Caccia mortale

I really enjoyed viewing the unrated US Laserdisc of ARMY OF ONE. Dolph isn´t as cool as in THE PUNISHER but he´s doing quite a good job when it comes to those great shoot-outs. They sometimes reminded me on those John Woo-flicks.if you have the chance watch the unrated version, gives you more detail and is much more exciting.

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!!!

I bumped casually to this movie a couple years ago. It was on a hot summer night and I had problems in falling asleep. So I turned on the TV and I found this movie when it hadn't begun yet. And it was surprised at how much I liked it since it has a score of 5,7 on IMDB.

Wellman Santee (Dolph Lundgren) plays a former race car driver who has turned to a life of crime and one day he is assigned to transport exotic stolen cars with his buddy Eddie. However during the trip they find some policemen and there is a shootout. Eddie is killed and Santee is taken in prison. After a while Santee manages to escape and takes hostage Rita Marrick, without knowing that she is an undercover policewoman. After escaping in the desert and even making a visit to the wife of the police lieutenant that arrested him (George Segal) he'll have the final stand with Lt. Severance and Rita will manage to prove his innocence.

I had previously liked Dolph Lundgren in some of his movies (like the EXPENDABLES franchise) and I was surprised at how much he was good in this movie. He has also a slew of one liners and makes quite a good pair with Kristian Alfonso. George Segal as the villain is very effective and I was surprised since he usually plays comedic characters. There are some very good shots throughout the movie of the Sierra Nevada desert and of the South West of California. The soundtrack is good and it reflects a lot the period the movie was filmed (beginning of the 1990s).

Don't expect a masterpiece or an Academy Award nominated movie if you bump in this one. Just expect one of those ''Turn off your brain and enjoy'' movies perfect for one lazy afternoon.

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.