
Today: the global war on terror rages on. The United States will not give an inch against terrorists, especially Mohamed Jamar, considered to be the worst of them all. Jamar has been missing for months, but his network continues its function. The President stands firm before the world, but behind the scenes his teams are working to find the final solution. Jamar represents a paradox: he can never be killed, because if found dead he would become an instant martyr. If caught he... (Full plot summary below)
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Today: the global war on terror rages on. The United States will not give an inch against terrorists, especially Mohamed Jamar, considered to be the worst of them all. Jamar has been missing for months, but his network continues its function. The President stands firm before the world, but behind the scenes his teams are working to find the final solution. Jamar represents a paradox: he can never be killed, because if found dead he would become an instant martyr. If caught he must be tried. If he is found guilty he would become a martyr and further inspiration to acts of terror. If acquitted, the policies of the entire western world would be destroyed. So he must remain invisible. Roberta Jones, the head of the National Security Agency, is working to ensure he remains invisible forever. Under the guise of attending an Eastern European conference on Terror in Romania, she attends a secret meeting with Jamar at a secluded hotel outside Bucharest. No one knows about this meeting, and her goal is to buy his invisibility. Her only companions are her security team of six headed by her personal bodyguard, Lance Rockford. They are the best of the best, former military special forces personnel capable of anything. When they arrive at the hotel for the secret meeting, they are ambushed; no one is supposed to know about the meeting, but someone wants it stopped. They must fight for their lives against an unknown attacker. Lance, a man of highest integrity with an impressive record of service for his country, is forced into a situation which challenges his very beliefs.
Leave your thoughts about The Defender.
| User ReviewAnthony CThis is a really great actioner with Lundgren directing and starring in it.Even Jerry Springer is suprisingly good! |
| User ReviewLauren FI really enjoyed it, especially the action sequences. |
| User ReviewAndy Zdolph lundgren is my fav actor of all time lol. almost 90% of his movies are interesting to me, so is this one too lol. |
| User ReviewCal (You messed with the wrong country and you fucked the wrong President! In an era of political unrest and global chaos, it's a small comfort - but a comfort nonetheless - that superstar Dolph Lundgren is still around to keep the world safe. For The Defender, Lundgren not only stars but also directs... And you know what? Despite the odds stacked against him, this flick doesn't suck, nor does Dolph's surprisingly decent direction. Certainly, The Defender is brainless, unrealistic and riddled with clichés...but it doesn't suck. In fact, this is an endlessly entertaining, straightforward shoot-'em-up action movie. It's overflowing with violence, shootouts and blood; reminding its target audience as to why we loved the brainless action films of the 1980s. Perhaps it comes as no shock that Lundgren's directorial debut is a low-budget direct-to-DVD affair, but - even for a picture inhabiting the suicidal DTD realm - The Defender looks surprisingly self-assured. With its top-notch action sequences and satisfactory acting, Lundgren's first effort as a director has a lot going for it. But alas, it's ultimately hamstrung by preposterous plotting. As for the storyline: it's a tense time for the United States and its allies as they wage the War on Terror. The President of the United States (played by Jerry Springer...yes, that Jerry Springer is the President) has launched a new Peace Initiative. Unbeknownst to the general public, the National Security Advisor (Lee-Johnson) is making a secret trip to Romania to negotiate a peace agreement. To ensure this meeting runs smoothly, Gulf War veteran Lance Rockford (Ludgren) is employed as head of security, leading a few disposable agents. As the enigmatic meeting plays out, a group of armed militants attack Rockford and his team. The assault is relentless and never-ending (a little reminiscent of Assault on Precinct 13, actually), putting Rockford to the test as he works to protect both himself and the National Security Advisor. Sidney J. Furie (the man behind 2003's Detention) was originally attached to direct The Defender, but fell ill during the pre-production period. Since Dolph Lundgren had worked closely with Furie beforehand (as well as a handful of other directors, ranging from John Woo to Roland Emmerich), and because the actor had worked with the screenwriter during development, the producers asked Dolph to step up and direct the picture. A few too many gimmicky shots and too much slow motion notwithstanding, Dolph has proved an excellent director with his first effort. The Defender is easily one of the most action-saturated shoot-'em-up action flicks of late. It's also leaps and bounds above anything Van Damme or Steven Seagal has featured in recently. After about twenty minutes of admittedly slow exposition, the flick goes balls-to-the-wall. Once the enemies fire their first shot, respite is infrequent as the movie propels through action sequence after action sequence. This is hard R material as well. Massive kudos to Dolph for being unafraid to craft gritty, brutal, very violent shootouts! Bullets hit their targets, blood flows in torrents, necks are snapped and squibs detonate like crazy. The final hour is more or less an extended action sequence, and the action is simply sublime. Maxime Alexandre's wonderfully crisp and intense cinematography places a viewer in the action. There's also tight editing and great pacing as the kinetic energy barely lulls. The sound effects are also outstanding; easily one of the flick's biggest assets. However, one downfall is the dreadful music courtesy of Adam Nordén. The music reminds the audience they are watching a DTD affair. It's occasionally tense but at other times the music is grating for the ears. Bolstering the exhilarating on-screen happenings is an unfortunately (yet quite unsurprisingly) trite story. Lots of questions go unanswered in the first hour; pretty much leaver a viewer in the dark. We have no idea what the meeting is for and who the National Security Advisor is meeting. For the first hour, a viewer can't help but be riveted as they await all the answers. However, when the revelations are finally unveiled they almost entirely nullify the prior plot developments. The whole point of the operation is absurd and on the verge of anticlimactic. There are also a few too many overly dramatic moments scattered throughout the 90-minute duration. In addition, the film doesn't allow an audience to become attached to the characters. The protagonist is uninteresting and we simply don't care about him, nor do we care when a minor character is killed. The Defender is ultimately an action story that's solid on the action, but unrewarding on the story. Cast-wise, things are fairly standard. Dolph Lundgren places forth a solid performance, although the part never calls for any overwhelming acting skills. Dolph enjoys wading through the scenarios, barking commands ("Open fire!" for instance) and saying clichéd things. Of course, in this particular production Dolph isn't the only big star. Jerry Springer stars as the President of the United States. Mercifully, Jerry is given less than 10 minutes of screen time (still enough to garner second billing, though). Surprisingly, Jerry makes for a moderately convincing presidential figure, although he hardly seems like a popular candidate. There's also Caroline Lee-Johnson as the National Security Advisor. Not a bad actress per se, but nothing special. The rest of the cast are pretty much just the constituents of Dolph's team. Shakara Ledard, Thomas Lockyer, Gerald Kyd, Ian Porter, Howard Antony, etc. As a team they share adequate chemistry, exchanging occasionally witty banter. As a shoot-'em-up actioner, The Defender is an enjoyable time waster. While nothing groundbreaking for action cinema, Dolph's first directorial outing is a success! If the plotting was a little less absurd and more substance was present, I'd be recommending this film to no end. As it stands, though, The Defender contains a lot of fun mayhem with the absurdity meter shooting up to 11 (like when a sniper is shot from afar with a Beretta pistol despite being, you know, a fucking sniper). It's painful to admit, but I really enjoyed this film despite its shortcomings. As long as Dolph continues to direct new movies I'll continue to watch them. It was truly great to witness Dolph Lundgren and Jerry Springer featuring in a movie together...up next is Steven Seagal and Dr. Phil. |
| User ReviewJohn AThe Defender Is Dolph Lundgren's Directional Debut, & From The Start You Can See That He Has A Great Talent For Directing B-Movie Actioneers. In This Film Lundgren Leads A Small Group Of Secret Service, That Becomes Trapped In A Building After They Are Attacked. A Decent Story, With A Good Script & A Somewhat Decent Performance From Jerry Springer. |
| User ReviewPhil HMore Dolph action and this time, amazingly!, its a good 'Die Hard' mixed with 'Aliens' type film. A special forces team led by Dolph are double crossed whilst protecting a secret meeting by mercs hell bent on ending thus said meeting. The resulting action is actually really good as Dolph's team is killed off one by one as they try to fend off the baddie mercs and get the secret meeting members to safety. A lot of decent gun fighting, government conspiracies, a few twists and some reasonable acting make this pretty good. Simply replace the baddie mercs with aliens and you would have 'Aliens' whilst the whole thing could be 'Die Hard' in a hotel...almost hehe. Worth a look if you;re a firm Dolph fanatic for sure. |
| User ReviewAlex SNot a bad directorial debut from big Dolph, with plenty of drama and action only marred slightly by its stars and pace. Still, worth the watch if you come across it... |
| User ReviewMelody BDolph Lundgren is awesome but this movie sucks! |
| User ReviewSarfaraz Athey all have the unlimited ammo cheat on. also, jerry springer is the president. |
| User ReviewSarah LIt's sad when Jerry Springer's acting was the best thing about a movie.. |