A Soviet Special Forces soldier is sent on a mission to infiltrate an African rebel army and assassinate its leader, but the war machine they trained starts to think for himself.
Two L.A. cops with opposing views on what is the best way to uphold the law have to work together to bring down the Yakuza, while trying to protect a beautiful woman.
A former Special Ops soldier leads a group of mercenaries to an island in the South China Sea: their mission is obtain the rights to the unusual treasure that the island beholds.
Waxman is a former Special Forces soldier who is now working as a heavily armed assassin for a top secret government agency. When a covert mission goes terribly wrong, Waxman and fellow assassin Clegg become that agency's prime targets.
When a terrorist group steals the US President's personal communications computer for launching the US arsenal in case of war, only a heroic Major has the key to prevent a Presidential assassination or a nuclear holocaust.
Director:
Frédéric Forestier
Stars:
Dolph Lundgren,
Michael Sarrazin,
Montel Williams
The tough and cold mercenary Warchild, is working for the man who took care of his war training and upbringing, the greedy General Ruechang. Ruechang is planning to take over the country by... See full summary »
Hesitating in the moment he is about to kill the rebel leader, Nikolai fails and is captured. Rather than being killed outright, he is forced to undergo a shamanic initiation ritual. The ingestion of the poison of a local scorpion, and his initiation ceremony, including scarification (a scorpion), give him a new identity and role in the world -- the Red Scorpion.Written by
Phillip Batz
One special effect that Joseph Zito and Tom Savini wanted to include in the film was Nikolai shooting one of the bad guys in head and blowing it up to pieces with machine gun he uses in the ending of the film, but for some reason this effect scene was never filmed. See more »
Goofs
During the first chase scene, a Russian soldier fires an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) at a truck. The soldier fires the weapon even though there is clearly no rocket inserted in the launcher. See more »
Quotes
[after escaping from torture, he turns towards the woman taking notes]
Lt. Nikolai:
Take a memo to General Vortek.
[She gulps and nods]
Lt. Nikolai:
Subject: Escape. Message: I am *still* Spetsnaz!
See more »
Crazy Credits
Sound effects of various weapons firing and exploding are heard over the Little Richard song the plays during the closing credits. See more »
Alternate Versions
The 18-rated German Video-Release is cut by two scenes. The first cut was made at the torture scene not showing a needle stab in the neck of the victim. The second cut was made, where Dolph Lundgren shoots off the arm of the cuban soldier See more »
Red Scorpion was filmed and released in the final months of the Cold War when communism was soon to fall. The 1980s saw a whole range of anti-Soviet films (which, in their style, were technically propaganda) as well as films promoting peace between the United States and Soviet Union (the most odd example probably being Red Heat)
This is certainly of the former camp. Portraying Dolph Lundgren as a mindless automaton of Soviet-era Russia, he fights with dedication for his Soviet commanders, until he is thrown in jail for drunken behaviour. There he meets a resistance fighter, who the Soviet command have designated as a terrorist threat, and learns the "truth" about the Soviet presence.
Looking beyond the mindless action scenes (which, despite the countless guns and explosions), there is a good fable about the possibility of manipulating truth, and how appearance is not always truth. It's nothing deep, and won't have film academics breaking out in a sweat, but it does add some interesting twists to the story.
Dolph Lundgren's acting, as always, does leave a lot to be desired, but then this film does seem to be concentrating more on the storyline and action. His education by an African Bushman is particularly funny, even touching at times as you see the relationship between Nikolai and the Bushman develop. It's just a shame that more wasn't made of it.
All in all, the film does try to be what it isn't but doesn't suffer for it - indeed, at times, it even shows signs of succeeding.
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Red Scorpion was filmed and released in the final months of the Cold War when communism was soon to fall. The 1980s saw a whole range of anti-Soviet films (which, in their style, were technically propaganda) as well as films promoting peace between the United States and Soviet Union (the most odd example probably being Red Heat)
This is certainly of the former camp. Portraying Dolph Lundgren as a mindless automaton of Soviet-era Russia, he fights with dedication for his Soviet commanders, until he is thrown in jail for drunken behaviour. There he meets a resistance fighter, who the Soviet command have designated as a terrorist threat, and learns the "truth" about the Soviet presence.
Looking beyond the mindless action scenes (which, despite the countless guns and explosions), there is a good fable about the possibility of manipulating truth, and how appearance is not always truth. It's nothing deep, and won't have film academics breaking out in a sweat, but it does add some interesting twists to the story.
Dolph Lundgren's acting, as always, does leave a lot to be desired, but then this film does seem to be concentrating more on the storyline and action. His education by an African Bushman is particularly funny, even touching at times as you see the relationship between Nikolai and the Bushman develop. It's just a shame that more wasn't made of it.
All in all, the film does try to be what it isn't but doesn't suffer for it - indeed, at times, it even shows signs of succeeding.