When it comes to Red Scorpion, I wasn't sure if I had seen it or not. I definitely had seen my fair share of Lundgren films back in the day, but it is possible that I mistook Cover Up for this one. It's also very possible that even younger me wasn't a fan of this one and has it blocked from memory.
In this case, that is a good thing, so I could go in fresh. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to stay positive since Red Scorpion is not what I expected. I had this idea that this was Lundgren's version of Commando, which in turn was Schwarzenegger's Rambo. So I was expecting a lot of one-man army action and lots of explosions. Red Scorpion tricks you by giving you a good and lengthy action sequence in the beginning, but then ventures into different territories that take you away from the action. Only in the last 15 minutes do you get some decent shoot 'em up action. But to be honest, by that time, I was kind of done with the film. Since it is obvious that Dolph's character, Nikolai, is supposed to be a good guy, it is inevitable for him to turn. This only happens when he fails to achieve his mission. He is not given the chance to redeem himself. Instead, he gets betrayed, to which Nikolai responds by fleeing the compound where he is about to be executed.
What really bugged me the most was how passive Nikolai was. He is supposed to be a Spetznatz. The Russian equivalent of a Special Forces operative. I mean, don't get me wrong. Dolph is kicking ass. Only not to the extent I was hoping. And to make matters worse. After he has fled, he finds himself being bitten by several scorpions. Of course, he survives and is taken in by a tribe of indigenous hunters. They help him to get back into shape so much that he gains superpowers. At one point, he is able to lift a truck with ease. It's completely ridiculous, but it was very enjoyable. But the sequences with the hunters took far too much time and didn't really add anything significant, so one has to wonder why this was part of the film in the first place.
All this silliness I could have embraced if the film hadn't suffered from pacing issues. Simple films like these shouldn't take that long. And yet I was constantly looking at the clock and asking myself when the action would start. Overall, I found the viewing experience to be underwhelming and disappointing. I don't think you can blame Dolph for this. He is doing his best to be your typical action hero. Still, everything else was quite average.
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