Command Performance
Sometimes when Hollywood filmmaking is not to be considered up to snuff with certain genres, one can still look to the surprisingly loaded European film market to come up with something interesting and that also includes action films as well. It never hurts when you have someone like Dolph Lundgren involved, a guy who was unforgettable as Ivan Drago in Rocky 4 (and who recently reprised the role in Creed 2) before going on to have a respectable Hollywood career well into the 1990s before heading back over to his native Sweden and being robustly embraced as one of their own living legends, continuing his career there with a slew of action films that mostly were not widely released here in the States (except directly to DVD and Blu Ray) and even taking a cue from his old mentor Sylvester Stallone and moving into writing and directing his own films as well. This 2009 release was one such project, looking good cinematically despite only a $4 million budget and more importantly, representing Lundgrenâs official entry into the âDie Hard At / In A Fill In The Blankâ sweepstakes, a subgenre of action films that has proven to be a lucrative one for both action movie stars and producers, almost always involving terrorists taking over some kind of locale and / or special event, taking hostages and making demands while always being brought down in the end by some lone figure who somehow slipped through the cracks and usually is shown picking off the terrorists one or two at a time. To date, the best of the Die Hard knockoffs is arguably a lower budgeted film called No Contest, an averagely written affair which was made notable not by its heroes (Shannon Tweed and Robert Davi) but rather by its unbeatable duo of lead terrorists (Andrew Dice Clay and Roddy Piper!) playing ex mercenaries who hijack a beauty pageant in order to gain revenge on a corrupt Senator whose daughter is a contestant. Lundgrenâs effort here does have its charms though as it is Die Hard At A Rock Concert which might very well be a first (albeit in Russia) and instead of Bruce Willis as John McClane, it features Lundgren himself as âJoeâ, the badass, imposing drummer of one of the rock bands playing at a Moscow venue. Even better is when we finally get a backstory for the character played by Lundgren (a drummer in real life also) and expect some ex commando / ex Special Forces explanation for him being such an adept killing machine, when instead weâre told that heâs merely an (American) ex biker gang enforcer whose brother was killed in a drug deal gone bad, leading to him not only killing everyone who was involved in his brotherâs death, but then fleeing the country afterwards to escape any possible repercussions for his violent actions, floating around Europe until he hooked up with a rock band as their drummer. The experience also left him with a hatred and aversion for guns which is why he prefers not to use or carry one even during the events of the film, an option that would be suicide for someone like Willis but when weâre talking about the six foot five Lundgren, it really doesnât make much difference because he can still use his drumsticks, a knife into the top of the head or even a guitar to kill you and of course if he is able to handily disarm you, then he can just whale away on you and beat you to death if he prefers. The story sees Lundgrenâs band as the opening act for a special performance by a Miley Cyrus type pop singer (Melissa Molinaro). It turns out that The Russian President (uncannily made up to resemble Vladimir Putin) is actually a kind, decent leader not to mention a devoted single Dad raising two blonde teenage girls who absolutely LOVE the female pop singer and are just SO excited to meet her and watch her perform. Lundgren on the other hand (even though heâs just the drummer) is so obviously the star of his own band when it comes to showmanship and charisma that even the pop singer heâs opening for takes a shine to him (despite a 20 year age difference) and hints at a budding romance. Then the terrorists strike. Like in Die Hard, they indifferently murder any and all available security personnel and then take it a step further by opening fire into the crowd, killing most if not all of them along with most of the musical talent including Lundgrenâs band and the pop singerâs brother although SHE is considered to be a valuable enough asset that she is taken hostage along with The Russian President, his daughters and The American Ambassador.  As for Lundgren, he is hanging out in the bathroom smoking a joint and getting stoned when the action and shooting starts (a possible first for an action hero to be doing just prior to the shit hitting the fan). Eventually he finds himself teamed with a novice Russian Secret Service Agent and a couple of other strays along the way including a wounded teenage fan (given plenty of closeups during the early concert scenes) who is eventually left behind in an office covered with a blanket and never seen nor referred to ever again. The film does well to take note of the hardline tactics used by the Russian military against even hostages, with one scene actually showing one hostage being shot dead by the alpha team (the good guys) for disobeying a direct order to stay down. As far as the terrorists and their motive is concerned, it appears at first that they are your typical oldschool Communist asshole types whoâd like to be rid of the democratic, capitalist system that has infected their mother country.  We even find out that the terrorist leader (Dave Legeno, a former MMA fighter who later died of heatstroke while hiking in Death Valley) was the son of a Russian General who had attempted a coup against fucking GORBACHEV during Glasnost and the fall of the Communist Soviet Union only to shoot his mom and then himself right in front of the son when the authorities came to apprehend him. Lundgren as a filmmaker shows some real abilities here when his drummer character (whom after making his first terrorist kill wanders the building aimlessly for a while stoned) happens back into the auditorium area which was once full of screaming fans only to now find scores of shot up dead people strewn throughout the seats and aisles, a haunting moment that even elicits an emotional reaction out of Dolph himself. One thing that is for sure here is that the first half is better than the second with the entire story coming unglued at the seams despite the one original idea of having the terrorist second in command striking a deal with the authorities outside to give them access to where The Russian President is being held in exchange for immunity and safe passage, but the terrorist leader himself as played by Legeno is mostly a rigid, unyielding idiot with little to no concept of improvising on the fly when things donât go according to plan and with even less concern for his fallen comrades whom he barely checks in with since the movie doesnât even give him the scene showing his own realization of fear and desperation when he realizes that someone is loose in the building and picking off all his guys leaving him weaker and weaker by the moment, choosing instead to keep him ranting and raving about his so called mission which it turns out is built more on a personal vendetta against The Russian President than on anything that is actually political. Thankfully Lundgren himself with his mostly carefree, laid back attitude towards life in general while still possessing the intensity to get the job done (âDyingâs easy. Rock n roll is hard.â) shows how most American action fans who only know him for Drago and the crazed / goofy Gunner in The Expendables films (not to mention He-Man and the original cinematic Punisher) should really consider him to be THE most underrated action star ever, proving even here that heâs not afraid to experiment with the usual standards for these types of roles and taking chances all while still possessing one of the best physiques in the history of the business and a wry sense of humor that he has used in playing villains as well (forget not his crazed Street Preacher in Johnny Mnemonic or his unfrozen killing machine in Universal Soldier), in the end pulling off much of this imperfect but eminently enjoyable action romp that doesnât succeed in pulling all of its pieces together but at the very least gives us an action hero that is most likely the first of his kind in terms of his personality and attitude but will hopefully not be the lastâŚ
7/10