Review of Missionary Man (2007) by Van R — 25 Nov 2009

Swedish tough guy Dolph Lundgren of ROCKY IV has written, starred in, and directed a hard-as-nail revenge melodrama that he cobbled together from such past hits as BILLY JACK, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, and PALE RIDER.

Ryder (Dolph Lundgren) cruises into a small town terrorized by white criminals to pay his last respects to a fallen comrade who died under mysterious circumstances. It doesn't take tall, dark, silent Dolph in sunglasses to make an impression.

He wears glasses, reads the Bible, and likes to do shots of tequila. The bad guys line up to take it like guys and do they ever more get taken. Jarfe (John Enos III) is the leader of a notorious motorcycle gang and he and his army are summoned to silence Ryder.

There is something almost supernatural about the way our quietly spoken champion navigates the dangers. Essentially, it all boils down to an Indian reservation trying to build a casino and the local thugs trying to get in on the action.

When they cannot convince one Indian to back down, they kill him and make it appear to be a drowning death. August Schellenberg is good as an older Indian named White Deer. The last 30 minutes is a solid smackdown.

Clocking in at 93 minutes, Dolph has all the cliches covered. If you like revenge movies where the bad guys get their heads blasted off, this is the ticket!