The Defender (2004)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Dolph Lundgren

Writer:

Douglas W. Miller (writer)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

Fighting The War On Terror.

Plot:

Today - the global war on terror rages on. The United States will not give an inch against terrorists...

Plot Keywords:

Grenade | Beautiful Woman | Rocket Launcher | Terrorism | Shot In The Head

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Lance Rockford
Jerry Springer	...	President of the United States
Shakara Ledard	...	Kaye
Thomas Lockyer	...	Stevenson
Caroline Lee-Johnson	...	Mrs. Jones (as Caroline Lee Johnson)
Gerald Kyd	...	Morgan
Ian Porter	...	Newell
Howard Antony	...	Parker
Geoffrey Burton	...	Jamal
Iddo Goldberg	...	Scripts
James Chalke	...	Lee
Leigh Zimmerman	...	Reporter
Steven Elder	...	Tech 1
Radu Florescu	...	Aide
Ovidiu Niculescu	...	Officer

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA | UK | Germany | Romania

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Brazil:18 | Germany:16 | UK:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:18 | USA:R | Italy:T | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

MediaPro Studios, Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Bauer Martinez Studios

Trivia:

Sidney J. Furie was originally hired to direct this film, but left due to illness during the prep period.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The map used several times throughout the movie to represent Romania is of Western Canada (ranging from B.C. to Manitoba, focused on Alberta, with a huge red area on Saskatchewan).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making of 'The Defender' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

After All

"All this s#!% for nothing."

I'd read somewhere that Dolph Lundgren got into directing a few years ago, when the next in a long line of straight-to-DVD cookie cutter action movies had its director get sick, so Ivan Drago himself just stepped in and took the reins. Then I forgot about the movie for four years.

I'm flipping channels today, and see the first two names in the credits: Dolph Lundgren ... and JERRY SPRINGER. I make a bet with myself to watch it until Springer shows up, and Springer is playing the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

With all this going for it, it should be one of the grandest movies of the 21st century. Except, no.

While not the worst movie I've ever seen, nor the worst action sequences I've ever seen, the action is still choppy, shot from entirely too close a range to see what's going on. The acting isn't terrible (except Dolph, though he's only required to stand there and look chiseled), but the plot is telegraphed in every scene. Every good guy that turns out later to be shady, acts shady the moment they come on screen. Every character who is going to die, the camera lingers on them long enough to give them extra footage for future demo reels. And Dolph's character is named "Lance Rockford." Seriously. I am not making this up.

Every action sequence is essentially the same, just a whole lot of bullet sound-effects and nothing interesting to look at or remember. There was some mumbo-jumbo at the beginning where Lance Rockford was a POW in his past, as if to explain that the character is damaged or something. It's completely unnecessary, as is about 45 minutes of the movie. By the time Lance Rockford is faced with a crucial moral dilemma, I honestly don't see how anyone watching it could care.

There are better places for your action fix, and better places for your Dolph fix. It's currently averaging around a 5.0 on IMDb, which is about right. It's by no means worth a theatrical release, but nor is it Uwe-Boll-quality, either. Guns fire, people shout a lot, and you'll find yourself getting bored when you're not studying the scars from Dolph's face-lifts. But hey, Jerry Springer plays the bad guy, so that's worth a bonus point.

5/10