Blu-ray Review: RED SCORPION

Dolph Lundgren rules. I can't say that I've seen a lot of his work, since the '90s most of it has gone straight to video, but the guy knows exactly who he is and where he fits, and that is a blessing. Joe Zito's Red Scorpion was Lundgren's third feature film in a prominent role and he certainly made the most of it. The story is a ludicrous, flag-waving, jingoistic mess, but the execution is actually pretty damned decent, and Lundgren's presence on screen plays no small part in its success.

Nikolai (Lundgren) is a highly trained Spetsnaz agent sent into Africa to assassinate a rebel leader. He has known nothing in his life but following orders, and these orders are clear. He has to befriend a rebel in order to get close enough to snuff out the leader, but when he realizes the conditions against which these men are fighting and who is the cause, he has a change of heart and becomes a commie-killing machine.

Redsploitation film was a very popular action genre in the '80s, thanks in large part to the Cold War and Reagan's xenophobic ranting. Just as the '70s gave us a healthy portion of Nazi-hunting flicks, the '80s was brimming with films about The Evil Empire, which was of course, the communist USSR. Dolph Lundgren, for some reason, was the go-to guy for imposing Russian characters in action films. His breakout role as Ivan "I Must Break You" Drago in Rocky IV certainly primed that pump. Even though Lundgren's looks are clearly Scandinavian, his blond hair and blue eyes still managed to convey Aryan evil to American filmgoers. Whatever the reason, it worked, and Dolph quickly became a second tier action icon.

Red Scorpion is a very competently made action film. Joe Zito (The Prowler, Invasion USA) was a real director who had some skills and took a very difficult shoot in Namibia and made it work surprisingly well. The dialogue wasn't going to set the world on fire, but we go into these movies expecting shit to blow up, and blow up it does. Red Scorpion may not be a ludicrously violent as the Rambo films, but it certainly keeps the action moving at a quick pace. If you throw in a little bit of comic relief from M. Emmet Walsh, you've got all the ingredients for a good time.

Despite his strong start with Rocky IV and my childhood favorite Masters of the Universe, Dolph Lundgren never quite made the A-list. That strata was saved for men like Arnold, Sly, and Bruce, though I think that is a bit of a shame. Lundgren clearly had the chops, and I think with the right choices he could have been a bigger star. It was nice to see him on the big screen again in The Expendables, even if the film was only so-so, but watching Red Scorpion certainly does encourage me to dig through some of his DTV work in search of gems. This film is a lot of fun, if a little bit long at around 105 minutes, and deserves a second chance, definitely check it out.

The Disc:

This is another of the Glickenhaus films coming to us from Arrow Video and Synapse Films. This time around, it looks like Arrow Video got the jump, and their disc is very solid. The image quality is very good, though '80s action films will probably never look great. There is abundant fine detail and a noticeable lack of intrusive grain, probably due to the fact that the vast majority of the film is shot in very bright lighting, thus allowing the filmmaker to use slower film speeds and reduced grain naturally. The audio is pretty good as well, there isn't a whole lot of directionality to the mix, but the explosions do manage to pack a punch and I found no major faults with the dialogue.

Arrow Video's premium presentation of Red Scorpion is really great. On the disc we have a commentary from Zito moderated by Howard S Berger, which is okay, though Zito seems a bit laconic on the track and needs prompting often. There is also a great interview with Dolph, which is sadly only about 20 minutes, because I could listen to him all day. Dolph is incredibly endearing and intelligent and understands his place in cinema history better than anyone. A true gentleman. Rounding out the video extras is a brief interview with the composer, which is kind of a throw away, but is made up for by the fantastic Lundgren stuff.

Also included in this package is the awesome custom art from The Dude Designs' Tom Hodge, 3 additional cover options, a fold out power, a very in depth interview and essay on Zito and the film by Calum Waddell, and the super neat Arrow Video catalog. This is a very impressive REGION FREE package, and we definitely recommend it. There is a Blu-ray coming soon from Synapse, also, so be aware of that, and we promise to review and compare when we get out hands on that one as well, but I think you can feel confident in picking this one up, it's a winner!