Men of War Reviews

Awesome action film stars muscle-bound Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary assigned to "convince" a group of islanders it's time to move to the mainland (so greedy developers can exploit the island's abundance of guano). Lots of action and machismo make up for great of story.

"The Dolph defends an island people from the guy from Dharma and Greg, who wants to mine the island for minerals and bat crap."
That's the plot of this movie pretty much. Lundgren plays Nick Gunner, a mercenary who is hired to go to a island somewhere in Southeast Asia to get them to let the evil corporation owned by the Dharma and Greg guy and his partner. Along the way, Gunner assembles a crack team of commandos, including Zeus (No Holds Barred) and Catherine Bell. It's the same plot you've pretty much seen Dolph do quite a few times before: Trained killer is hired to do job to subjugate an innocent person or people; along the way, trained killer meets LBFM and has a change of heart. It's up to trained killer to protect the person/people/nation/island from those trying to exploit it. It's a formula I think Dolph knows works pretty well.
This is pretty good B movie crap. The Dolph is a noble mercenary, willing to do anything for his crew. He tangles with this wannabe Vernon Wells guy, who acts and talks just like Bennett from Commando. The same kind of homosexual overtones that existed in that baddie return here as well more blatantly (the baddie in this likes to kiss other men a lot). The co stars are also cool: Zeus is here, Catherine Bell (J.A.G.) as well. The guy from Dharma and Greg, of course. Charlotte Lewis brought her nice boobies to the table, and gets down with Dolph in a waterfall. I thought it was awesome to see Kevin Tighe, who played Frank Tihlman from Roadhouse, in this. This is the second movie I've seen that indirectly associates Dolph with Roadhouse.
Special mention goes to the guy who played Po (BD Wong), who was very funny. Overall, it's heavier on drama than action, but the whole thing is tinted with some welcome humor.Recommended.

One of those films you catch on late night television after a heavy night of drinking at the bar and you're just too lazy to turn the channel...but then after a few minutes you come to the conclusion that 'Men of War' is actually quite good despite the poor performances of Tommy Lister and Trevor Goddard.

Thomas Gibson (Greg from Dharma and Greg) is one of the bad guys! Dolph Lundgren and some other super macho guys duke it out protecting an island of pacifists. It is silly, violent and overly simple. That being said it's still may be worth a watch with your brain totally shut off with a couple of buddies.

One of Lundgren's best.

I was quite impressed with film , about group of operatives

must take over an island , and find paradise there and must defend it from the coming onslaught .

Dolph Lundgren was at his best . See it was great action and good story with it .

This is undoubtedly one of Dolph Lundgren?s best, if not his best all round film. Firstly the film marks a change of pace for Dolph, here playing an action man with a conscience and although still a muscled killing machine, he has a sensitive side. The film is old hat in terms of idea, however it?s given a good sense of humanity thanks to the work of original scriptwriter, the Oscar winning John Sayles. His script was re tooled to be more action friendly but the humanity is still there. Dolph plays a mercenary hired to persuade islanders to sell there land to a mining company and by persuade I mean destruction of the demands aren?t met. A simple job for Dolph and his team of Mercs. However Dolph discovers that the entire island is going to be torn apart, pillaged for the mining of minerals found in bird and bat poo. Clearly Dolph?s years of doing rich peoples dirty work has gotten to him because he stays to fight by the side of the islanders and the few group members with enough conscience to stand by their leader. This is an old idea but being an action movie, originality isn?t high up on the list. It is refreshing to see Dolph playing a more rounded character and the film is well made.

The film looks fantastic. It?s beautifully shot by cinematographer Ronn Schmidt while the score from Golden Globe nominee Gerald Gouriet is very good, probably the best in any Lundgren piece. The film was to be directed by John Frankenheimer and as good as that would have been for Dolph?s film career, Perry Lang directs proceedings well.

The cast is good with many well known faces and it was key that Dolph?s motley crew were all well portrayed. With Tiny Lister, Tim Guinee, Anthony John Denison, Tom Wright and Catherine Bell all good as Dolph?s special forces unit. While the Islanders are strongly represented by the gorgeous Charlotte Lewis and show stealer BD Wong as mouthy Islander Po. Also the late Trevor Goddard is superbly over the top and villainous as the deranged Kiefer. Dolph Lundgren is surrounded by some strong actors and he also manages to give probably his best performance, understated and effective.

Although we have seen far better versions of this film, on a technical level it can?t be faulted. It?s beautifully shot in a glorious location (the same place Di Caprio?s Beach was filmed.) and it has a decent budget allowing for a good chunk of action. The film could have done with an action scene in the middle to quicken pace, however the films last half hour is frenetic building up to a down and dirty showdown. Overall a solid action movie and with Dolph?s latest film being one of his best and involving him leading a military operation, there seems to be a hint as to his speciality.