game vibe to this entry and that’s no bad thing.
James Remar is at his best in this movie and you never really take his side; you know right away that this is a man whose wiring isn’t correct and he needs to be taken down.
I particularly hated Goose (played by Duane Davis) who is just an asshole right away but his demise is thoroughly satisfying.
We have several scenes of Hawks looking through files and trying not to get caught which always ups the tension and the movie also has a satisfyingly high bodycount.
Some of the acting is a bit dodgy causing a few scenes not to work maybe as well as they could but in terms of old-school action The Base 2: Guilty as Charged is a lot of fun and worth a watch. Give it a watch if you can pick it up… preferably on VHS!
