I found this at a Bull Moose Music in the used DVD section with another Dolph gem Cover Up. My friends and I watched it and loved it, having no clue about the history behind it. It was the Dolph/Brion James/silliness factor.
Red Scorpion has our hero, DTVC Hall of Famer and fave Dolph Lundgren, as a dude sent by the Soviets to work under cover in Angola and snuff out a rebel leader. He fails, and the Soviets try to kill him. He passes out in the desert, and a tribesman helps him. He rejoins the rebels and leads them to victory against the Soviets.
As you may already know, this film was written and produced by the infamous Jack Abramoff. On the one hand it makes sense, because it's so politically motivated and anti-Soviet. On the other it doesn't, because it's hard to fathom a man like Abramoff is that much of an ignoramus. The film is stupidly anti-Soviet. It depicts the Soviets as these demon-like souless inhumans who are carrying out a campaign of genocide in Africa. Not Stalin's Soviets, but Gorbachev's. This was like bad 50s propaganda, and it came off as silly. (On a side note, this film is the blue print for the Hunt for Eagle One films.) My friend told me he read in Al Franken's book that Abramoff shot this in apartheid South Africa. If that's true, is it any surprise?
I love the idea of Dolph as a Russian. He's done it in many roles, and it never seems to get old. I'm sure it started with his role in Rocky IV, but I think he's played more Russians than Swedes. I get that it sounds weird to have him play a former Swedish special ops dude or something, but to me that would make it all the more fantastic. Maybe I should contact his people and pitch that for his next role. Swedish special agent Sven Frostenheimer!
Brion James is great in this. I don't know if they said "play a Soviet heel" or "do the guy you did in Armed and Dangerous;" or if they said the former, and he did the latter; but I was waiting for John Candy to pop in and help Dolph out. Instead I had to settle for M. Emmett Walsh. Both actors played their parts well in the rah-rah Abramoff theater, but I want to believe Brion did it with a wink-wink and a nudge-nudge, and M. Emmett was Abramoff's homeboy. Maybe I only want to believe that because M. Emmett's character annoyed me so much.
I don't really know if there are any particularly memorable scenes in this. Dolph being tortured by the Evil Soviet dude was kind of funny. He was being pierced with big needles, and then he somehow broke his handcuffs and strangled the guy with his chains. This scene also dealt with a very interesting element of the Soviet torture: the stenographer who records the confession. Dolph didn't do anything to her as he left the torture room, and I'm assuming it was Abramoff's attempt to make Dolph redeemable.
Dolph is plenty beefy in this role. In the African heat he tends to not wear a lot of clothes, so prepare yourselves ladies (and guys too). It's movies like this that make you wonder why Treat Williams ever plays the lead role in an action film. Sorry I'm pickin' on you Treat. I have to assume M. Emmett Walsh's character loathed Dolph so much because he was both jealous and obsessed with Dolph's manness. It's weird that the only American in Abramoff's film was such a tool, but on the other hand, he was a part of what Abramoff and his cronies term The Liberal News Media, so I guess it's not so odd.
This is worth buying for so many reasons. First and foremost, the Dolphage. Second, the Abramoff aspect. Finally, Brion James is great for the few scenes he's in it. You should be able to find it used for like $5-$7, and that's not a bad deal. It's like having a slice of Dolph and a slice of history.
For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098180/
Looking for more action? Check out my short action novel, Bainbridge, and all my other novels, over at my author's page! Click on the image below, go to https://www.matthewpoirierauthor.com/
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