Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A 707 aircraft jetliner, en route from Athens to Rome and then to New York City, is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists, who demand that the pilot take them to Beirut. What the terrorists don't realize is that an elite team of commandos have been called in to eliminate all terrorists on the jetliner.
The Delta Force is a mid-80s action thriller inspired by the 1985 TWA hijacking, blending a tense first half grounded in real events with a bombastic Chuck Norris-fueled action fantasy in the second. The plot is serviceable but formulaic, with thin characterization and heavy-handed patriotism. Acting ranges from earnest (Lee Marvin in his final role) to wooden. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable genre work. The film breaks little new ground, recycling action-hero tropes of the era. The ending delivers crowd-pleasing action spectacle typical of Cannon Films productions, satisfying its target audience without subverting expectations.