Pentathlon (1994)

Director:

Bruce Malmuth

Writers (WGA):

William Stadiem (story) and
Bruce Malmuth (story) ...

Release Date:

1 July 1994 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Play to win, if you lose, you die

Plot:

An Olympic gold medalist escapes to freedom in the US, only to be tracked down by his sadistic ex-coach.

Plot Keywords:

Olympics | Coach | Pentathlon | Gold Medal | 1970s

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Eric Brogar
David Soul	...	Mueller
Renée Coleman	...	Julia
Roger E. Mosley	...	Creese
Evan James	...	Offerman
David Drummond	...	Hundt
Daniel Riordan	...	Rhinehardt
Philip Bruns	...	Vic
Gerald Hopkins	...	Christian
Erik Holland	...	Rudolph Brogar
Bruce Malmuth	...	Erhardt
Mel Stewart	...	Olympic Athlete
Anthony T. Pennello	...	Cop #1
Barry Lynch	...	Horst
Andreas Reinl	...	Schubert

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Iceland:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | France:U (video premiere) | Germany:16 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Live Entertainment

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the fencing competition, the referee is standing between the competitors and the scoring equipment. In reality, the referee would stand on the other side of the strip, facing both the competitors and the scoring equipment.

Quotes:

Creese: Sometimes trying to make a living is like climbing a mountain with a pogo stick.

Wouldn't come close to making the team.

Dolph Lundgren stars as an Olympic athlete who is looking to make his comeback. However not only does Lundgren face the hurdles of getting back in shape, quitting smoking and pulling himself out of a depression he also has to contend with a psychopath/neo-Nazi coach (David Soul) who is still obsessed with him after Lundgren defected years before. Dolph Lundgren is really one of the most inconsistent action stars in the business, for every enjoyable action flick he makes (The Punisher, I Come In Peace, Universal Soldier,Army Of One) there is more that are just plain terrible (Cover-Up, Masters Of The Universe, Red Scorpion) however in sheer dullness few of his titles live up to the painfulness of Pentathlon. I admit that the plot hints at some fun, with Lundgren facing a neo-Nazi army while training for the Olympics but sadly this is supposed to be character driven and in the hands of Lundgren, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he's in way over his head. Lundgren tries extremely hard to make the part credible but he fails and instead contributes one of his worst performances to date. Lundgren of course can be effective mainly when he beats up on various bad guys but we instead get too many scenes of Lundgren soul searching and hence this is as dull as it gets. David Soul is amusing in the role, adding a wisp to his villainous scowl which almost makes up for the horrendous story but overall let's face it, placing him against Dolph Lundgren is nearly impossible and it's hard to believe that a director (Who helmed Nighthawks mind you!) could believe in the idea that a fight between Lundgren and Soul would even be close. Worst of all there is next to zero action, it's as if Lundgren wanted to try and act and despite his best efforts, one will never appreciate him for anything more than just providing mindless action and nothing else beyond that. Lundgren has a screen presence sure, but he's not a great actor so if you take away his ability to fight then it's no secret the movie is bound to be a disappointment.

* out of 4-(Bad)