'Invasion USA' wasn't a enjoyable time for me. I have nothing against Chuck Norris - I just felt like the movie was cheesy in all the wrong ways. Then came 'Avenging Force' which for all intense purposes is the sequel sans Chuck Norris. Somehow, some way this one delivers!

It's still a Cannon film like 'Invasion' but it goes so off the rails that it can't help but be entertaining or hilarious in spite of itself. Which is saying something because 'Invasion' was already plenty insane. B-movie regular Michael Dudikoff reprises as Chuck Norris's ex CIA / secret service agent character, Matt Hunter. He and Steve James go around chopping / gunning baddies down while fighting a white supremacist group. Meanwhile every friend and family member around them gets blown away! It's absolutely insane.

Character actor (and Cannon Films regular) John P. Ryan plays the head bad guy. Professor Elliott Glastenbury. An educated, rich white man of older age - the leader of the hateful group Pentangle. He's equal parts good acting and insane dedication. He gets a monologue that is completely bonkers, liberally uses the N-word and goes toe to toe with Dudikoff in an end fight scene that has to be seen to be believed. Did he just grab his nuts as one big FU to the hero!?

Norris was pretty invincible in his flick, but Michael Dudikoff feels more believable. He takes a beating more than once. There's a bit of 'The Most Dangerous Game' angle attached with gruesome methods of death and wacky costumes. A hint of child sex slavery (!?) and a sequel smelling ending for which one weirdly never came. Some crazy dangerous looking stunts, Marc Alaimo (Star Trek: DS9) plays a featured bad guy and solid b-movie directing from Sam Firstenberg.

Rugged former secret service agent Matt Hunter (a solid and credible performance by Michael Dudikoff) does his best to protect his black Senatorial candidate best buddy Larry Richards (an excellent and charismatic portrayal by Steve James) from a group of racist right-wing fanatics called Pentangle who are led by evil millionaire Elliott Glastenbury (ably played with lip-smacking wicked relish by John P. Ryan).

Director Sam Firstenberg, working from a compact script by James Booth (who also acquits himself well as the shifty Admiral Brown), keeps the gripping and inspired premise moving along at a brisk pace, maintains a surprisingly gritty and serious tone throughout (the filmmakers earn additional praise for placing kids in real jeopardy as well as for not being afraid to kill off certain characters one expects to usually live in these kinds of pictures), evokes a flavorsome New Orleans atmosphere, and stages the action set pieces with considerable skill and brio, with a definite corker of a last third pitting Matt against various heavies in the Louisiana swamps. This film further benefits from a neat array of nasty bad guys: William Wallace as cocky young Wade Delaney, Karl Johnson as the brutish Commander Jeb Wallace, Marc Alaimo as the slippery Charlie Lavall, and Loren Farmer as slimy worm Andrew Parker. The winning and utterly convincing chemistry between James and Dudikoff gives this movie some genuine heart and soul. Gideon Porath's glossy cinematography provides an impressive slick look. George S. Clinton's spirited score hits the stirring spot. Superior action fare.