Review: Since the mid 80's Dolph Lundgren has been kicking ass and taking names in some of the coolest action films. Primarily in the late 80's and early 90's. With one of my favorites from that era being Dark Angel which I reviewed awhile back. The only thing bad for him was that after doing so many action films he was typecasted as being the action guy and pretty much remained doing those type of films. What I have here today to review is arguably what I consider to be the best film of his career, Red Scorpion!
Red Scorpion follows Lt. Nikolai Rachenko who is a member of the soviet special forces and is chosen to do a mission to kill the leader of a rebel group in Africa. After failing his mission he is bloodied and beaten by his fellow soldiers. He manages to escape and befriends an elusive bushman who aids him back to health. Now he is on a mission to get back at those who he turned his back on and joins the rebel army in an attack on his former allies.
This film is seriously one hell of a ride, you do get the hardcore action but they also mix in some moments of humor. The transition from one mood to another seems in ways kinda offbeat. What I mean when I say that is you will be having a scene where it's more light hearted and humorous and a second later bam they are in a firefight. In many ways I like that because it helped the film not slow down too much. With that being said you will still mainly have action more then anything else. One last thing I do want to say about the non-action scenes is that my favorites parts of those are the ones when you get the interaction between Nikolai and the bushman. Those scenes are funny but in a more manly way touching. Too bad they didn't do a movie just around them and call it "The Gods Must Be Crazy: Part 3".
The casting in this film is very very good. You of course have the much talented Dolph Lundgren as Nikolai, the legendary M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple) as journalist Dewey Ferguson, the late Brion James (Enemy Mine) as Krasnov, and Al White (Back To The Future Part 2) as Kallunda Ferguson, there a sample of the great talent in Red Scorpion. The one actor that I saw do something I have never really seen him do before is M. Emmet Walsh who said the word Fuck about a thousand times from when you first see him until his last scene. Why point that out your wondering, well because I wanted to and it's different than what I have normally seen him do. The shining star of this film was of course Dolph Lundgren who like always when faced with a role like this he balanced the seriousness with the humor.
Like any film fan would expect there is a ton of good action in this film, especially the fire fight towards the end when Nikolai joins up with the rebellion. From then you get some seriously top notch action. There really is nothing that I can say I didn't like about this film. It has everything I would expect and then some. If you want constant straight up action then this may not be the film for you, but I do say still give it a chance because you may just be surprised at what you see. On top of the badass film you get one fantastic looking film as well. The picture is cleaned up very good and the grain is still intact like you would expect from Synapse. This truly is the best way you will be able to see this film in your home aside from being someone with an actually theater in their house with a pristine print.
Overall I couldn't recommend this film and this release of this film more. Along with the film you also do get some very cool special features. The one I liked the most was a split between the interview with Dolph Lundgren and the interview Tom Savini. Besides those 2 you get plenty more to wet your appetite!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Joseph Zito
Genre: Action
Blu-Ray Release Year: 2012
Theatrical Release Year: 1989
Time Length: 106 mins.
Company: Synapse Films
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