Some people considered this as a good effort from Lundgren..i still prefer Pentathlon or Joshua Tree better then this one. This film can actually be a good one if it only has the right script..
It's a typical assasination story, where Dolph Lundgren as an american marshall was ordered to apprehend an assasin who want to assasinate a cuban ambassador. It lack the necessary twist to make it alive..maybe the directing is not sharp enough to capture, or even to elevate the mood. There are some dialogue and character that felt silly...like the comnmander that likes to boasting around and harassing his man if he consider it necessary to save his image, and well, i don't feel that the dialog wenth smooth...you can just feel it that it was made. Not alive enough..thus it doesn't shape the character deep enough. In this kind of movie, If you don't want to play with the character, then you would need to give a good plot on the story...like some 'existensialist' movie in 60's-70's that concern more about what happen instead of the character. The Day of the Jackall is a good example...there is a lot of suspense created from what the jackall did..the viewer is grasp on how the jackall would make his next step. Other good example is the Package..it's a trully high octane thriller and you just get very uptight watching Gene Hackman striving hard to save the president from being shot.
Other thing that annoyed me, the music score. Is really-really-really improper..it tries to create a fast and tense situation but what happen is you feel that the music doen't really go into the scene, like it was taken from some other movie and forcefully paste into this movie. It's just not there..
As for the action, Kotcheff did pretty well with a fast paced scene...the fighting scene in the wine cellar, the chasing on the train are good examples,the editing is fast and proper, the angle is just right. Although not exactly John Mc Tiernan, Kotcheff does have a chemistry on this kind of thing (considering his previous experience in movie such as First Blood, this isn't surprising). Too bad this chemistry isn't supported with a good script (or a good score for that matter).
Thanks for the proper directing on the action sequence, and the good background of Prague, this movie is still something that is watchable...and that's why i still tend to vote it for 3 star instead of 2.
The Shooter
Dolph decided he wanted to make the transistion from action hero to well respected movie star, so he dedicated himself to acting on broadway in an attempt to relearn his trade, this was his first film afterwards, and you can notice the change, Dolph makes the jump from bare chested shenigans to silk suits and his acting stands him at head and shoulders above the rest , this film has at all, set in the beautiful city of prague, it has great scenery, action scenes(including the traditional groping for a gun, while hanging off the edge of a building), love scenes(dolph manages to turn a lesbian onto men) and great cliches, buy it, you'll love it...
Cardboard Action that worked
This wasn't a bad cardboard action movie. Plenty of brawls, gun battles, and road chases. It wasn't a bad plot either. Even if the cardboard action doesn't hold your interest, watching Maruschka Detmers is worth the effort to spend 89 minutes with the film. Great location scenes. Dolph Lundgren is not Dirty Harry, but he comes off well as a Swedish souped-up Gary Cooper. I knocked off one star because of the .45. Hitting a bad guy with a .45 at 30+ yards was too much to swallow.
Silent Trigger, especially during its opening sequences and several flashback episodes, shows clearly the handy work and influence of director Russel Mulcahy of "Highlander" lore.
For anybody expecting a fast-paced action movie, this film should not be their first choice. If, however, one is interested in a personality study of the relationship between a rookie spotter and an experienced sniper, and how this may be affected by their employer, "the Agency", the viewer is in for a treat.
While this picture includes some action scenes, the plot is overall developed at a rather slow pace.
It seems unfortunate, however, that the studio did not include the original cinematic wide-screen on this DVD, and provides only the standard full-screen cut, which proves to be a real boon for... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Russell Mulcahy DVD Release Date: Released the 17 December 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Men of War stars tall, craggy Dolph Lundgren as a down-and-out commando who agrees to do another job because there's nothing else he knows how to do. He assembles a crack team and travels to an isolated Pacific island with orders to secure it for a mysterious business venture. But once there, he discovers an idyllic paradise with peaceful natives who welcome the mercenaries into their village. When Dolph learns what the venture is really about, he decides he's on the wrong side and, with part of his team, fights to defend the island from destruction. The first third of Men of War is drenched in sweaty machismo--the camera constantly lingers over rippling muscles and bruised skin during an endless bar fight. But once on the island, the mercenaries frolic sweetly with native... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Perry Lang DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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The director and action-magician John Woo (Face Off) can always be counted on to create spectacular violent set pieces, with bodies and broken glass gracefully airborne in slow motion. But everything else in this feature-length TV pilot is grindingly conventional. Woo managed to rise above Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hard Target, but there's not much he can do with Dolph Lundgren's Jack Devlin, a kick-boxing former U.S. Marshall turned bodyguard, assigned to guard the body of a drug-addicted supermodel (Kam Heskin, from TV's Sunset Beach). Between shootouts, the elements of the future series are wheeled creakingly into place: a spacious Ikea deluxe apartment with a built-in armory, a caustic eye-patched sidekick (Saul Rubinek), and even a precocious freckle-faced girl... More Info about this DVD Director(s): John Woo DVD Release Date: Released the 09 December 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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This movie is actually only worthy of 1 star. However, the Dolph-factor automatically adds another star to the tally. Without Dolph this movie would not be worth seeing @ all.
The film is about as low budget as low budget gets. The bad guys dress like [...], two white helicopters that look like they should be used for island tours are supposed to be helicopter gunships, and the film seems to minimize the use of just about everything.
The story is set in some small country where Caucasions and Asians live together. A despot has taken hold of the country and only a gorgeous princess can lead a succcessful revolution against his tyranny. Guess who gets to help the princess? That's right - our man Dolph!
Much like Arnie (COMMANDO) and Sly (RAMBO) Dolph is the only guy in the entire... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Isaac Florentine DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships within 24 hours
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