Hey folks, Valkor here. When it comes to action stars, there hasn’t been anyone like Dolph Lundgren. To me, Dolph makes damn good action films; yes there on the cheesy side, but damn it he does try his best. Red Dawn, Rocky IV, I Come in Peace (My personal favorite), hell even in Masters of the Universe, Dolph has shown off some skillz. Again his films are not Oscar worthy, but they’re action packed and damn entertaining. That’s how I feel about “Direct Contact”; a great, entertaining piece of action.
The story revolves around Mike Riggins (Dolph), an Ex-Marine turned smuggler, who gets caught and thrown into a soviet prison. While on the inside, Riggins is approached by a guy who says he works for the U.S. Embassy, Clive Connelly (Michael Pare). Clive says he is working with a family who is trying to get their daughter back, Ana Gale (Gina May); she was kidnapped by a Soviet Mobster named Vlado (Vladimir Vladimirov). Clive basically makes Mike an offer he cannot refuse: either rot in prison or make 200,000 rescuing this girl. Well of course he takes the obvious and sets off on his mission, with explosive results. Turns out, the girl is held in a military bunker. We learn that Vlado is close friends with a Soviet General, General Drago (Bashar Rahal). So he simply can’t walk in and get her; he’s gotta perform some stealth, but makes a huge bang on the way out. When he has hold of the girl and is alone with her, she states she was not kidnapped, but there of her own free will and that the Embassy guy doesn’t work for the Embassy. So now Riggins must unravel all this lies into one solid truth… or else die trying.
I don’t wanna completely ruin the fun; I mean the film is predictable, but still entertaining. But let’s save all the praise for the review.
The Good
Last I heard about Dolph Lundgren, dude was entering retirement from films. But then this film comes out and he’s also starring in Stallone’s pic “The Expendables”. Needless to say the dude is still in top form. He does a great acting job and pulls off some nice action scenes. Nothing to extreme, but it still gets you pumped. The film itself is loaded with a lot of action, lots of explosions, and some decent car chase scenes. And yea you get a nice boob shot or two. Could have used more, but I ain’t complaining. I’ll save that for…
The Bad
Okay, Direct Contact is not a perfect film. The editing could be tighter, especially during the fight scenes. You can just feel how slow these guys were throwing their punches. I know Dolph is up there in years, but if a movie like “Taken” can make Liam Neeson look like a bad ass, then the team behind this film could have made someone who is bad ass look badder. The acting on the rest of the cast is campy as all hell; not campy “I won’t watch this film ever again” but so campy that it makes you say “hmmm…. For a film such as this… that’s about right”.
The Ugly
Its funny how during any car chase scene or scenes where there are cars and shooting, the camera always focuses on a car’s radiator or front grate getting hit. Why is that?
Overall I am most pleased with Direct Contact; you get loads of action, a great action star (Dolph Lundgren) and tons of entertainment. I can't wait to see "The Expendables" With Dolph in it and an entire cast of action stars, it's gonna be the must see testosterone film of the year! Out of TOV 5 stars I give "Direct Contact" 3.5 and it’s been Valkor tested and TOV approved.