zardoz-13 Dolph Lundgren wears two hats in his 2004 action-thriller "The Defender." Not only does he star as the hero in "The Defender," but also he directed "The Defender." Mind you, the Swedish straight-to-video star would have starred in this international intrigue actioneer anyway, but original director Sidney J. Furie, who helmed the groundbreaking Michael Caine spy thriller "The Ipcress File" and the Marlon Brando oater "The Appaloosa," had to drop out of the project in preproduction because of health-related issues. The great news is that Dolph pinch-hits a home run with this non-stop, $6-million dollar, shoot'em up that comes packed with surprises galore. No, Dolph has done better movies, principally Hong Kong director John Woo's made-for-cable action epic "Blackjack," but "The Defender" does qualify as one of Dolph's better direct-to-video action-thrillers.Scenarist Douglas W. Miller combines the plots of two cinematic classics, John Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May" (1964) about Pentagon generals staging a coup against the President and Brian G. Hutton's "Where Eagles Dare" (1968) where British Intelligence creates a situation to lure Nazi moles in their organization out into the open. Of course, "The Defender" is nowhere near as intriguing as either "Seven Days in May" or "Where Eagles Dare," but it is at least ambitious enough to mount something on a grand scale. In "The Defender," a bespectacled, cigar-smoking U.S. President (Jerry Springer of TV's "The Jerry Springer Show") dispatches his African-American National Security Adviser Roberta Jones (Carolina Lee-Johnson of "The Saint") to meet with an international terrorist, Mohamed Jamal (newcomer Geoffrey Burton of "Inn of the Damned"), ostensibly a Bin Laden type to seek a peace initiative. Initially, Jamal appeared in an introductory scene where he brutally interrogated our iron-jawed hero during the Gulf War. The setting--a venerable hotel that once served as a retreat for the Royal Romanian family--lies about 40 miles outside of Budapest. The staff has been given the day off when the conference is held. Jones warns longtime security chief Lance Rockford (Dolph Lundgren of "Detention") that nobody must know that this meeting is being held because it could be political dynamite for the President. What Rockford doesn't know is that . . . well, you'll have to see for yourself because this constitutes one of the many surprises that occur throughout "The Defender." Meanwhile, as director, Dolph doesn't waste a moment in this bullet-blasting gunplay. The action occurs largely in a hotel in Europe with Dolph crosscutting to the President meeting with his advisors, etc., in shots set in Washington, D.C. Of course, in faraway Romania, the cameo-clad villains pour out of the woodwork like angry fire ants, and our heroes are constantly have to duck fusillades of machine gun fire. What Lance doesn't know is that one of his own team belongs to the other side. This is just one of the surprises that Dolph springs on us near the end of the movie. "The Defender" is a lot of fun and the ensuing surprises in the storyline should hold your attention throughout its 90 minute running time. The performances are adequate and the production values look good for this straight-to-video thriller. Dolph Lundgren fans should get a kick out of this tidy spy versus spy saga.

CelluloidRehab Dolph Lundgren's directorial debut almost put him in the same category as Orson Welles and Ed Wood, namely those who wrote, stared and directed their own movie. Dolph saved his word processing skills for the sophomore effort, namely the Mechanik.The porn-named hero (Dolph) of this movie is Lance Rockford. In 1991, he commanded a unit in the Gulf War. After they were ambushed and captured, 2/3 of his unit are executed in front of him. By this I mean everyone except Dolph. I you haven't figured it out ... he only commands two men. This is a low budget straight to DVD (Seagal-like) movie. What did you expect ? Fast forward back to the present where he is a secret service agent protecting some government secretary. He and his team are recruited/asked to protected this secretary on the way to some peace conference in Bucharest, Romania. She's not there for the conference though. She has a covert rendezvous with someone. While at this meeting, mercenaries are sent in to eliminate the secretary. What could possibly be going on ?? It's not as exciting as you would think. Actually, most of the movie is quite boring.The scenario that ensues is part Assault of Precinct 13, part conspiracy, part Steven Segal and a whole lot of predictability. The sets are dark and poorly lit. I could barely make out anything. Don't even waste your time on this movie. You are lucky to be watching this movie on a Sunday afternoon in June on Spike TV or at 2 AM on Cinemax while you are inexplicably trying to stay awake. There are some stand out moments. For example, Jerry Springer plays the cigar smoking, workout-while-I-talk-on-the-phone President of the United States. Yes this is not a typo. It is correct. Shakara Ledard is the other standout actor/actress in the movie. She is essential the eye candy, too bad she can't act. The other surprise is to find out that "the Dolph" was still alive and kicking. You wouldn't know that from his face though. He's looking very much like a tan Frank Langella's Skeletor (Masters of the Universe). I guess he must have borrowed the makeup. He also seems to have gotten acting advice from Steven Seagal. Steven has taught Dolph the proper way to shoot a gun. This movie also gives us the duel between Dolph's 9mm Beretta and a Sniper rifle. I bet you can't guess who wins ? Dolph's return and directorial debut is atrocious and boring. I have heard better things about the Mechanik. Hopefully he has learned from this abomination. I was going to give this movie a 1 or 2, however, I have to give a little credit for filming and some production that occurred in Romania. Until my review of the Mechanik, I highly recommend seeing Red Scorption, Rocky IV, Universal Soldier, Masters of the Universe or Showdown in Little Tokyo for your Dolph fix.

ninoguapo I did not like that movie. Probably because it did not offer anything new or interesting – just shooting – there wasn't even a good scenario. As far as the soundtrack goes – it sucked as well with exception of the song they played at the very end.At first I thought that the movie will be interesting as is started with an operation in Iraq – and you know all these terrorist references which seem to be modern these days. But as the story unfolds I have lost my interest and was hardly keeping myself awake till the end of it.I guess I am not really into action films, but even if I was – I doubt that I will like the way the Defender is filmed. There was only one idea which seemed to be true – that some people have interest to keep the wars in the world going. That's why I am going to give two pints for this movie and a warning that seeing it can be a waste of your time.

REDON-2 Spoiler: A short scene not (too) relevant to the plot is described in this comment.I found it on TV while having dinner and kept watching it because it seemed interesting. I immediately started noticing obvious jokes/situations, such as the one where they are preparing for the attack and you can see Lance through a sniper's bullseye, he follows him as if he was aiming for a few seconds wanting you to believe it's one of the bad guys, until Lance salutes him. Now, that looked like a desperate attempt to be smart, didn't it? There are plenty of situations such as this one in the film, but still, the acting wasn't bad and the story kept you going, hence 5/10.