The Essentials: Dolph Lundgren
With well over 50 acting credits to his name, Dolph Lundgren has kept busy since his Hollywood debut in 1985’s James Bond flick, A View to a Kill.
In this edition of The Essentials, I will countdown the 10 films starring the Swedish born action star, Dolph Lundgren, I feel every action movie fan should check out…
10. Showdown in Little Tokyo – After carving out his own piece of the action movie pie in movies like Red Scorpion and Dark Angel, Dolph would star in the first of many collaborative movies in 1991’s Showdown in Little Tokyo. In Showdown in Little Tokyo, Dolph’s Sgt. Chris Kenner teams up with Brandon Lee’s Johnny Murata to battle the Yakuza. This was Brandon Lee’s biggest movie to date and getting the rub from an established star like Dolph helped get Brandon’s career going in an upward direction. Showdown in Little Tokyo also stars Tia Carrere and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
9. The Expendables 2 – I was not a huge fan of the original The Expendables, but I think they perfected the action star all-star team formula in The Expendables 2. Dolph plays Gunner Jensen in The Expendables franchise, a franchise that brought Dolph back to theaters after spending quite a few years in the exclusive direct to video world. If you never saw the original it won’t ruin your viewing experience of The Expendables 2.
8. Men of War – One Dolph movie that may have slipped under the radar of lot of people is the 1995 film Men of War. Dolph plays Nick Gunar, a man who is hired by some rich dudes to travel to a small South Pacific island to negotiate the mining rights with the natives who have inhabited the island forever. Gunar assembles a group of mercenaries to complete this lucrative mission, but when greed and ethics get involved things don’t go exactly as planned.
7. The Punisher – One of the original Marvel movies, 1989’s The Punisher is my favorite movie incarnation of The Punisher. The movie gets bonus points with me for including Louis Gossett Jr (Dolph and LGJ would team up again in 1991’s Cover-Up). It certainly isn’t the big budget Marvel spectacles the world has come to know, but it is also not 1994’s The Fantastic Four either. I love a good vigilante movie and make no mistake about it, Dolph’s The Punisher is a good vigilante movie no matter what the comic book purists may tell you.
6. I Come in Peace – Smack dab in the middle of what is known as “The Baxley Three” in these parts, I Come in Peace, or as it is also known Dark Angel, is a great mix of action and sci-fi featuring Detective Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) teaming up with Special Agent Larry Smith (Brian Benben) to take on a life sucking alien named Talec (Matthias Hues). Not only was this one directed by action guru Craig R. Baxley, it also featured one of the best exchanges in any of Dolph’s movies when Talec uses his catchphrase “I come in peace” and Jack snaps back with “And you go in pieces, asshole!” That is action gold!
5. Masters of the Universe – Like The Punisher, Masters of the Universe gets a lot of shade thrown on it by a lot of the die hard fans of the source material. Personally, I enjoy Cannon’s take on the world of He-Man. Could it have been better? Sure, but the movie is still fun and call me crazy but I like my movies to be fun. And at the time it was made, can you think of anyone better to bring the character of He-Man to life than Dolph Lundgren!?!
4. Skin Trade – The best of Dolph’s more recent work, Skin Trade is another example of Dolph’s willingness to collaborate with fellow action stars, in this case it is the amazing Tony Jaa. As the movie title implies, Lundgren and Jaa go after an human trafficking ring. But one of the best things about Skin Trade is at first Dolph’s character and Jaa’s character aren’t on the same page so we get a great action star vs. action star sequence! They left this one wide open for a Skin Trade 2 and I for one am waiting with bated breath for news on the sequel, that’s how much I enjoyed Skin Trade.
3. Joshua Tree – I first saw this movie under the name Army of One on HBO back in the day, but the movie was originally titled Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree isn’t just a great Dolph movie, I would go so far to say it is one of the best direct to video action movies of the 1990’s if not THE best. Utilizing the classic wrongly accused fugitive on the run formula, the movie is action packed! Bonus points for the inclusion of Geoffrey Lewis, who is practically royalty in the world of action movie supporting players.
2. Rocky IV – If not for Rocky IV I probably wouldn’t be writing about Dolph Lundgren right now. Lundgren’s portrayal of the physically imposing Ivan Drago was a star making performance for Lundgren and paved the way for his career in Hollywood. Rocky Balboa should be credited for ending the Cold War and starting the action career of Dolph Lundgren.
1. Universal Soldier – For me Dolph’s greatest film is 1992’s Universal Soldier. This movie gave us Dolph Lundgren vs. Jean-Claude Van Damme when they were in their prime. Universal Soldier proved when Dolph is good, he’s good, but when Dolph is bad, he’s better! Dolph knocked it out of the park with his portrayal of the maniacal Sgt. Andrew Scott. I’ll never forget his necklace made out of human ears.
Honorable Mentions: Dolph’s first solo movie, Red Scorpion. And Dolph’s salute to Olympic athletes in Pentathlon.
