Movie Review: Red Scorpion (1988, Synapse Films)

I feel like I missed the Dolph Lundgren train. After Ivan Drago and He-Man, he went on to play a series of action heroes that included the Punisher himself, Frank Castle. It all blew past me as I focused on Seagal and Van Damme. It seems that I was missing out.

Red Scorpion was only Lundgren's third movie. It followed the previously mentioned films and was only his second time taking the lead role (Masters of the Universe was the first). It's also the second time he played a Soviet Russian, and according to a bonus interview on the Synapse re-release, he pulled heavily from his time on Rocky IV. Red Scorpion is filled with the politics of the time, and apparently, the filming was as harrowing at times as the story itself.