( 1986 / Indonesia )
Review By-Paul Cooke Director: Jopi Burnama Starring: Peter O’Brien , Craig Gavin , Lia Warokka , Dana Christina , Kaharuddin Syah & Jenny Farida Source : Marubeni Video / NTSC Japan / Full Screen Presentation / English Language Dubbed With Small Japanese Subtitles
‘‘This is my territory , and this is your burial’’
Peter O’Brien stars as a walking , talking , living poster , torn from the bedroom wall of an Eighties Action fan. Step aside Rambo here we have Rambu !. A lone man who stands up to injustice and isn’t ashamed to be seen out during the daylight hours with a shoulder length mullet. To show us what he is made of right from the start Rambu takes out two street thugs who are beating on an old woman. Fists fly but so too does a hard ball , which Rambu uses like a boomerang to bounce off the heads of the low life’s , hitting hard and returning to the muscular mullet man. Rambu gets to win this time out and he’s got the balls to show for it !.
The local town is under the iron grip of a criminal king pin who has his hand in all the illegal activities going down , including the local drug cartel. Mr. White is the head of the criminal organisation , a low life big wig who thinks nothing of beating on women and shooting them down with total disregard. He’s easily spotted around town as he wears a white suit !. Cross him and he’ll shoot you where you stand with an array of lethal weaponry that includes a selection of very big repeat action guns. The one man who gets under his skin like a leprous rash is of course Rambu !. Described by Mr. White as being ‘The Intruder’ , as he constantly interferes in his business and compromises the future expansion of his illicit territorial empire.
Rambu is ex police academy who quit to lead a simpler life but in true movie style wherever he goes trouble is never far behind. His efforts against crime do not go unnoticed though as the justice bureau have been keeping tabs on Mr. White and they approach Rambu to join them. Only after Rambu’s wife is brutally gang raped and stabbed to death does Rambu take up the offer , as seeking vengeance on his own lands him in trouble with the local police who are in the pocket of Mr. White. Under the justice bureau’s ward-ship Rambu can act with almost exclusive impunity and its not long before the screen is lit up with the sight of him donning the lucky bandana , a red scarf from a lady friend. Okay Rambu’s wife has only just sniffed the under lid of a dirt box but this guy is a full blooded male Action machine seeking to drill the bad guys and he needs the love of another good woman to keep his spirits up !. Peter O’Brien , kitted up as the full on Rambo , looks like Mark Gregory from ‘Bronx Warriors’ and a taller version of Sylvester Stallone. That’s no real surprise on the Stallone front as rumour has it that the Rambo franchise doll was almost as tall as him !.
Time for the all Action smack down Rambu style , kitted out in his choice of power wagon - a three wheeled slow mobile powered with a lawn mower engine !. He can cut anyone up but cornering on those edges is kinda untidy but hey those are the justice bureau fringe benefits !. He takes on a motorcycle gang who have abducted his lady friend and he arrives on the scene front tail high and riding into Dodge on the back two wheels. Time for cowboys and Indians Indonesian ho down style as only those crazy Asian types can do. Director Jopi Burnama , who also made the wild and furious earlier 1982 made exploitation flick ‘Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters’ , brings to the dance a tornado of two steppin’ kick ass moves that don’t stop even when the music does. This showdown between Rambu and Mr. White’s mini army of hand held tool equipped goons soon becomes a frenzy of furious body bashing. A stand out moment of head bashing and body beating where even the women show their balls of steel as they swing them for all their worth with a mighty clang. Rambu hasn’t come alone though as friends and family of those he has helped in the past also show up in their own three wheelers , like a convention for Indonesian taxi drivers looking to pull in the bad fares , and not hitting down on the charge meter until all are happy with the tip. The showdown is set with bikes versus trykes and highlighted with a cat fight for the big bikes , trykes and dykes balls to the wall bash with Rambu as the ringmaster. It doesn’t come any better than this in the free wheeling world of ‘B’ movie brilliance.
Throw in the one liners that flow like wine from a broken barrel with the likes of , ‘I never look for trouble yet it always seems so close to me’ and ‘You can’t afford to be gentle with filth like this !’ , and your ride with Rambu will have you biting your top lip to draw first blood in a fit of incredulously joyous disbelief.
Rambu is on the warpath and of course his next point of call is at Mr. White’s front door , care of a bazooka and all the gun firing accoutrements he can carry with him. Events are further spiced up by an out of nowhere , left of centre make shift Ninja moment care of Rambu donning metallic hand grips and scaling a wall in speedily donned black night gear !?. It’s as if infamous producer Tomas Tang stopped by the set and offered his advice for this scene , and didn’t even bother to take any personal payment for the contribution !.
The stage is set for the explosive big fun finale as Rambu corners the whole collective of bad guys , that includes some scurrilous inside elements brought to light earlier. Rambu takes down the heads of the combined organisations and lays waste to their scrambling henchmen. Tons of gun play on display , an impaling , garrotting , a frenzy of rocket launching and the total decimation of all structures in the vicinity !. Rambu has a thirst for blood and their ain’t gonna be no part two after he’s through here !.
‘The Intruder’ offers big value for little money and is a deliriously dumbfounding deliverance of unabated ‘B’ movie brilliance that is as silly as they come , if not more so , in that so bad its great way that comes with such rewarding viewing endeavour. Rambu , all he wants is for his viewers to love him as much as he loves them. Classic carnage , and yes this time he does get to win !.
