Missionary Man

As Dolph's 3rd directorial efforts, I've watched "Missionary Man" twice and the story plot was good. I'm just disappointed that the camera man who did the film-making of the "Missionary Man" - he didn't make the detailed shooting of Dolph's fighting style except the one in his hotel cafeteria that he punched, beat up the bad guys, and kicked their groins. But, the overall of this movie, we don't see HOW he punched some bad guys with his karate skills and we don't see how Dolph handled with an axe except that we see him holding an axe up in the bad guy's stomach. If you watch Van Damme or Seagal movies, you will see the detailed style of the punches, kicks, they used for their movies. Dolph's movie is too "surface", but the plot of the story is good. He looked so cool on the motorcycle. Also, I liked the story about Dolph's interaction with the Native Americans.

The story here is actually a pretty good one, nothing new but still good.

The movie though has a couple of issues. The first being the fights, this is Dolph not De Niro, I'm primarily watching this for action. The choreography seemed to go out of the way to avoid displaying the fights?

Secondly, I'm not a cinematographer by any stretch, but the film seem to have been shot through a brown filter. So the colours were muted and the film looked dirty gritty and unclear, and not in a good way.

Otherwise its alright.

I've always been a fan of action movies having grown up in the 80's fed on a diet of Sly, Arnie, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. These are the best of the best when it comes to kicking ass. I would include Dolph Lundgren is this category. Granted, he has been in some terrible movies like Cover Up and The Minion, but all the other big action stars also have movies on their CV's that they want to forget about! The thing that struck me about Missionary Man is that is was filmed brilliantly and had an excellent musical score to go with the usual Dolph Lundgren action we expect from him. He directed this movie and it is shot brilliantly. It reminded me of older Clint Eastwood movies, as Dolph plays a stranger in a small town who decides to help the townsfolk fight back against the greedy businessman John Reno and the corrupt Sheriff's Department. It is the closest thing to a modern western I've seen, and I really enjoyed it. Dolph is back people, and this is one of his best!

Dolph Lundgren stars as Ryder a mysterious biker who rolls into town (and bares an uncanny resemblance to Gary Busey) and defends an Indian reservation from the local mobsters and bikers that show up in the finale. Missionary Man despite what Dolph Lundgren fans will tell you, is not one of his best movies. Indeed in comparison to his last two directorial efforts this one is the weakest. The problem is that the action is badly edited, the bad guy bikers aren't written well and pose little threat and the film is all grainy and bled out of colors. (Why Dolph didn't shoot this in black and white is beyond me.) The climax has its moments and Missionary Man does remain somewhat watchable through Lundgren's typically commanding presence but with such craftsmanship shown in The Russian Specialist and The Defender one can't help but be disappointed with this one. Plus Lundgren borrows heavily from many superior films such as Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter and Billy Jack. The problem is that he just can't fuse enough novelty to distinguish his work. In the end though it's the sped up action and over-edited camera angles which render this one as a forgettable effort. Not a terrible movie mind you, indeed it is superior to most straight to video movies but Missionary Man is nothing special.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

only the last scene has real action(except in content and required mood), but because all the other elements are in place you might not even notice. for the general viewer, this is an interesting flick about and with MODERN native Americans and their way of life on the last reservations.from the way they educate the children, to interesting cultural aspects; well documented i actually felt like i learned something beside watching a "classic" revenge movie. "old school" clichés that never get old if done properly.

it is a classic suspense build-up plot; nothing special but simply can not find anything wrong other then being slow at times. however the movie has a lot of shots and visuals that contain artistic images that will not let you loose interest. all actors are decent and in some scenes really good.the best component, i would argue, are the costumes, and to certain extent the well chosen environment; it goes very well with crating the mood required to sustain the simple but effective plot.the biker's gang in the last 30 minutes is well done very menacing and looks real.John Enos III as their leader performs excellently.the soundtrack is nothing spectacular but fits properly as mood definer.

now about Dolph Lundgren; if you have grown up on such flicks as "the red scorpion" you might enjoy this a lot providing you not expecting any sgi fights. he aged decent and his "cold" tone got better and feels more "real". as a director he seems very decent will be checking his future productions hopefully will not be disappointed.he is way better in substance then Stallone is in his "rambo 4"(pointless action). seems like this project is dear to him from the way he handles dialogs, subject matter and the body language on display.

overall i enjoyed it. however i do not agree at all with any "Missionary" men especially "born again" Christians. from a vintage point of view i liked it, but in reality this only creates just yet another type of extremists/extremism.i do not find "cool" preaching the bible to the native Americans ,that got almost exterminated in the past because the "white man's God". however there are some details, for example regarding the facts of how the catholic church and "education" tried to forbid them speaking their own language(s) so they "convert" properly...