Burn Notice: the Fall of Sam Axe

A Prequel based off the popular series Burn Notice, highlighting Michael Westen's right hand man, Sam Axe. When the series started, all we knew was that Sam was retired and romancing Miami widows while drinking away his pension. We eventually learned that Sam's retirement was forced upon him and that the government does not look upon his military record with fondness.^[1]

This is the full story of his last mission as an elite Navy Seal/Special Forces leader, set in Colombia.

Legendary badass Bruce Campbell plays Sam and Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan serves as director.

Tropes used in Burn Notice: the Fall of Sam Axe include:

• Action Girl: Beatriz.
• Actor Allusion: Sam at one point says "Very Groovy." His nickname among the Flaming Sword soldiers is "The Chin". Also, the chainsaw. He also holds up a gun in a triumphant stance, much like the "This is my boomstick!" scene.
• Banana Republic: Taking place in Colombia
• Batman Gambit: Sam pulls one out to avoid military jail time after everything he pulled. Beatriz takes a lot of photos of the Last Stand and spreads the story to the Columbian newspapers. Because Sam's name and face was in a lot of them he used that as leverage to both get the charges dropped and full retirement benefits, as if the whole story is uncovered it would look good for Sam and bad for the military.
• Big Damn Gunship: Things are looking grim for Sam near the end of the final battle until Colombian police helicopters finally show up.
• Big Damn Kiss: Lampshaded, the characters even imply they are doing it out of tradition rather than having genuinely fallen for each other.
• California Doubling: Averted just like the show, the movie was filmed actually in Colombia.
• Call Forward: Sam mentions to Michael that he wants to be taught some of that spy stuff sometime.
• Chainsaw Good: Sam throws a chainsaw at one scene to distract the mooks while he and the good guys roll boulders on them.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Sam is a huge womanizer, but he draws the line at sleeping with married women and is horrified when he finds out he made such a mistake.
• Combat Medic: Ben Delaney, who discovers that he's pretty adept at putting together and handling explosives.
• Conservation of Ninjitsu: Constantly dismissed by Sam. No matter how good their tactics were or how brave their men are, they were outgunned and outmanned and the only option was calling for help.
• Continuity Cameo: Michael makes an appearance (with a Badass Beard, no less) along with a small reference to Fiona.
• Continuity Drift: Minor example. In the pilot of Burn Notice Michael responded to Sam's name in a manner that implied a sort of "friendly with each other, but not close friends" dynamic as Michael was looking pretty deep to find anyone he could talk to (a part of the Opening Narration). This movie said that during that time period they try to get a beer together anytime they are in the same city, they were always really close friends.
• Continuity Nod: Sam takes the name Chuck Finley to scare the CIA reinforcements into hurrying up to save them.
• A Day in the Limelight: Excepting a brief cameo from Michael near the beginning, the entire film is completely centered around Sam.
• Description Cut: Sam's superiors get upset when he explains that he gave some training to a terrorist group, and Sam replies he trained them on the level of a junior high football team. We cut away to Sam actually training them like they were a football team, specifically on how to approach a target and then run away.
• Doomed by Canon/Exactly What It Says on the Tin: No matter the outcome, Sam is going to be forced out of the Navy by the end of film.
• Dyeing for Your Art: A funny example, as Campbell lost weight and dyed his hair to portray a Sam who was at least 5 years younger, but he couldn't be in particularly excellent shape or eliminate all his grey hairs because the premise is Sam was getting too old for this.
• The Exit Is That Way: A wordless version happens to Sam and his escort at the start as they get lost on the way to his court martial.
• False-Flag Operation: Veracruz plans to destroy a medical clinic and blame the rebels; using the attack as a justification for receiving greater US military aid.
• Fanservice Extra: The lady wearing the backless sun dress at the Miami airport at the end, complete with an Aside Glance from Sam.
• Foregone Conclusion: We already know that Sam will survive the events of the movie, and that he will somehow get kicked out of the Navy. What's more Egregious is during the debriefing, the interviewer pretty much gives away the fact that most of the characters survive.
• Fun with Subtitles: Sam speaks Spanish well enough, but even he admits he speaks on the level of a third grader. Thus the subtitles for his Spanish is represented in simple or broken English "Tired. Much tired."
• Gatling Good: The Colombian Police helicopters are armed with them
• Hero of Another Story: While Sam is in Colombia, Michael is apparently doing his spy thing "somewhere sunny." That requires him to have a beard, apparently...
  • Considering what we know from the main series, Mikey's likely running ops in Afghanistan. Real U.S. spec-ops there who work with the indigs have to grow beards to be respected in the native villages.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The old man makes one to cover the Espada's retreat.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Joked at, with Sam being given sky blue camo fatigues to walk around with in the Cambodian jungle.
• How We Got Here: The whole story is related by Sam as he is put into a military debriefing, using a voice over that isn't too far off the same tone that Michael uses in the show.
• Indy Ploy: Sam invokes this trope several times
• I Surrender, Suckers
• It's All My Fault: Beatriz says this when she reveals that she was the one who created the Espada, leading up to the film's events.
• La Résistance: The Espada are are ostensibly this, until it's subverted when Sam finds out that they're just a bunch of local farmers who were convinced by Beatrice to fight Veracruz. A lucky break gave them a key victory that convinced everyone from Veracruz to the US government that they were a mighty fighting force.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Sam's nickname in Colombia references Campbell's most famous attribute.
  • He doesn't get it, either.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Chuck Finley was taken from the cover of a sports magazine.
• Lovers Ledge: Happens to Sam after he is caught in bed with an admiral's wife.
• Morality Pet: Beatriz to Sam.
• My Nayme Is: Beatriz as opposed to the more common spelling Beatrice.
• Noodle Incident: Sam and Michael briefly reminisce about working together on a mission in Poland, as well as a botched job in Kiev that got an entire wetwork team killed.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Both the two CIA operatives found at the listening outpost, and the Admiral who sent Sam there to get him out of sight and out of mind. They balk at Sam's requests, but ultimately still take the situation seriously.
• Pet the Dog: Sam specifically shows compassion to a girl the soldiers were roughing up for sneaking into camp when all she wanted was some food, and later when evacuating a clinic before the bad guys show up, he jokes with a terrified girl to get her to calm down and smile.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: Or rather, Colombia.
• Reassignment Backfire: Sam is sent to Colombia, only to help uncover a plot by a corrupt politician to steal US military aid and nearly causing an international incident.
• Rousing Speech: Given by Sam, interpreted by Beatriz.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Beatriz has an almost boyish appearance most of the movie, until the end when she is seen wearing a flattering yellow dress walking around a Colombian city.
• Shoot the Fuel Tank: Used for opening the climactic battle.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: Okay, so the Espada group isn't exactly helpless being armed with hunting rifles but the twelve of them seem to react well enough to Sam's training on Football tactics
• Unreliable Narrator: Sam, mostly played for laughs. However, towards the end, he purposefully withholds some details so that he can successfully pull of his Batman Gambit.

1. ↑ When they look at all...but you'll need to watch to find out why that might be.