It's a true Shame

main-38

Of all the foreign action stars mass produced and exported to America and cast in over the top movies, I feel that Mr. Lundgren is my favorite. Schwarzenegger comes off as unrealistic. Vandam is just laughable. And honestly, anyone else is just forgettable. When it comes down to it, Dolph Lundgren is VERY underrated and until I watched 'Joshua Tree' I did not even come close to knowing it. To me, he was just the bad guy in the Rocky movie that I never watched.

Lundgren is a steamroller. He plows through cops, thugs and anyone else that gets in his way. They are left in a wake of insanity and the whole while he keeps a cool composure and it never gets overly comical. 'Joshua Tree' is in no way realistic; though it has a grittiness to it that movies like 'True Lies' and 'Commando' will never have. Casting Schwarzenegger as 'John Kimble' or 'Harry Trasker' takes me out of the film. With that brutal accent and and the overbearing brawn he will never be a street smart American protagonist that he is cast to be and this is detrimental to his character and the movie as a whole. Lundgren is the antithesis. He has the cold European gaze, but he adds a different flare that actually fits. He can riddle a body with bullets and give a snappy line and the audience will laugh- but they are laughing with him and not at him.

Action directors today can learn a lot from this film. It should be mandatory viewing for action directors in film school. Directors today rely too heavily on CGI. This movie is raw. Everything was done by hand and it adds to the realism that a Schwarzenegger flick, like I mentioned before, lacks. Sure, you can see camera reflections on shiny surfaces and guns fire countless rounds without any need to reload but it is just fun.

I stated that Lundgren was a superior actor when compared to his European action star peers- that does not, by any means, make the acting in this movie great. Regardless, the characters are vibrant and colorful. The cops are crooked and gaudy. The babes are buxom and bodacious and any all stereotypes are laid on thick and smooth.

Without giving away a whole lot: the infamous warehouse scene is amazing- a true high point. I am sure this movie was not the first to do a shot like this but it was executed wonderfully; or, at least a hell of a lot better than many action movies that would follow. When combined with the great car chases and countless fight scenes I cannot speak highly enough.

From all of this I cannot help but wonder what the world would be like today if it were Lundgren cast in The Terminator or Predator. I will definitely check out more of his work and re-watch 'Joshua Tree' again and again.

On a side note, does anyone know why my copy of the film is titled, 'Army of One' instead of 'Joshua Tree'?

score 9/10

main-38 17 August 2009

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2112741/