Review of Red Scorpion

What would have actually been quite an enticing plot was poorly executed. The quality of the film very much fluctuates as you progress. It's not great from the start. The storyline is relatively simple to follow, although you're not given much help in knowing which characters are Soviet, Czech or Cuban. As everyone speaks English (for the most part) you're left to guess based on accents, but it seems some of the actors didn't want to stick to their associated accents all too closely. The dialogue isn't great, but passable. The biggest factor though, which drags down the quality of the film significantly, is the addition of the American character. You can only describe him as a cartoon. Irritating and cliché, he adds absolutely nothing across the entire film, and the atmosphere in some scenes could be improved hugely just by removing him. The saving grace of the first half of the film is the action. There are some great scenes and Lundgren is in his best shape.

Everything gets significantly better once the American is ditched for a while. There is a toe-curling torture scene, followed by the entrance of the Bushmen. This period far exceeds what had happened before, and that's without action or even dialect. The significance of the plot gains added depth, the development of the lead character rapidly excels, and Lundgren is given the opportunity to be the strong, silent warrior he is so perfect to play.

It's not the perfect end, slipping into a few cheesy lines not really inkeeping with the environment, but it's a massive action scene where Lundgren runs around with a big gun. This is what people are watching this for.