Joshua Tree

Army of One is a very awesome action movie. Dolph Lundgren is a very good actor and this is one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend it to any action fan on the planet. The movie has good actors and actresses, and has great plot to it. Any action fan who turns it down without watching it first is CRAZY!

This movie surprised me. You don't expect much when you starts watching movie with Dolph Lundgren. But this turn out to be a great action-flick. The thing that is worst (as always in this kind of productions) is the acting. Dolph is bad, he just sits there with his stone-face and looks concentrated. Kristian Alfonson looks good but she can't act so well.

But the moments of action in the movie is good. The shooting is pretty much belieavble, except the shooting of chineses at the end. The car chase is a great piece of work but what can you expect when the director has made action-scenes in Tomorrow Never Dies, Starship Troopers and Total Recall.

See it and enjoy it.

What do you get if you cross Dolph Lundgren with a red shirt and a red car? A pretty good movie.

What's the main problem with this movie? It's not available on DVD/Blu Ray.

Why? Your guess is as good as mine. A movie that I've only heard about through a friend, repeated rants about why it should be on DVD and how it's such a good film, I must admit, I had my doubts. But with everything being on DVD these days, it's shocking and a sin, that this isn't. When literally everything these days is available – whether it be dead cheap, or hideously expensive – from your TV movies adapted from books, to your endless TV shows, the question should be, where is Joshua Tree's release? Is it because it comes from the same name as a U2 song? (Hence the name change to Army Of One in places, which makes very little sense.) The rights to this movie are probably floating around somewhere, just waiting for someone to snap them out, and give this film the true release it deserves.

From the opening shots, it starts as an almost peaceful movie. It's mainly set in a baking hot desert, and it stars the very wonderful, genuine-straight-up-tough-guy Dolph Lundgren, as Santee. When he's not speaking, Dolph just steals the film, even just by standing there. He's just driving along, when suddenly, something happens, and he's arrested for the murder of a patrolman. But he didn't do it, and is being set up. He escapes, and grabs a hostage, supposedly for her car, but I suppose she has other attributes that Santee plans to make use of. Kristian Alfonso makes a stereotypical female hostage role her own, by not only giving as good as she gets, but actually providing a lot of chemistry with Dolph. The scene where they are handcuffed together and lying in bed, was so sizzling, that I would have needed a cold shower afterwards.

The only grumble I have with Joshua Tree (and it's a tiny one I promise, and you probably won't notice it) is the storyline. Is that the best storyline in the world ever? No. Is it the worst storyline in the world ever? No. But it's nothing that we haven't all seen before. But I do think the film would have been a lot worse, if it hadn't had the delight of Dolph's on-screen presence. I mean, this guy has faced up to his old nemesis in The Expendables recently, and there's another reason why this film should be released.

The action in Joshua Tree is simply incredible. There's one particular scene where Dolph kills all these Chinese guys, who seem to be never ending, and seem to double in numbers every time two of them get killed. And boy, do they get killed! (The actors also make great use of their very short screen time by overacting their death scenes – it does have to been seen.) There are quite a few well known faces in this, from George Segal to Matt Battaglia (has appeared in every TV show going it seems from Baywatch, to Sabrina The Teenage Witch, to Friends – Phoebe's boyfriend Vince in TOW Ross's Thing – if you don't recognise the face, you'll recognise the voice.) But the only ones you really pay attention to are Dolph & Kristian.

Now, if someone can just cough up the money (literally) for this film to be re-released at the cinemas, and then have a major blu ray/DVD release, with plenty of extras, it would make my friend and me, very happy. And it would get a whole lot of other fans. So … cough up!!!

Dolph Lundgren is a true action star, one of those one man army vehicles for Lundgren to leave a constant wave of destruction. Watch as things go BOOM! "Joshua Tree" is pure simplicity in its plotting and conventional with the surprises, but the blistering action (gotta love the spectacular set-pieces of Lundgren giving his shotgun a good workout) is extremely well staged and the pacing is high-octane. This is what you ask for and it delivers in spades.

Wellman Anthony Santee is a trucker who's framed for the murder of a highway patrol man that pulled him over in a smuggling job gone wrong. Over a year later escaping an attempt on his life, he kidnaps a lady (who unknowingly to him is a cop) and flees. Now Santee is seeking revenge for those who betrayed him and killed his best pal. However these folks have authority and are using this power to get their man.

For an on-the-run narrative, the momentum is consistent (despite some lulls with some moralistic babble and dramatics) and there are some excitingly dangerous high speed car chases which are expertly shot within beautifully open, baking hot desert / mountainous backdrop. Director Vic Armstrong (who's an excellent stuntman) gallantly engineers a durable actioner, where he packs bloody carnage (slow-mo anybody?) while also chipping in with a sense of humour ("Is there an off switch to your mouth."). While Joel Goldsmith's music score scorches along. Performances are spot on. Lundgren is a hard-shell, Kristian Alfonso looks comfortable and George Segal shows ticker as the corrupt officer who's on the trail. There's also good support by Beau Starr and Geoffrey Lewis.

Black and white action yarn, but effective nonetheless especially when it's romancing us on its violently meaty encounters.

A predictable but exciting action vehicle for Lundgren, which plays more like a road movie than anything else. Although we've seen it all before, ARMY OF ONE offers up plenty of action from car chases in the desert (always a good thing) to a huge, John Woo-inspired shootout in a warehouse plus the expected fist-fights and more. All combine to make a satisfying, easy-viewing movie experience.

Lundgren here has one of his better roles and is actually required to act in some scenes, as well as being his usual hardman self. He's given good support by George Segal as the dastardly villain, Kristian Alfonso as a tough hostage he takes who also turns out to be a cop, Geoffrey Lewis as good-natured Sheriff, and the familiar Michael Paul Chan as a slimy, Chinese fellow villain. Horror fans may want to look out for DAWN OF THE DEAD's Ken Foree who is killed in the first scene but reappears throughout the movie.

Although things do take a while to get going, and it takes time to get to know (and like) the main characters, ARMY OF ONE has some excellent action towards the end. The aforementioned warehouse shootout is very violent and well-staged, and most impressive. The "speeding cars through the desert" scene is sufficiently exciting, and the expected showdown between Lundgren and the chief baddie at the end holds the attention. In all, a good time-waster, and one of Lundgren's better movies.