Mercenary Nic Gunner (Dolph Lundgren) and a small team of other hired guns are sent to an obscure island in the Pacific Ocean to strong-arm the locals into selling the rights to their home to some unscrupulous businessmen.
But once on the island, the conflicted Gunner is forced to question the purpose of the mission, and why he is going through with it...
“We have a legend. It tells of a man who came from far across the ocean to save us from great danger.”
“We have a legend. It tells of a man who came from far across the ocean to save us from great danger.”
“Really?”
“No!”
After decades, Dolph Lundgren is starting to get more mainstream respect.
I have only watched a couple of his films, but every time I do, I wonder why I have not seen more. After watching Red Scorpion, I was keen to revisit this 1994 joint.
I had watched it a couple of years ago, and I remember being rather taken with it.
Part of what makes it special might have to do with its creative pedigree: independent filmmaker John Sayles co-wrote the script and, like Sayles’ other genre efforts (Piranha, Alligator), Men of War plays with genre cliches and conventions to create something more unique.
Nick Gunner is set up as a white saviour, yet the story undermines every cliche.
He does not even foil the villains - it is BD Wong's Po, the island’s deceptively amiable translator. The team goes through a disgusting ceremony in which they have to consume old bird’s eggs - only for the tribe to laugh, revealing it was a practical joke.
Nick and the other mercenaries are presented as trigger-happy and out of their depth.
The action is plentiful if a little less inventive than the script.
While Lundgren, Wong and Charlotte Lewis play it straight, the rest of the squad are archetypes.
Trevor Goddard adds some flair as Keefer, a loose cannon who terrorises the team. His obsessions with Nick and near-orgasmic love of carnage are reminiscent of Vernon Welles’ Bennett from Commando (1985).
Benefiting from lush photography from Rohn Schmidt, in gorgeous Thai locations, Men of War feels bigger than the canvas probably was.
As for the star, Lundgren is well-cast as a burnt-out ex-super soldier seeking redemption. If he ever comes off a little stilted, it fits the character - a killer struggling to reconnect with his humanity.
Well-acted (Wong is fantastic), Men of War often feels like a meathead cousin to the socially conscious thrillers of the decade, like the Jack Ryan films. In some ways, this little action flick might be their superior.
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