Wanted Man

Disgraced, hard-line detective Mike Johansen (Dolph Lundgren) is given the redemptive task of going to Mexico and extraditing Rosa (Christina Villa) who witnessed the slaying of two DEA agents during a fubar'd drug heist. Not long into Johansen's ostensibly straight forward trip when things quite literally, and figuratively go dangerously south, as Johansen becomes the target of rogue cops from north and south of the border! I will be generous here and simply say that the rudimentary plot is comfortably familiar, and leave it at that, happily, the dynamic presence of the grizzled, hugely charismatic Dolph in front of, and behind the camera gives this gritty crime actioner a dopamine boost! Pacy enough, with some decent squibbage, Wanted Man is a more than credible, dramatically compelling shoot 'em up, eminently watchable fare for action junkies, and a no-brainer for Dolph fans! It must also be said that the Clint Eastwoodian tropes are hella strong in Dolph's exciting Wanted Man, being 2 parts The Gauntlet and one part Gran Torino, and certainly no worse for it! There's lovely chemistry between the beautiful Christina Villa and Mr. Lundgren, and I was rootin' for 'em all the way to the border, man!!!!!

In this film written, directed and starring Dolph Lundgren, we see an aging racist cop having to go to Mexico to get some witnesses to balance out his politically incorrect behavior which was caught on camera. Obviously, bad people don't want the witnesses to survive, so the cop will have to band and survive together with people he despises by default, thus learning a lesson.

It is a familiar concept, done in no way differently from other films that tackled the same issue. It feels more honest, with no ha-ha humor or crazy stunts, though. Dolph is almost 70 years old and it shows, unfortunately. The plot is quite obvious from the beginning and the situations in which some sort of emotional connection could have been built are often wasted. That's why I can't recommend it.

The film also manages to convey, probably accidentally, how the US starts to look to people outside it. In the movie, the Mexicans are all young, vibrant and fearless, even the bad guys. In contrast, the Americans are old, decrepit, stuck in their ways and expecting everybody else to respect their authority. Old cops, hunting for their gone youth, in a country led by old men, changing in artificial ways that don't matter, like politically correctness. Somehow, I doubt that was the message Lundgren was trying to send.

Kelsey Grammer and Michael Paré and also in this, although their roles are minimal. I like Dolph, even if he barely speaks and he barely moves now. It's nostalgia, and this film is banking on it. But it feels like something that should have been done 20 years ago.

Certainly not a bad movie nor a particularly good movie. Rests somewhere in between but, a massive improvement over Dolph's previous directorial effort 'Castle Falls'

Dolph is solid in this and casts himself in a brave role. (Think Eastwood's Gran Torino) He's pretty unlikable in the early scenes as a grizzled racist old cop

But, for me Kelsey Grammer is the one standout in a small role...

Probably a film more for Dolph Lundgren fans but, a vast improvement on his recent output and for a one time watch it will pass the time.

It is well directed for being shot on a shoestring budget. (I presume)

it's a slow burn...it just doesn't quite have the payoff it needed to elevate it.

In my opinion.

**4.8/10 on Imdb seem like a fair rating**

I probably give it 2/5 stars.

No pun intended - while Dolph is the main character, the important one (story wise) is the witness ... and she has only one thing on her mind ... surviving ... well and doing the right thing I reckon by helping out law enforcement ... without really thinking too much about herself. At least that is what she is telling us.

And why shouldn't we believe her - if we buy that Lundgren is still up for the task (he is not the quickest anymore, suspension of disbelief is important, especially when you have to buy that he would be able to physically fight others ... or get near them, without them killing him first). The action still is kind of decent ... so if you are a fan of the man ... well you could do worse... like being a fan of a different action man who even uses stunt man to walk ... kid you not ... anyway, the message is clear and you also have some good actors rounding everything up ... no surprises here though (twists? Well ... not really)

Of course I opted to sit down and watch the 2024 action thriller "Wanted Man", when I happened to come across it by random chance. And seeing some familiar faces like Dolph Lundgren and Kelsey Grammer on the cover just helped to sweeten the deal.

Writers Dolph Lundgren, Michael Worth and Hank Hugues put together a rather enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. It was interesting to read that Dolph Lundgren had been working on fleshing out the script for the movie since 2006, so it must have been fulfilling for him to finally get it to the screen. One might argue that the script and narrative is generic for an action thriller, but I have to admit that I was genuinely entertained by it, and thus the movie did the job it was supposed to do - entertain.

The script has a twist to it along the way, of course it does. And I will say that I definitely enjoyed the twist of events that the writers implemented into the storyline. Predictable? Perhaps, but entertaining nonetheless.

The acting performances in "Wanted Man" was good. Of course you know what you are getting when you sit down to watch a movie with Dolph Lundgren in the leading role, and he does what he does best here, no doubt about it. It was a shame that Kelsey Grammer didn't have a bigger part to play in the movie. Michael Paré and Roger Cross also shows up in the movie, also in lesser roles, unfortunately. I wasn't familiar with actress Christina Villa, but she definitely put on a good performance alongside with Dolph Lundgren.

There is a good amount of action to spruce up the storyline. And it works, because it is adequately choreographed action sequences that compliment the storyline nicely.

If you enjoy a good old action thriller, then give "Wanted Man" a chance. I was genuinely entertained by the movie, and it is a movie that I warmly recommend to fans of the action thriller genre. This is an action thriller that is well-worth sitting down and spending 85 minutes on watching.

My rating of director Dolph Lundgren's 2024 movie "Wanted Man" lands on a six out of ten stars.