Dolph Lundgren

Silent Trigger
$9.98
When a Dolph Lundgren DVD review starts with the words "not a bad movie", you know you must RUSH and buy it, for it's as good as it's gonna get! The fact that I am still a fan of the actor is testament to his vast on-screen charisma rather then his ability (luck?) to pick winning projects.

Well, this is not a bad movie...Waxman is a battle-hardened sniper, working for a non-descript agency, when his moral consciousness comes a knocking, inconveniently, in the middle of an assignement, while he is being assisted by a rookie spotter (the lovely Gina Bellman; check her out in "Couplings"). We hope he's been told to kill whoever hired the girl, for she has no clue (though looks good in tight clothing). Things go from bad to worse and the couple end up running for their lives thru a war torn country. We see them again re-united a few years later, on another assignement (Waxman's moral conciousness must have taken another break during that time). The job takes them to the top floor of an eery apartment building, still under construction. All is not what it seems though. Neither one trusts the other. The girl makes it clear she is ready to "retire" Waxman, should he fail to complete his job this time. And so, obviously,... they have sex (well, research does seem to support the notion that people who have sex during work time are happier in their employment; so, who are we to judge?). High action events take place that derail both characters and lead to a climax that is unexpected to the viewer. Not bad...Really...

All the scenes for the second assignement are shot in the beautifully eery Algonquin Hotel in Montreal, Canada. The location heightens the feeling of isolation the two heroes experience; it sets the mood and works well to support the script, the story, and the character development. However, it is the manner in which the first assignement is shot that makes me knock down two stars off the rating. Naive set set-up, undisciplined and unenthused extras are just a couple of the issues. Unfortunately, we see these poorly produced scenes thruthout the entire movie, in form of flashbacks. With the $10-$15 mil budget these scenes have no right to be there...plain and simple. By contrast, Lundgren's "Retrograde" was shot for less then $2 mil, but with a more believable result! The end product is uneven, frustrating the viewer with its unrealized potential.

Still, there is enough good action and decent acting on part of Lundgren and Bellman, to make this one of my favourite Dolph movies. When I fast forward thru all the flashbacks, I can almost get the feeling of watching a major motion picture. Not a small feat for a Dolph movie to achieve...

The Punisher
$9.98
MAN! I saw the two new Punisher movies (the 2004 version and War Zone) before this one and they were okay, I mean... both are good movies but they lack action. I think personally that War Zone was more entertaining than the 2004 version.

BUT THIS ONE!... IS HARDCORE ACTION-PACKED!! Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher) is killing every bad buy with stealth knifes, explotions, machine guns, shotguns, grenades, his bus, and his own martial arts hands. The movie is SOOO FILLED with ACTION!, from a COOL EXPLOSIVE stealth kill intro to a VIOLENT japanese KILLING SPREE conclusion! If you like B action-packed movies like Crying Freeman (live-action movie), Death Wish 4 or even The Crow then Im sure you will find this movie VERY ENTERTAINING!!!

Now! The movie is GREAT but the acting and the budget are not the best, the acting is pretty decent and the budget is good but not like in Die Hard. Also, the Punisher doesn't have the skull t-shirt. This movie focused mainly on the action scenes, so don't expect a PERFECT addaptation from the comic book.

Adios.

Direct Contact
$28.98
Although the action scenes are decent, the stunts executed fairly well, and the story fairly plausible, Direct Contact (2009) suffers from `lazy filmmaking'. There is a lack of attention to detail, a lack of effort in the writing of dialog, and a basic disregard for logic and reality, that detracts from what is otherwise a serviceable comic book action adventure. Since Danny Lenner both wrote and directed the film, the source of the problems appears clear.

Dolph Lungren is Mike Riggins, a former US marine doing time in a Balkan prison, for dealing in contraband. Riggins is offered money and his freedom, in return for freeing a kidnapped woman named Ana Gale, (Gina Marie May) who is being held captive in a guarded military compound. Clive Connelly (Michael Pare), supposedly associated with the US embassy, brokers the deal and arranges for Riggins release.

Riggins speaks to Vlado Karadjov (Vladimir Vladimirov), the man holding the woman hostage. After Vlado refuses to free her, Riggins raids the encampment, takes Ana by force, and leaves the place in flames. Things get confusing, as Ana says she has not been kidnapped, and after showing up at a meeting with Connelly without Ana, Riggins is fleeing across the city on a motorcycle, dodging bullets. He catches up with Ana at a train station, and from there the pair is continuously on the run, as she is actually the heir to a huge fortune. At 35, Gina May is in excellent physical condition.

Dolph Lundgren has been doing pretty well directing his own films, and probably would have done a better job directing this one than Danny Lenner. With numerous explosions, several vehicle chases, plenty of hand to hand combat, several flying cars, and a slew of gunfights, Direct Contact solidly delivers gratuitous violence and destruction. Unfortunately, very little effort was made to produce a polished or credible film. Command Performance (2009), which was directed by Lundgren, and is scheduled for release soon, is getting good reviews, and hopefully will be an improvement.

Direct Contact is presented in widescreen, and is closed captioned. The DVD contains no bonus features. The film is recommended to Lundgren fans, and lightly recommended to those with minimal standards for action movies.

Bridge of Dragons
$5.98
In a time not our own, the evil General Ruechang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mortal Kombat) has killed the king of the land and plans to solidify his claim to power by marrying the king's only daughter, Princess Halo (Valerie Chow, Chungking Express). When the defiant young maiden escapes into the wilderness occupied by anti-state revolutionaries, the General sends his greatest warrior, Warchild (Dolph Lundgren, Universal Soldier), to bring her back - not knowing that he may be swayed by the plight of the princess in favor of the rebel cause.

"Bridge of Dragons" is a strange movie for everybody involved, from the cast to director Isaac Florentine (Undisputed II - Last Man Standing). For starters, I have no idea what the title refers to, since there is no actual bridge, no actual dragons, and no direct metaphorical reference to either. Secondly, the film opens with a text scrawl informing viewers of the usurping of the throne, which gives the momentary impression that you're about to watch a medieval film. Of course, this isn't exactly a misconception: the movie is one big anachronism, featuring influences from the dark ages (e.g. an apparent feudal system and monarchy), modern and post-modern times (conflicting weaponry and ceremonial garb), the Victorian era (horse-drawn carriages), and World War II (soldiers wearing Axis-esque uniforms). Oh, and Tagawa's character sports a gold-fringed suit that looks exactly like something Michael Jackson would wear. It doesn't exactly come together seamlessly and definitely catches you off-guard, but I found this to be the most interesting part of the movie.

The acting is a mixed bag: all performers must contend with some very stupid dialogue, but it hits some harder than others. Lundgren, Chow, and Tagawa more or less carry the movie by themselves since few others are given any real screentime - with the limited exceptions of Gary Hudson ("Paradise Falls") as Warchild's comrade and Jo Kendall (Howards End) as Halo's nurse - but while Lundgren and Chow manage to save at least some face, the usually-adamant Tagawa overdoes his trademark scowling and comes across a reasonably stupid. Lundgren's eventual turn from bad to good also seems a bit forced, by the Swedish Superman pulls it off with integrity.

There's no denying the movie's abundant action content, but this too is hit-and-miss. There are five shootouts of varying quality, although each of them consistently feature slanted camera angles, lots of guys falling over without visibly being hit by bullets, and some high flips-to-death that have become Florentine's trademark. There are some roundhouse and spinning back kicks thrown by Lundgren here and there, but the only decisive martial arts encounter is the climatic battle between him and Tagawa, which is surprisingly good even in the presence of some stunt doubles. The best action scene, however, is an "American Gladiator"-style stick fight between Warchild and Halo on raised poles to which I kept hoping for a rematch that never came.

There's some obvious dubbing of the voices of minor characters, but this is made up for by neat cinematography and the overall directorial know-how by Florentine, who really maximized his resources to craft a small fantasy flick that's certainly worth the watch. I only wish he had maximized the amount of action as well: a few more of those stick fights and this may have been a classic.