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THE DEFENDER (Dolph Lundgren, 2004)
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I have seen Defender! In Spanish anyway!
by Tom on 20 Feb 2005, 21:18
I downloaded Defender on Emule. The Spanish version is up there at the moment if anyone is interested.
I had hoped it would still be in English but It was dubbed in Spanish. However although I can’t really say too much on the plot or the performances I can tell you that the film looks to be shaping up as one of Dolph’s best, if not the best! Firstly the main thing about the film is that Dolph does a great job directing. He does such a great job that this could be a theatrical come back, and I believe Bauer Martinez are trying to negotiate a UK release. Dolph does such an accomplished job you wonder why he hasn’t turned director sooner, he certainly does a better job than anyone he has worked with since Woo. Now for all that I enjoyed Direct Action as a simple piece of action fodder, it left a little to be desired in the overall production value. As well as that Sid Furie doesn’t have much in the way of creative flair anymore. Dolph has taken his inspiration from some of the best directors he has worked with and it shows. Then there were the plain cheap and tacky films like Retrograde, Agent Red and such. Krom hit it spot on when he said this was the most important Dolph movie in years, he is so right. As well as Dolph’s assured touch as a director, on a performance level he gives a good physical performance with his facial acting, lord knows what he was saying though as some guy called Pablo had dubbed him over and I don’t speak a word of Spanish. All the actors seem good in this in fact. Romania has a good standard I think.
Now anyone who has seen Van Damme’s Wake Of Death and Seagal’s Into The Sun would have noticed a step up in the overall look of those films from the previous ones in their respective careers. Even though both those films were not great. Defender has that same gloss. We all thought Hidden Agenda had pretty good cinematography but this film really looks great and it looks up their with VD’s and Seagal’s films which were significantly more expensive. This is down to Maxime Alexandre. God bless him if he hasn’t made the most fantastic looking Dolph film since Silent Trigger. His great visual eye makes this look every inch a cinema piece. There is great lighting here, good use of fog, particularly for the action. I do feel that I’m cranking up your expectations but that is only because the film has exceeded what I had hoped, and I had high expectations for this baby. Bauer Martinez is a company with obvious ambition and there is a real feeling as well that Dolph is making a film his fans would love. He’s really gone for it, with the action and everything else. Had Furie directed it I believe I wouldn’t be on here raving about Defender. The film grabs you instantly with a professional intro sequence and some good editing. This was edited by Dedan Ouziel who also did Wake Of Death and he does a great job, again more than the conventional job seen in recent Dolph films or the jarring over stylisation in Hidden Agenda. The editing has style and restraint. Also Adam Norden whose Direct Action score impressed me for it’s simplicity does another good job here, even better in fact. It doesn’t try and cheesily recreate an orchestra on a synthesizer like it did in Retrograde this is a stylish and simple score that is atmospheric. This is the best score Dolph has had since Silent Trigger and has some of the best action scene music I have heard in one of his movies.
Like I said I’m not 100% on the plot because it was all Spanish to me, but from the synopsis I have a good idea. Anyway I won’t ruin anything of the plot I figured, I’ll leave you to see the twists when you finally see this film. The film opens with a flashback to the war in Iraq (either the recent one or back in 93.) Dolph leading a team of soldiers. Immediately the film has a great atmosphere, great editing and the sound editing in this film is superb. His team are captured by a terrorist and all killed except Dolph who is tortured. This is pretty brutal and the iflm has some brutal scenes, and they work dramatically for the first time in a Dolph film. We then cut back to present time with Dolph as a body guard for Roberta Jones. Now the film from here goes political and Dolph and his band of ex-military bodyguards are protecting Roberta Jones in this old Romanian Hotel. This is where the film remains pretty much until the end. The film has great locations and this hotel is fantastic. In fact the place becomes a side character as the building did in Silent Trigger (Dolph even has a sniper rifle in it!) The whole idea of Dolph leading a team adds a great dynamic to the action. At about the 30 minute mark an action scene kicks in. NOW! Here is where this film differs from virtually all Dolph’s DTV efforts. From this point on it is essentially one long action scene, breaking for breath very now and again. This isn’t sprse little fragments of action that we have to put up with in Dolph’s financially constrained movies nowadays, there is a lot of action, and it’s all good. In fact it is very atmospheric. You know the action in films like Bourne Supremacy, that rather than going for cool, try and put the audience in with the action, this does that. It’s not quite docu style in the Saving Private way, but it’s a mixture of that and more stylistic gunplay. What’s is good though is when people fire, squibs go off. When people are shot, we know it. Like Trigger there are some cracking head shots and blood spurts, etc. The film has plenty of explosions and what is great about much of the action is that it happens in tight spaces. The direction and editing recreate that tension and panic superbly, especially a scene where Dolph and his team are underground and visibility is limited by smog from explosions. There a few little hand to hand moments that are rough and well executed, but this is a film which revolves around firearms and I beforehand felt it couldn’t be done convincingly on a low budget for an elongated period of time. I was wrong the pace never lets up and the explosions keep on coming. Basically I won’t give too much more away except to say this could very well be Dolph’s best film. It is a serious film, it’s not light-hearted fare like Dark Angel so it has a different edge, however as a combination of sound, music, direction, editing and action it looks Dolphs best all round effort. This is better than Wake Of Death and Into The Sun, because those films critically were summed up thus: Had the makings of his comeback but let down by a bad plot and lacklustre action. Defender isn’t such a case. The action is far better than those films. It does the cinematography justice and the look. The score here is the best of the three. Wake Of Deaths main selling point was Van Damme giving a good performance. This film doesn’t have Dolph stretch in the same way but it still seems a good performance in this, unless when I see the English version he is putting on a bad Irish accent or something, but I doubt it. All the departments are a god high level. The outstanding aspects are the cinematography and the sound editing.
I thought this was excellent and that isn’t even viewing it as a whole. The plot and English lingo can only increase my enjoyment and this has afar better idea than WOD and ITS did. I truly believe Bauer Martinez should push this for a theatrical release, it is good enough. I now also am really excited about The Mechanic and I believe Dolph is the best man to direct all his future movies, because in his budget range he won’t work with anyone who can do a better job. If anyone else has seen it, tell us what you think too. The best praise I can give this is that my brother, king Dolph hater, didn’t take the piss out of it and it genuinely held his interest. Even he was impressed by the overall production value. Also a note to Krom, Romania has done Dolph proud! It’s a great location in this and adds character like Prague did in Shooter.
I had hoped it would still be in English but It was dubbed in Spanish. However although I can’t really say too much on the plot or the performances I can tell you that the film looks to be shaping up as one of Dolph’s best, if not the best! Firstly the main thing about the film is that Dolph does a great job directing. He does such a great job that this could be a theatrical come back, and I believe Bauer Martinez are trying to negotiate a UK release. Dolph does such an accomplished job you wonder why he hasn’t turned director sooner, he certainly does a better job than anyone he has worked with since Woo. Now for all that I enjoyed Direct Action as a simple piece of action fodder, it left a little to be desired in the overall production value. As well as that Sid Furie doesn’t have much in the way of creative flair anymore. Dolph has taken his inspiration from some of the best directors he has worked with and it shows. Then there were the plain cheap and tacky films like Retrograde, Agent Red and such. Krom hit it spot on when he said this was the most important Dolph movie in years, he is so right. As well as Dolph’s assured touch as a director, on a performance level he gives a good physical performance with his facial acting, lord knows what he was saying though as some guy called Pablo had dubbed him over and I don’t speak a word of Spanish. All the actors seem good in this in fact. Romania has a good standard I think.
Now anyone who has seen Van Damme’s Wake Of Death and Seagal’s Into The Sun would have noticed a step up in the overall look of those films from the previous ones in their respective careers. Even though both those films were not great. Defender has that same gloss. We all thought Hidden Agenda had pretty good cinematography but this film really looks great and it looks up their with VD’s and Seagal’s films which were significantly more expensive. This is down to Maxime Alexandre. God bless him if he hasn’t made the most fantastic looking Dolph film since Silent Trigger. His great visual eye makes this look every inch a cinema piece. There is great lighting here, good use of fog, particularly for the action. I do feel that I’m cranking up your expectations but that is only because the film has exceeded what I had hoped, and I had high expectations for this baby. Bauer Martinez is a company with obvious ambition and there is a real feeling as well that Dolph is making a film his fans would love. He’s really gone for it, with the action and everything else. Had Furie directed it I believe I wouldn’t be on here raving about Defender. The film grabs you instantly with a professional intro sequence and some good editing. This was edited by Dedan Ouziel who also did Wake Of Death and he does a great job, again more than the conventional job seen in recent Dolph films or the jarring over stylisation in Hidden Agenda. The editing has style and restraint. Also Adam Norden whose Direct Action score impressed me for it’s simplicity does another good job here, even better in fact. It doesn’t try and cheesily recreate an orchestra on a synthesizer like it did in Retrograde this is a stylish and simple score that is atmospheric. This is the best score Dolph has had since Silent Trigger and has some of the best action scene music I have heard in one of his movies.
Like I said I’m not 100% on the plot because it was all Spanish to me, but from the synopsis I have a good idea. Anyway I won’t ruin anything of the plot I figured, I’ll leave you to see the twists when you finally see this film. The film opens with a flashback to the war in Iraq (either the recent one or back in 93.) Dolph leading a team of soldiers. Immediately the film has a great atmosphere, great editing and the sound editing in this film is superb. His team are captured by a terrorist and all killed except Dolph who is tortured. This is pretty brutal and the iflm has some brutal scenes, and they work dramatically for the first time in a Dolph film. We then cut back to present time with Dolph as a body guard for Roberta Jones. Now the film from here goes political and Dolph and his band of ex-military bodyguards are protecting Roberta Jones in this old Romanian Hotel. This is where the film remains pretty much until the end. The film has great locations and this hotel is fantastic. In fact the place becomes a side character as the building did in Silent Trigger (Dolph even has a sniper rifle in it!) The whole idea of Dolph leading a team adds a great dynamic to the action. At about the 30 minute mark an action scene kicks in. NOW! Here is where this film differs from virtually all Dolph’s DTV efforts. From this point on it is essentially one long action scene, breaking for breath very now and again. This isn’t sprse little fragments of action that we have to put up with in Dolph’s financially constrained movies nowadays, there is a lot of action, and it’s all good. In fact it is very atmospheric. You know the action in films like Bourne Supremacy, that rather than going for cool, try and put the audience in with the action, this does that. It’s not quite docu style in the Saving Private way, but it’s a mixture of that and more stylistic gunplay. What’s is good though is when people fire, squibs go off. When people are shot, we know it. Like Trigger there are some cracking head shots and blood spurts, etc. The film has plenty of explosions and what is great about much of the action is that it happens in tight spaces. The direction and editing recreate that tension and panic superbly, especially a scene where Dolph and his team are underground and visibility is limited by smog from explosions. There a few little hand to hand moments that are rough and well executed, but this is a film which revolves around firearms and I beforehand felt it couldn’t be done convincingly on a low budget for an elongated period of time. I was wrong the pace never lets up and the explosions keep on coming. Basically I won’t give too much more away except to say this could very well be Dolph’s best film. It is a serious film, it’s not light-hearted fare like Dark Angel so it has a different edge, however as a combination of sound, music, direction, editing and action it looks Dolphs best all round effort. This is better than Wake Of Death and Into The Sun, because those films critically were summed up thus: Had the makings of his comeback but let down by a bad plot and lacklustre action. Defender isn’t such a case. The action is far better than those films. It does the cinematography justice and the look. The score here is the best of the three. Wake Of Deaths main selling point was Van Damme giving a good performance. This film doesn’t have Dolph stretch in the same way but it still seems a good performance in this, unless when I see the English version he is putting on a bad Irish accent or something, but I doubt it. All the departments are a god high level. The outstanding aspects are the cinematography and the sound editing.
I thought this was excellent and that isn’t even viewing it as a whole. The plot and English lingo can only increase my enjoyment and this has afar better idea than WOD and ITS did. I truly believe Bauer Martinez should push this for a theatrical release, it is good enough. I now also am really excited about The Mechanic and I believe Dolph is the best man to direct all his future movies, because in his budget range he won’t work with anyone who can do a better job. If anyone else has seen it, tell us what you think too. The best praise I can give this is that my brother, king Dolph hater, didn’t take the piss out of it and it genuinely held his interest. Even he was impressed by the overall production value. Also a note to Krom, Romania has done Dolph proud! It’s a great location in this and adds character like Prague did in Shooter.
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Tom - Regular
- Posts: 1384
- Joined: 03 Jan 2004, 13:59
- Location: Marlow, England
I'm always overwhelmed by your reviews. Thanks for sharing with us!
by Tom on 22 Feb 2005, 23:40
One thing that surprised me, and any british users who watch Eastenders will know, was that ex-eastenders actor who played Alan (Sonias step dad, big black fella, a bit miserable) was in it. Any of you guys might have seen Eastenders too if you have BBC america. He was member of Dolph's unit.
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Tom - Regular
- Posts: 1384
- Joined: 03 Jan 2004, 13:59
- Location: Marlow, England
by Jox on 15 Mar 2005, 09:50
get THE DEFENDER DVD for as cheap as $5.99!
It's a Thai ALL REGION DVD with english language 5.1, widescreen, with the trailer as the only extra but for that price...
I haven't tried but they seem to be serious (established since 1990), and you can even pay with Paypal.
http://www.thaicdexpress.com
It's a Thai ALL REGION DVD with english language 5.1, widescreen, with the trailer as the only extra but for that price...
I haven't tried but they seem to be serious (established since 1990), and you can even pay with Paypal.
http://www.thaicdexpress.com
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Jox - Site Admin
- Posts: 23552
- Joined: 08 Nov 2003, 23:03
by Mosquito on 15 Mar 2005, 11:07
Oh, oh.... "Thai VCD"... are you sure that those aren't illegal copies? Thailand is famous for that and they don't have a problem advertising it. I've even found a power trader on ebay with 17.000 ratings. She admitted that it weren't originals when I asked. Wonder why ebay didn't delete her account.
I have my doubts about thaicdexpress.com...
I have my doubts about thaicdexpress.com...
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Mosquito - Site Admin
- Posts: 2163
- Joined: 08 Nov 2003, 18:23
by Jox on 15 Mar 2005, 11:58
HANSON, the Greek DVD has making of, interviews, and apparently even deleted scenes... I'm having a hard time ordering it though, the site (www.videoland.gr) where I ordered Direct Action there has his fax number always occupied and there's no way I can register and order on the site given that I don't understand Greek...
MOSQUITO, I found the same DVD on an other Thai website, this one seems serious to me, isn't piracy more like in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwain?
MOSQUITO, I found the same DVD on an other Thai website, this one seems serious to me, isn't piracy more like in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwain?
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Jox - Site Admin
- Posts: 23552
- Joined: 08 Nov 2003, 23:03
by Tom on 15 Mar 2005, 17:35
I will definitely give it a try. I can't wait to see Defender in English and 5.1. I tried ordering Defender from videoland.gr through e-mail but the mailed me back saying they didn't actually have it in stock at the moment. For 5.99 I will give it a go. I'll certainly be buying the official british or American DVD as well when they eventually come out.
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Tom - Regular
- Posts: 1384
- Joined: 03 Jan 2004, 13:59
- Location: Marlow, England
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