Storm Catcher (1999)

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty on Dolph films. After this it's just Cover Up, and his newest picture, Direct Contact, set to be released on Tuesday. This is both exciting and sad at the same time. Exciting, because we'll have every Dolph DTV film reviewed here at the DTV Connoisseur. Sad, because we'll be out of Dolph films... until he releases more.

Storm Catcher has Dolph as an Air Force major flying a B-2 bomber with the next generation of stealth. Some home-grown terrorist organization sets him up, steals the plane, and plans to bomb the White House with it. Dolph isn't having that, and he's pissed that the baddies have used him as a patsy, stabbed his hot wife in the back, and tried to kill him in the back of an ice cream truck.

This film is pretty sweet. As you may remember from my post a long time ago on Agent Red, the scene when Dolph's partner steals his space suit and breaks into the hangar to steal the plane, is actually used in the beginning of Agent Red, only re-cut so it's like Dolph is going in to steal it for the US. It's so much better in Agent Red, especially the scene in the helicopter before, when his commander asks him "you think you can fly it?" and he replies "hell if I know." Beyond that cool connection to another Dolph film, Storm Catcher is really just another solid, yet silly, Dolph Lundgren actioner, and really, what more can you ask for?

Dolph has like four movies coming out this year. Direct Action next week, and Command Performance, Icarus, and Universal Soldiers: The Next Generation all set to be released at a later date. I'm kind of giddy just talking about it. When I was younger, like in high school, I would get excited when bands I liked released new CDs and TV shows would have new seasons and movies would come out about this or that that I really wanted to see. I usually don't get that feeling anymore, but it's back, just talking about all these new Dolph films.

I had seen this who knows how long ago with my friends when I first bought it. We generally don't watch it anymore, other than to juxtapose the scene in it with the one that Agent Red stole as a bumper between other Dolph films during our Dolph Fests. Watching it again for the blog, though, I saw something that I cannot believe me and my friends missed on first viewing. In fending off a knife-wielding attacker, Dolph picks up your run-of-the-mill black metal-framed college dorm futon, and uses it as a battering ram on the guy. It's just fantastic. The only explanation I can think of is that I fell asleep, and my buddy was using his laptop.

Dolph's wife is played by a model named Kylie Bax. Being a model, you can imagine she's extremely hot. She's also an extremely bad actress. And she has a New Zealand accent, which you think would cover up any acting inadequacies. She's also in the Dolph classic Jill the Ripper, but I don't remember her. Dolph's daughter is played by a girl named Yvonne Zima. Nothing special about her, except her name. Do you remember Zima? Do they still make it? When I was a freshman in high school, our science teacher asked us if we'd tried it. We were like "no, we're 14!" Anyway, he was fired at the end of the year for giving another class of students non-alcoholic champagne.

I always check out the keywords people tag onto films on IMDb. For this one, the first thing that popped up was "Policewoman killed." What? First off, I didn't remember a policewoman killed in the film. Second, why would anyone tag something like that? What significance does that have to the movie? And third, did anyone know there are over 100 films with the same tag? Really? Does anyone actually seek out movies based on whether or not they have a policewoman killed in them? Do they have collections of the best policewoman killing films? Is this a fetish or something? Maybe I'm the one that's closed-minded here. I don't know.

So if you're a huge Dolph fan, you need to make this happen. The biggest thing is the scene in it that was stolen for use in Agent Red. There's also the futon wielding scene. Dolph has some great lines, there's plenty of funny stuff in it: it's an all around good time. If you're not a huge Dolph guy, you may not find this as entertaining, so be careful before you unload a bunch of cash on it.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179477/

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