Red Scorpion is set in Africa where the Russians & Cubans are at war with the natives as they try to bring Communisim to the country, however the war isn't going as well as they had hoped so step in hard as nails Spetznats special forces solider Lieutenant Nikolai Rachenko (Dolph Lundgren) who is ordered by his boss General Vortek (T.P. McKenna) to go undercover in Africa to assassinate an anti-Communist revolutionary & hero to the people Ango Sundata (Ruben Nthodi) by gaining the confidence of his right hand man Kallunda Kintash (Al White). It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Nikolai apparently saves Kallunda from a public execution at his own risk which has the desired effect of making Kallunda trust him, as Nikolai spends time with Kallunda & eventually meets Sundata he realises that he has been fighting for the wrong side & wages a one man war on his own country & it's army in order to liberate Africa & it's people...
This South African, American & Namibian co-production was directed by Joseph Zito & I actually had quite high hopes for Red Scorpion in a cheesy over-the-top testosterone filled late 80's action flick of the kind they just don't make anymore sort of a way but after wasting 100 odd minutes on this rather mundane & boring film I realised why they don't make these sorts of films anymore as Red Scorpion exemplifies just about everything wrong with the late 80's & early 90's action flick fad. I like my action films with plenty of action & gratuitous violence in them, unfortunately Red Scorpion actually tries to have some sort of meaning & say something relevant about world events at the time. Now, I'm all for a bit of drama & seriousness if it's done properly but having the Sweedish actor Dolph Lundgren playing a Russian in Africa finding his true self, redemption & have him join some tribe or other in which he then instantly sympathises with the whole country & realises how bad & evil his own country is while running around in nothing but shorts & sandals with a silly haircut is not the way to go about it. Right? A lot of the running time of Red Scorpion is devoted to Lundgren wondering around as he develops a conscience, yawn. Where's all the action? Where are all the one-liners? Where is the obligatory love interest for Lundgren to save at the end? Why is Red Scorpion so boring & quite frankly dull? These Russians can't be that smart can they? I mean you have invaded Africa & have waged war on it's people so who do you send in to kill one of your biggest enemies? That's right a huge soldier with a Russian accent. Yeah, that's going to work isn't it? I mean I am sure every African will help big Lundgren, totally & utterly trust him & give him pretty much anything he wants. Wouldn't you? For my money Red Scorpion has too much preaching & moralising with the main plot an obvious take on apartheid & the events in Africa at the time. I usually like big, dumb, brainless action flicks but I found Red Scorpion seriously dull.
Even the action sequences aren't that good, they feel too random with lots of shoot-outs where lots of people are shot but you never feel Lundgren is in danger & of course all the bad guy's have terrible aims & can't shoot straight. Lots of things blow up too but for no real reason & Lundgren is rarely in the same shot so again there's no threat there or last minute escapes or anything of that sort. For all we know these explosions could be happening twenty miles from where Lundgren is. There's a reasonable car chase about twenty minutes in but it's ruined by a very inappropriate & somewhat annoying song on the soundtrack. The violence is also disappointing, there's barely any fighting or hand to hand combat in it & there's not much blood either. A guy sticks some spikes into Lundgren as a form of torture & Lundgren shoots a soldiers arm off but other than that this is actually surprisingly tame.
With a supposed budget of about $16,000,000 Red Scorpion was shot in Namibia in Africa & therefore breaking an international boycott of the country for it's apartheid regime which this film ironically tries to highlight, apparently the budget for the film was pulled & the cast & crew were stuck there for three months while the money was got back. The cast is alright although Lundgren is awful, it's always nice to see Brion James in something but what happened to his character who seemingly disappears half way through the film.
Red Scorpion is a anti apartheid drama disguised as an action film & a bad action film at that. This has no real meaning, the dialogue sucks as does the story & action. Not one I would want to see again in a hurry. Followed by the totally unconnected Red Scorpion 2 (1994).
This South African, American & Namibian co-production was directed by Joseph Zito & I actually had quite high hopes for Red Scorpion in a cheesy over-the-top testosterone filled late 80's action flick of the kind they just don't make anymore sort of a way but after wasting 100 odd minutes on this rather mundane & boring film I realised why they don't make these sorts of films anymore as Red Scorpion exemplifies just about everything wrong with the late 80's & early 90's action flick fad. I like my action films with plenty of action & gratuitous violence in them, unfortunately Red Scorpion actually tries to have some sort of meaning & say something relevant about world events at the time. Now, I'm all for a bit of drama & seriousness if it's done properly but having the Sweedish actor Dolph Lundgren playing a Russian in Africa finding his true self, redemption & have him join some tribe or other in which he then instantly sympathises with the whole country & realises how bad & evil his own country is while running around in nothing but shorts & sandals with a silly haircut is not the way to go about it. Right? A lot of the running time of Red Scorpion is devoted to Lundgren wondering around as he develops a conscience, yawn. Where's all the action? Where are all the one-liners? Where is the obligatory love interest for Lundgren to save at the end? Why is Red Scorpion so boring & quite frankly dull? These Russians can't be that smart can they? I mean you have invaded Africa & have waged war on it's people so who do you send in to kill one of your biggest enemies? That's right a huge soldier with a Russian accent. Yeah, that's going to work isn't it? I mean I am sure every African will help big Lundgren, totally & utterly trust him & give him pretty much anything he wants. Wouldn't you? For my money Red Scorpion has too much preaching & moralising with the main plot an obvious take on apartheid & the events in Africa at the time. I usually like big, dumb, brainless action flicks but I found Red Scorpion seriously dull.
Even the action sequences aren't that good, they feel too random with lots of shoot-outs where lots of people are shot but you never feel Lundgren is in danger & of course all the bad guy's have terrible aims & can't shoot straight. Lots of things blow up too but for no real reason & Lundgren is rarely in the same shot so again there's no threat there or last minute escapes or anything of that sort. For all we know these explosions could be happening twenty miles from where Lundgren is. There's a reasonable car chase about twenty minutes in but it's ruined by a very inappropriate & somewhat annoying song on the soundtrack. The violence is also disappointing, there's barely any fighting or hand to hand combat in it & there's not much blood either. A guy sticks some spikes into Lundgren as a form of torture & Lundgren shoots a soldiers arm off but other than that this is actually surprisingly tame.
With a supposed budget of about $16,000,000 Red Scorpion was shot in Namibia in Africa & therefore breaking an international boycott of the country for it's apartheid regime which this film ironically tries to highlight, apparently the budget for the film was pulled & the cast & crew were stuck there for three months while the money was got back. The cast is alright although Lundgren is awful, it's always nice to see Brion James in something but what happened to his character who seemingly disappears half way through the film.
Red Scorpion is a anti apartheid drama disguised as an action film & a bad action film at that. This has no real meaning, the dialogue sucks as does the story & action. Not one I would want to see again in a hurry. Followed by the totally unconnected Red Scorpion 2 (1994).