Assault on Devil's Island, also known as Shadow Warriors,[3] is a 1997 Canadian–American made-for-television action film directed by Jon Cassar, starring Terry "Hulk" Hogan, Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed.
[6] A SEAL team headed by Mike McBride and Roy Brown launches an assault on the compound of kingpin Carlos Gallindo, who is about to close a drug deal with a mysterious blonde woman.
During their attack on Gallindo and his men, McBride is betrayed by Fraker, an Australian operative who was supposed to act as a U.N. observer on the mission, but secretly turned coat after being promised a $2 million bribe.
They find diving equipment and, after fending off a shark attack that claims another man, rally a U.S. Navy sub, with their supervisor Andy Powers on board.
While in custody, Gallindo strong-arms his lawyer into passing a message to Fraker, informing the latter that he has to get him out of prison if he hopes to see the cash and diamonds he is owed for his past services.
[1] While produced by Berk/Schwartz/Bonann Productions, who were responsible for the Thunder in Paradise film and ensuing series,[8] it aimed to reinvent Hogan as a "more serious and gritty" character than seen in the predominantly family-oriented fare he was known for at that point.
[10] Hogan credited the depth of the cast to Ted Turner, who exhibited the same competitiveness in backing the project that he had shown in building WCW's roster.
[12] The titular Devil's Island, a military stronghold used as the villains' base of operations, was in fact Fort Jefferson, located off the coast of Key West.
"[25] In a syndicated article for his San Jose Mercury News and other Knight Ridder dailies, Ron Miller praised "a rollicking movie" and "a spirited attempt to blaze new trails in prime time" by transposing the formula of a theatrical action film to the cable market.
[5] A staunch dissent came from The Providence Journal's John Martin, who wrote in his New York Times Syndicate column that "[t]his cheapo action-adventure film was so familiar it made my eyes glaze over.
[27] Assault on Devil's Island has received some retrospective comparisons to The Expendables for its commando-themed storyline and its gathering of familiar action movie faces, albeit of a more modest caliber than those seen in that franchise.
[8] On Nitro one week after the Devil's Island premiere, Bischoff claimed that Turner executives had committed to ordering the series if the feature notched a rating of 4.0 or more, which it did.
[7] Ultimately, TNT and the star could not come to an agreement regarding the series' budgeting,[22] and the channel opted for a feature-length sequel instead, called Assault on Death Mountain.