Wil Wheaton Week: Toy Soldiers

Welcome back readers for Day 4 of Wil Wheaton Week and I think this is a good example of his yesteryear work yet again.  As Wil himself confirmed this was the first film he made where he did not require adult supervision.  A hallmark for any child actor deemed mature enough in of itself but also a movie that provided a great deal of entertainment.  So prep those lacrosse uniforms, light some cherry bombs in the toilets and sneak a bit of booze on campus.  This is Toy Soldiers.

 

Sam Wise and Wesley are baffled.

Ricardo Montoya: It’s the first rule of prep spoiler etiquette. When you’re in a basement with no windows, don’t fart.

 A prestigious prep school known as Regis School which consists of lads on scholarships to children of influential standing and prominent in society ranging from international banking to politics; this all boys school has of course its share of troublemakers.  The most notorious are a gang of kids led by Billy Tepper (Sean Astin of The Goonies, Like Father Like Son, Rudy, Courage Under Fire and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) his best buddy mafia kid Joey Trotta (Wil Wheaton of Flubber, Fag Hag, The Girl’s Room, Deep Core, Book of Days, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Ghost Recon 2), wise ass Snuffy Bradberry (Keith Coogan of The Waltons, Gun Shy, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, The Power Within and Just a Little Harmless Sex), jock Ricardo Montoya (George Perez of Manhattan Merengue!, Tin Cup and Selena)  and rebellious Hank Giles (T.E. Russell of Trespass, Gladiator, Swimming with Sharks and City of Angels). 

These devious pranksters are hellbent to make the headmaster and dean’s lives very interesting. Dean Parker (Louis Gosset Jr. of An Officer and a Gentleman, Iron Eagle, Enemy Mine, A Good Man in Africa and Stargate: SG-1) sees great potential in Billy and wants him to clean up his act by putting him on restricted duty.  Joey’s bunkmate has been whisked up by the US Marshal’s service in protection of the boy and his family by a potential threat due to a trial his father is prosecuting one radical freedom fighter Enrique Cali.

No, I am not Hans Grubber!!!

Violence beseeches the private school in the form of guerilla trained terrorist group led by Enrique’s son Luis (Andrew Divoff of The Hunt for Red October, Wishmaster, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Air Force One, CSI: Miami and Lost), a man driven by purpose and conviction with nothing to lose.  The kids are captured, herded and told behave or they will get shot or if they tamper with the explosives rigged all over the school campus they will explode taking all their friends and classmates in a huge fiery death.

Our young hellions begin to conspire together to try to get the word out to any member of authority handling this case from how many men they are facing to what positions they hold and even what armaments they are carrying.   While the FBI is frantically trying to slash through the red tape and arrange transport for Enrique they realize these monsters will get away scott free by doing this. 

Hmm, wonder how I would look in a beard.

I had just a few comments to make on the film.  While the director Daniel Petrie Jr. is primarily known as a producer and writer (Beverly Hills Cop, The Big Easy, Turner & Hooch and Shoot to Kill) this was his first motion picture under his directing helm and scoring as much talent for this very dramatic albeit a bit unrealistic film, I was deeply impressed.  Yes the notions of teenagers fighting harden commandos in a life and death struggle is a bit farfetched but altogether still entertaining.  Lot of comedy attached to an otherwise dark powerful film.