Men of War (1994) Dolph Lundgren, Charlotte Lewis, BD Wong, Tony Denison Movie Review

Men of War (1994)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Dolph Lundgren in Men of War (1994)

A Magnificent Mission

Nick Gunar (Dolph Lundgren) was a top mercenary trained by Colonel Merrick (Kevin Tighe), but since retiring from active duty he is struggling with civilian life having ruined his marriage and bumming around all day. It is why when Merrick recommends him to the Nitro Mine Corporation who need someone to force the inhabitants of a South China Sea island to give up their rights to its valuable mineral resources he reluctantly agrees. Recruiting some of his mercenary buddies they head out there to do what seems to be an easy job but it is there that Nick has a change of heart and finds himself siding with the locals as they help him find himself. But whilst some of the men remain loyal to nick others stick with who are paying them and set out to destroy him.

When the going gets tough you don't care what the characters are like, that is the most crucial thing when it comes to "Men of War" as if you expect much more than muscle men with big guns acting tough then you are going to be sorely disappointed. In truth I was disappointed as unfortunately whilst my expectations were not high the cheesiness of the movie from macho BS dialogue to butch acting was too much for me. Maybe if I had watched this for the first time back in 1994 then maybe I wouldn't be so put off by the cheesiness of it, which includes Catherine Bell giving us tough talking tomboy, but watched now for the first time it is too much.

Catherine Bell in Men of War (1994)

The annoying thing is that if you look beyond the cheesiness the storyline is in itself quite entertaining with this almost crossover of the 70s rescue mission movies with a touch of "The Magnificent Seven". As such you start with Nick initially leading this mission to destroy the people of an island and then ending up siding with them and defending them. It is simply a nice mix of two familiar storylines which isn't in the least bit complicated but works as a nice vehicle for the action which is of course what the movie is all about.

What this all boils down to is that "Men of War" is another hit n miss movie because for everything which is right about it, such as the storyline, there is something which is bad, which truthfully is usually the acting. But for fans of early 90s action it delivers pretty much everything you expect.


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