Of all his dtv flicks to choose from, I went with 'The Defender' solely for two reasons. First the stunt casting of Jerry Springer intrigued me after seeing Dolph act alongside Montel Williams in 'The Peacekeeper' and secondly because Lundgren himself directed it. The story goes that when the intended director dropped out, he took his place.
Lance Rockford (Lundgren) is a Gulf War veteran who was captured & tortured during service. Some time later, he heads up personnel security for NSA director Jones (Caroline Johnson) who's got a secret meeting in Romania to attend at an abandoned hotel arranged by the President (Springer). Of course, some rebel dissidents in the US government know about it and plot to disrupt the meet in a power play. Just who is the other side at the meeting and why?
If you've watched your share of dtv flicks you'll know where this is going. They didn't show him in Iraq for no reason. You'll also know based on stock footage, editing tricks meant to be slick and being filmed in Romania, this is a cheapie. Budget limitations means 95% of the movie takes place at this one location. Whenever or not the action makes up for it is left up to you.
It kicks off at the 30 minute mark and isn't intelligent. Lance has a sniper on his team set up in a second story window, but a rival sniper goes unseen until the obvious happens and then another team member takes out the sniper ground level hip firing an MP5K. His team is armed mainly with handguns and go up against highly skilled baddies with automatic weapons and easily take them down. Yeah it's that kind of movie.
I like Dolph, but the presence of Springer didn't amount to much. The rest of the cast are one note. The conspiracy element is sad. The directing isn't particularly great. 'The Defender' is only watchable for fanboys or those who can tolerate poorly shot action.
Lance Rockford (Lundgren) is a Gulf War veteran who was captured & tortured during service. Some time later, he heads up personnel security for NSA director Jones (Caroline Johnson) who's got a secret meeting in Romania to attend at an abandoned hotel arranged by the President (Springer). Of course, some rebel dissidents in the US government know about it and plot to disrupt the meet in a power play. Just who is the other side at the meeting and why?
If you've watched your share of dtv flicks you'll know where this is going. They didn't show him in Iraq for no reason. You'll also know based on stock footage, editing tricks meant to be slick and being filmed in Romania, this is a cheapie. Budget limitations means 95% of the movie takes place at this one location. Whenever or not the action makes up for it is left up to you.
It kicks off at the 30 minute mark and isn't intelligent. Lance has a sniper on his team set up in a second story window, but a rival sniper goes unseen until the obvious happens and then another team member takes out the sniper ground level hip firing an MP5K. His team is armed mainly with handguns and go up against highly skilled baddies with automatic weapons and easily take them down. Yeah it's that kind of movie.
I like Dolph, but the presence of Springer didn't amount to much. The rest of the cast are one note. The conspiracy element is sad. The directing isn't particularly great. 'The Defender' is only watchable for fanboys or those who can tolerate poorly shot action.