Fun Fact: Everything in this poster note DO show up in the film itself.
Final Score, also known as Elegy of a Massacre is a 1986 action film produced between Indonesia and the United States, starring Chris Mitchum, son of Robert Mitchum, and is one of the many films Chris made during his stint of filmmaking in Indonesia. It's also his most action-packed film to date.
Richard (Mitchum), a former American Special Forces member who served in The Vietnam War, had retired from the army to start life anew in Jakarta with his Indonesian wife and son. But an old rival of Richard's intends to have him killed, only succeeding in killing Richard's wife and son (on the son's 8th birthday, no less!) leading to Richard's eventual rampage on the murderers. There are four killers, at least a hundred henchmen, and Richard will kill ALL. OF. THEM. no matter what.
This is reputedly the most iconic Indonesian action film set in the modern-day, until The Raid took over it's position two-and-a-half decades later as Indonesia's best-known entry in action cinema.
Do NOT confuse this with the 2013 action film starring Dave Bautista.
Final Score contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Julia, who infiltrates Hawk’s corporation by posing as a secretary, is a detective policewoman and capable fighter, who can take names with her revolver and saved Richard at least twice in the film.
- Ass Shove: An unfortunate mook gets killed by Richard… from having a burning-hot poker shoved into his rectum. OUCH.
- Badass Biker: Richard kicks plenty of ass while on a weaponized motorcycle in the explosive-laden finale.
- Badass in Distress: When Richard gets captured and tortured by Hawk’s men, until Julia busts him out.
- Big Bad: Hawk, who orders the hit on Richard’s family to eliminate his business rival.
- Blow Gun: Julia uses this weapon to take down one of the mooks torturing Richard while saving him during the torture scene.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Richard’s son, Bobby, who demands his ex-military dad to call him "sir" and when Richard had to leave for a meeting in Jakarta, demands for his dad to get him a new toy gun. It’s very likely the film wants to portray the kid to be as unsympathetic as possible so that audiences wouldn’t feel too upset at his death ten minutes later.
- Car Bomb: The four henchmen who killed Richard’s family tried to eliminate Richard by installing a bomb in his car. But Richard instead forces their driver to swap cars with him at knife-point, anticipating something is amiss – sure enough, said driver ends up being blown to bits while in Richard’s car.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Halfway through the film, Richard gets captured alive by Hawk’s men and is subjected to being beaten and tortured by flaming-hot branding irons, while the three underlings contemplate on how to make Richard suffer the most before sending him to meet their boss. Luckily Julia intervenes in time, killing one of them allowing Richard to kill the other two.
- Cool Bike: At the climax of the film, when Richard commandeers a motorcycle bristling with weaponry, including automatic machine guns and rockets when assaulting Hawk’s stronghold.
- Covers Always Lie: The film’s poster
which makes the movie look like a Ghost Rider knock-off. Nope, there are absolutely NO flaming skeletons in the movie at any point. - Corrupt Corporate Executive: The film’s main villain, Hawk, who is a ruthless business rival of Richard and wants his entire family dead.
- Died on Their Birthday: The inciting incident of the story involves the hero's son and wife being killed on the son's 8th birthday, with their bloodied bodies displayed under a banner that says, "Happy 8th Bobby" for good measure.
- Disposable Woman: Richard’s wife, and also Julia who gets shot and killed before the finale, despite saving Richard’s life earlier on.
- Dull Surprise: Richard’s response to his family’s massacre, and then to Julia's death. There’s a reason why Chris Mitchum never became a major Hollywood player like his dad…
- Excuse Plot: Richard’s family is introduced right from the start and dies 15 minutes in, and the remaining 65 minutes is dedicated to having Chris Mitchum killing as many mooks as possible in at least twelve action scenes. Heck, during an infiltration montage, Richard even had a Vietnam war flashback spliced in-between showing him killing tons of Vietcong, for good measure!
- Groin Attack: Richard disables Hengky, one of the four henchmen responsible for his family’s murder, by shooting him from underneath floorboards. Guess where the bullet hits.
- Gotta Kill Them All: After interrogating the driver, Richard finds out the identities of the four mercenaries who killed his wife: Alfred, Hengky, Markus and Dony. He then proceeds to jot down their names on a sheet of paper and sets out to hunt them all down, in order, crossing their names each time he killed one of them.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: One that overlaps with Gory Discretion Shot, where during the car chase, one mook had half his body sticking out the windows while attempting to shoot Richard. Richard causes the car to flip over and crash, and most likely crushing the mook’s body from above the waist, although the results aren’t shown onscreen.
- Hellish Copter: The finale culminates with Hawk trying to escape on a helicopter while Richard deals with his mooks. The heli doesn’t go very far and gets blown up when Richard drops a grenade in it, killing Hawk in the process.
- Immigrant Patriotism: Richard may be American, but his love towards his new home in Indonesia is well-pronounced in the film. The fact that the major studio involved in this movie's production is Indonesian may be a major factor...Richard's son, Bobby: "Daddy, why do you stay here with mommy after leaving Vietnam?"Richard: Well, we love it here, it’s a beautiful country and a peaceful place to live."
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: An unfortunate mook during the car chase scene ends up getting impaled by a log when his vehicle goes out of control and hits a lorry carrying lumber. The results are as Gorn-loaded as you expect.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: Richard loading himself with weaponry when going out to infiltrate Hawk’s offices.
- One-Man Army: Richard kills entire armies of faceless mooks during his rampage to avenge his family.
- Pineapple Surprise:
- After interrogating Dony, Richard then leaves him tied up in his office, together with a grenade without its pin balancing near Dony's crotch. It explodes moments later.
- The final scene had Hawk attempting to flee on a helicopter… until Richard performs a Ramp Jump via motorcycle and launches himself through the helicopter. Hawk then realized Richard left a grenade in the heli…
- Precision F-Strike:
- When Hawk berates his board members for screwing up one time too many.
"No more fucking failures!"- Later on, when Richard causes a carload of mooks to land on a series of railroad tracks, into the path of an incoming train.
All 4 mooks in unison: "Son of a Bitch!" (right before getting crushed by the train) - Pretty Little Headshots: Some of Richard’s kills are eliminated in this way, such as Hengky. And also the fate of one of Hawk’s underlings who failed him.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: During the car chase, Richard managed to force a carload of mooks to be trapped on a railway track into the path of an advancing train.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Hawk may appear to be an Executive-type baddie who surrounds himself with mooks, but when Richard finally gets to confront Hawk, mano-on-mano in a fistfight, he finds out Hawk is a far better fighter than his underlings, even nearly beating Richard at least twice in their confrontation.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The four henchmen, Alfred, Hengky, Markus and Dony, decide to take turns raping Richard’s wife after shooting the son for no reason, other than to emphasize they’re scum.
- Retired Badass: Richard used to be a Vietnam veteran before settling down in Jakarta with his wife and child. He’s forced out of retirement when his old enemy Hawk orders a Family Extermination on him.
- Stuff Blowing Up: All over the damn place. Richard gets to throw grenades, activate Car Bombs, fire from a rocket launcher, trigger claymores, and fire the missiles on his weaponized bike all over the place in the finale. And of course the film ends with the villain's ENTIRE hideout exploding in a building-sized explosion!
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: Halfway through the film, Richard have a flashback of himself leading a raid on a Vietcong base during the Vietnam war a decade earlier.
