La sentinelle

I'd read somewhere that Dolph Lundgren got into directing a few years ago, when the next in a long line of straight-to-DVD cookie cutter action movies had its director get sick, so Ivan Drago himself just stepped in and took the reins. Then I forgot about the movie for four years.

I'm flipping channels today, and see the first two names in the credits: Dolph Lundgren ... and JERRY SPRINGER. I make a bet with myself to watch it until Springer shows up, and Springer is playing the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

With all this going for it, it should be one of the grandest movies of the 21st century. Except, no.

While not the worst movie I've ever seen, nor the worst action sequences I've ever seen, the action is still choppy, shot from entirely too close a range to see what's going on. The acting isn't terrible (except Dolph, though he's only required to stand there and look chiseled), but the plot is telegraphed in every scene. Every good guy that turns out later to be shady, acts shady the moment they come on screen. Every character who is going to die, the camera lingers on them long enough to give them extra footage for future demo reels. And Dolph's character is named "Lance Rockford." Seriously. I am not making this up.

Every action sequence is essentially the same, just a whole lot of bullet sound-effects and nothing interesting to look at or remember. There was some mumbo-jumbo at the beginning where Lance Rockford was a POW in his past, as if to explain that the character is damaged or something. It's completely unnecessary, as is about 45 minutes of the movie. By the time Lance Rockford is faced with a crucial moral dilemma, I honestly don't see how anyone watching it could care.

There are better places for your action fix, and better places for your Dolph fix. It's currently averaging around a 5.0 on IMDb, which is about right. It's by no means worth a theatrical release, but nor is it Uwe-Boll-quality, either. Guns fire, people shout a lot, and you'll find yourself getting bored when you're not studying the scars from Dolph's face-lifts. But hey, Jerry Springer plays the bad guy, so that's worth a bonus point.

5/10

Two interesting facts – it's Lundgren's first movie as a director and Jerry Springer plays the president of United States. Dolph has to protect the president from the terrorists. That's all the plot . Well , not really , the movie makers do try to tell us some kind of story , but is just boring and predictable . The big twist ? Some people want to keep war going because it's a good business . Unless you're as intelligent as Forrest Gump that shouldn't be a surprise to you. Also Lundgren's back story seems to be made only to make the movie longer. It doesn't have any connection to the main plot whatsoever.

The movie is mostly one shootout after another in big castle. The characters have no personality . The acting aside Springer is non-existent. There is plenty of action but it's so empty because the meager plot that exists makes such little sense.

Only for die-hard Lundgren fans. I give it 1/10.

Dolph Lundgren's directorial debut almost put him in the same category as Orson Welles and Ed Wood, namely those who wrote, stared and directed their own movie. Dolph saved his word processing skills for the sophomore effort, namely the Mechanik.

The porn-named hero (Dolph) of this movie is Lance Rockford. In 1991, he commanded a unit in the Gulf War. After they were ambushed and captured, 2/3 of his unit are executed in front of him. By this I mean everyone except Dolph. I you haven't figured it out ... he only commands two men. This is a low budget straight to DVD (Seagal-like) movie. What did you expect ?

Fast forward back to the present where he is a secret service agent protecting some government secretary. He and his team are recruited/asked to protected this secretary on the way to some peace conference in Bucharest, Romania. She's not there for the conference though. She has a covert rendezvous with someone. While at this meeting, mercenaries are sent in to eliminate the secretary. What could possibly be going on ?? It's not as exciting as you would think. Actually, most of the movie is quite boring.

The scenario that ensues is part Assault of Precinct 13, part conspiracy, part Steven Segal and a whole lot of predictability. The sets are dark and poorly lit. I could barely make out anything. Don't even waste your time on this movie. You are lucky to be watching this movie on a Sunday afternoon in June on Spike TV or at 2 AM on Cinemax while you are inexplicably trying to stay awake.

There are some stand out moments. For example, Jerry Springer plays the cigar smoking, workout-while-I-talk-on-the-phone President of the United States. Yes this is not a typo. It is correct. Shakara Ledard is the other standout actor/actress in the movie. She is essential the eye candy, too bad she can't act. The other surprise is to find out that "the Dolph" was still alive and kicking. You wouldn't know that from his face though. He's looking very much like a tan Frank Langella's Skeletor (Masters of the Universe). I guess he must have borrowed the makeup. He also seems to have gotten acting advice from Steven Seagal. Steven has taught Dolph the proper way to shoot a gun. This movie also gives us the duel between Dolph's 9mm Beretta and a Sniper rifle. I bet you can't guess who wins ?

Dolph's return and directorial debut is atrocious and boring. I have heard better things about the Mechanik. Hopefully he has learned from this abomination. I was going to give this movie a 1 or 2, however, I have to give a little credit for filming and some production that occurred in Romania. Until my review of the Mechanik, I highly recommend seeing Red Scorption, Rocky IV, Universal Soldier, Masters of the Universe or Showdown in Little Tokyo for your Dolph fix.

This is Dolph's directorial debut. For the tight schedule and budget he had, Lundgren does a really good job. Here's the reason to watch the flick: It has Jerry Springer as the President! Dolph Lundgren stars as Lance Rockford who is assigned to protect the prez from terrorists. Everything goes wrong and Rockford has to battle everybody. Can he make it out alive? Springer puts in a decent performance. Wished he had more screen time though....but the movie has a lot of action. The Mechanik also directed by Lundgren is awesome!

Worth Watching!

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To be fair- I loved him in the Rocky 4 and Creed II. So from the early days until now. He was upgraded to B-Level actor! But I have to give this one a 2/10. Once you see Jerry Springer- 2 stars is all you get from me!

I must BREAK YOU!