The Mechanik

Dolph's first directing effort, The Defender, was a nice little action piece. Granted, the movie was low budget, but there was enough enthusiasm and excitement to make it worthwhile.

The Russian Specialist,aka The Mechanik, as it should be called; is a distinct step UP for Dolph. His direction is incredibly assured for someone who's only directed one other movie.

I won't go into story specifics here because everybody already knows what this about. However, I will go into the production and performances.

Dolph has changed as an actor. He's matured, he's confident in his skin. That is half the battle, and he wins bigtime.

Ben Cross is the comedy relief/dramatic Brit. He's one of the film's better assets.

The rest of the performers are more than adequate. The villains in particular, are slimy and nasty. It's a good thing they're slaughtered in such a brutal fashion!!! The script for this film, while hardly original, is pretty good for low budget fare like this. It pushes all the right buttons at the right time. The dialog is also quite good.

Dolph, the director, is in very good form. His style is loose and fluid. Think Tony Scott meets John Woo and you're on the right track.

The score by Elia Cmiral is haunting when it needs to be and tense when the crap hits the fan. Which brings us to the action set pieces.

Although they're not numerous, the action scenes are well done and VIOLENT! Dolph pulls no punches with this flick. The deaths come fast, hard and furious! Overall, this little film is quite good. I eagerly await the next Dolph film. To those who have not checked out this film and The Defender, I recommend you do so.

I've never been much of a Lundgren fan, with my preferred viewing being Norris and Seagal, with also Van Damme too. But to my surprise, during a DTV rampage of these guys (The Hard Corps, Shadow Man and also the Cutter too) Dolph's film the Mechanik was by a long, long, way the best of the bunch. I've fallen by the wayside a little in recent years, and haven't kept up to much with the action boys, but when your in the mood, your in the mood. Anyway The Mechanik was fantastic. It's a simple storyline, and a simply delivered film, but it promises something, and delivers. The result is a violent, dirty and damn fun action movie. It's a great little regression to 70's and 80's action films. I also understand it was shot on a fraciton of the budgets of Chuck's, Stevens and Jean Claudes, movies and still manages to look the most expensive too.

Lundgren too gives a solid performance and looks in great shape. In fact dare I say it the other guys like either old, tired or overweight (all three in Seagal's case). Lundgren looks fresh and in great shape. Ben Cross was really good. That guy should have been a bigger star, a really good actor if anyone's seen his earlier work.

On the negative side, the girl in the movie seems little more than a pointless inclusion to aid the bloodshed, and the bad guy is a little too "hey look at me I'm the bad guy!" After all though, it's expected from this sort of film so it's not a big problem. I also wasn't too sure what was with all the dissolves either, but on the most part this film is directed with assurance and a great sense of pace, and of course directed by Dolph himself! This film really acts as a showcase for Dolph Lundgren. It's the Dolph show, and it's a good show. It brought back fond memories of cool Peckinpah movies. Good work Dolph!

This is actually one of the few western movies about Russia and Russians that is not following official propaganda lines like "Russians-are-bad-people" or "bears-walking-in-the-streets-of-Moscow". More modern are for sure something like "no-freedom-of-speech" or "Putin-killed-that-London-spy" :)

Anyway, this flick is NOT anything of that mentioned above. This is a story about crime, that's sure, but the movie is very objective with quite OK script and even not that bad acting. And it's actually filmed in Russia, not Prague or other places that would "look-like-Russia" for western viewers. :) There is just one major miss - once again Hollywood failed to find some Russians to play the parts of Russians :) - but hiring Bulgarians is still better that just having Americans pronouncing something completely ridiculous that should sound like "Russian" :)

Funny, once more "The Big Swedish" - Dolph - is playing a Russian guy. :) :) Only this time a good one :)

The Mechanik is a solid bare-bones action movie. If amazing special effects and an all-star cast are required to enjoy a movie, look elsewhere.

Nick Cherenko (Lundgren) previously of the Russian special forces, has his family brutally killed by Russian Mobsters. Now he is offered a reward to recover the daughter of a millionaire, forced into prostitution by the same men. The plot is a no-brainer, its a simple revenge story which has been done a thousand times. While the acting varies, the locations give a real presence in the film. Wide soviet countryside and wartorn villages help thicken the atmosphere.

Action is paced, with some nicely executed shootouts. The violence is depicted as gritty - bricks chip and windows shatter as mercenaries fall. Deaths come with an abundance of blood and gore.

Overall, an entertaining flick with nice camera work and solid action. One of the better Dolph movies.

Dolph Lundgren stars as Nick Cherinko, a former Russian super soldier (I think it is the same character in Red Scorpion!) who this time uses his special skills for vengeance when his family is wiped out by Russian mobsters however this is just the first fifteen minutes as Lundgren wastes literally no time in delivering payback and it is when he finds out that the mobster lived that it becomes apparent that he must return back to Russia and even the score. Rescuing a girl in the process is just secondary to satisfying his blood thirsty rage. I must admit that I enjoy a certain style of actioner, mainly the type in which the action is big, brutal and solid. Of course I was mildly surprised by Lundgren's last movie The Defender due to it's good action and solid story however I generally don't rent straight to video movies because I got burned way too many times, however when this came on TV I saw it and was VERY impressed with it. The Russian Specialist is a throw back to the Charles Bronson days when the heroes dispensed ruthless justice and walked away with an ending that was happy for everyone but them. Certainly there are some minor flaws and the main one being that Lundgren has softened his accent so much he no longer can pull off that great of a Russian accent. Also Ben Cross (Best known from Chariots Of Fire) is somewhat out of place in this movie but i'd be lying if I didn't enjoy this brutal throwback to the classic revenge actioner. So this one is worthy of a rental. In fact I may go onto Amazon and see if I can find a cheap DVD of this to add in my collection. (The last Lundgren movie I bought on DVD was Bridge Of Dragons)

* * * out of 4-(Good)