Charlie Sheen has been in the news a lot lately. His documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, dropped last month as part of the 2025 TV schedule, and it's currently available to watch with a Netflix subscription. All this talk about Sheen got me thinking about a totally bonkers movies that I absolutely loved when I was a kid, Navy SEALs. It’s a movie that currently holds a very low 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which, on the one hand, doesn’t surprise me, but on the other hand… 15%? That’s too low if my fond memories are any judge. I had to rewatch it to find if I was right or if RT is.
The Movie Is As Insane As I Remember It
I don’t know how I managed to see this R-rated movie in theaters when it came out because I was definitely too young. Alas, the ‘90s were a different time, so I did. I also remember renting it on at least two occasions, once on my own, and once when I just had to show it to friends. It was a big hit with us. The cast was stacked with ‘80s stars, and the action was pure-1980s over-the-top insanity.
It had a bunch of actors we knew from other movies we had no business seeing young teenagers, like Bill Paxton and Rick Rossovich from The Terminator (though you might best know Rossovich as Slider in Top Gun), and Michael Biehn from both The Terminator and Aliens. When I rewatched it, I realized Dennis Haysbert is also in it, who I didn’t remember, but who I must have known from another Charlie Sheen classic from a year earlier, Major League.
Does It Hold Up To The Lofty Standards I Set As A Teenager?
Rewatching Navy SEALs last weekend with my Amazon Prime Video subscription, I can confidently say that it probably deserves a low rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s better than the 15%. The Popcornmeter (user reviews) pegs the Lewis Teague-directed flick at 43% and, yeah, that seems about right to me. It’s not Ben-Hur by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s certainly not going to rank on any list of the best war movies of all time, but it’s a still a fun, action-packed movie that oozes ‘80s action vibes.
The characters are, as you would expect, very cardboard, and the plot is inane, but that’s not why I watch movies like this. It’s absolutely the kind of movie I love to throw on on a rainy Saturday afternoon when I don’t want to have to think too much about a movie. There is no critical thinking required, just a bunch of testosterone-fueled action scenes and cheesy, quotable dialogue.
In the end, Navy SEALs is never going to be confused with any of the best movies of the 1990s, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. If you love movies like Predator or the Steven Seagal classic from the same era, Under Siege, you should definitely check this movie out.
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