| Red Scorpion (1989) Cast:Dolph Lundgren,M.Emmet Walsh,Brion James,T.P McKenna,Alex Colon Lundgren stars as a Russian officer sent to assassinate the leader of a rebel army and ends up joining the rebels. In this watchable yet ultimately unsuccessful actioner. It's hard to believe that this movie managed to be much better than Rambo III, what's also hard to believe was how well this movie did on video after a dismal box office result. I guess when looking at this film it's hard not to enjoy when Lundgren's shooting the place up, the problem is it's not often enough. Lundgren is truly convincing in this type of role. I mean let's face it acting isn't what this movie is about, but rather whether Lundgren cuts at as an action star. He does. The novel idea is that Lundgren is a Russian killing machine who turns his machine gun fire on his comrades when they torture him. However interestingly enough Americans in the movie are depicted as loudmouth jerks just begging to be kicked, so this gives the proceeding an interestingly more balanced approach than usual. The main problem though is that there is just not enough action in the movie. Things slow down and things get frankly tedious at certain points. Not to mention the ridiculous notion that Lundgren becomes a bushman. This feels too much like filler thrown in to give the movie some substance. Things pick up at the end and as I said Lundgren does very well in the Rambo inspired climax but by then it's too little, too late. Red Scorpion entertains in spurts and that's the problem it's not consistently entertaining enough to recommend. Fans of Lundgren will find a lot to enjoy though.D.Joseph Zito**1/2 |