Blu-ray Review: RED SCORPION (Synapse Films)
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:
Synapse Films' Blu-ray edition of Red Scorpion is a wonderful companion piece to the Arrow Video release of the film. In terms of video and audio quality, they are nearly identical. The Synapse may be a tiny bit sharper, due to some additional restoration they did on their end, but overall, this isn't a huge difference. On the audio end, there are some significant differences with Synapse edging out Arrow Video by including not only a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, but also encoding the original 2 channel stereo mix in DTS-HD MA rather than LPCM. Again, not a huge difference, but additional options for those who want them.
Here's where it gets crazy. For Red Scorpion fans out there, both editions of the film have completely different sets of bonus material, and both sets are really fantastic. First of all, with this version we get a different director commentary featuring Zito and Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson. I wasn't terribly impressed with Zito on Arrow's commentary, but he seems a bit livelier here. Again we get a lengthy discussion with Lundgren about his past and his career leading up to Red Scorpion. While the Synapse release covers a lot of the same ground as Arrow's, there is enough difference to make it worthwhile.
Synapse Films commissioned two real killer bonus features for this disc that may put it over the top if you have to choose, interviews with Jack Abramoff and Tom Savini. The Abramoff interview is interesting as a document of what producing a film in Africa was like at the time, but the guy is pretty straight laced, and not terribly excitable. The Savini interview, on the other hand, is gold. Red Scorpion isn't the first place that people typically go when talking about Savini's work, but he makes a good case for the film, and has tons of behind the scenes footage to back up his claims. In addition to his interview, there is also a decent length BTS segment with his home videos from the set, and they are really very cool.The set wraps up with informative liner notes, a still gallery, and some trailers, all pretty standard, but they are just the icing on the cake.
If I had to choose one of the Red Scorpion releases, it would probably be this one. As great as Arrow Video's release is, this one has the Savini stuff, which tips it over the edge for me. I'm happy to own both, and if you have the means, I still think that's the way to go. Great stuff from Synapse.
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