Cover Up (1991)

Well, this is it. Until Command Performance comes out in November, we will have exhausted the supply of Dolph Lundgren DTV movies. That's it, the DTVC is now the place to come to to find out about any Dolph Lundgren DTV film. We are the source, and I'm very proud of that fact. Also, this is our 350th post here at the DTVC. Again, I just want to thank all the readers, subscribers, followers, and commenters for all the support they have shown. It is much appreciated, and we wouldn't have made it to 50, let alone 350, without you.

Cover Up has Dolph as a reporter in Israel investigating an attack on a Marine barracks. Louis Gossett jr. plays a government man trying to cover up the loss of a potent nerve gas that was stolen in the attack. Now people want Dolph dead, and he wants to know why, and he's in over his head-- wait a second, he's Dolph; the people messing with him are over their heads.



This is pretty funny. Not much action, dull plot, but Dolph carries it. This is one of his first acting gigs, and he still doesn't know what he's doing, especially when he's not playing a Russian thug. To make up for his lack of acting chops, he gives us tons of hilarious facial expressions. They're priceless. There's plenty of other funny stuff. In the lame-ass car chase, after the great faces Dolph makes when he down-shifts, you also have a guy screaming as his car runs off the road. The bad guy's death is pretty sweet. Though it may be boring, there's plenty of good material to make fun of, so watched in a group, it's a good deal.

Dolph Lundgren really is our Babe Ruth. Sure, we've spent the summer reviewing Olivier Gruner and Gary Daniels films; Steven Seagal and Michael Dudikoff have quite a formidable resumes; and we've been looking at guys like Michael Pare, Jeff Wincott, and Jeff Speakman recently; but no one compares to Dolph Lundgren. No one does DTV the way he does it. No one gets what it's about-- epitomizes what we as viewers look for when we pick a DTV actioner up off the shelves.



Sure, this movie isn't his best stuff, and I can pick a film from any of those actors I mentioned up there that's better than this one, but nobody makes the duds as enjoyable as he does. Even Retrograde, which I said was crap, upon further viewing with my friends, was a lot of fun. What makes Dolph better than Seagal or Van Damme is he doesn't take himself too seriously; but what makes him better than Dudikoff is he still has an element of being larger than life. He's Brock Chestnut, Tank Concrete; he's Dolph Lundgren. He's my hero.

One positive to having all of Dolph's films up is we can spotlight other DTV stars. We've been doing this for a while now, as I've slowed down on my Dolph reviews, and coupled with us being only one Seagal film away from having all of his up (Shadow Man), we'll really be able to look at the Jeff Speakmans and Jeff Wincotts of the DTV world. There are also actors like Val Kilmer, who had great Hollywood careers, that are turning to the DTV market, and it will be good to see what they're doing.



This movie was made in 1991, when Dolph was just 33 going on 34 years old. Now he's almost 52, and he's not alone. Seagal just turned 58. Lambert, Dudikoff, and Van Damme are all up there too. That begs the question: who will carry the torch for these great men. Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, and The Rock are probably a little ways from the DTV world, but if they keep putting out the stinkers they have, it might come sooner than we think. Snipes looked good for it, but his jail time hurts, and his first few DTV films were a little too self-indulgent to be as enjoyable. Bernhardt and Mark Dacascos will probably only be at a Daniels and Gruner level of second tier stars, if they ever get that far. We still have some time to figure it out, though, because Dolph has one film coming out in November, and three more in post-production.

This is worth it if you see it really cheap at a used video store. I'd probably wait until you've seen a bunch of other Dolph films first before you go to this one, because Dolph really is the main selling point. Get to know Dolph first, then you'll be able to appreciate him more.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099312/