How sad is this?

Best movie ever!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Made in the prime of Dolph's career "Red Scorpion" roars to life, with lots of highly-charged scenes of explosive, hard-hitting violence and bloodshed. And yet it's the hilariously boisterous and buffoon-like antics of the great, veteran, character-actor M. Emmett Walsh and his hot-headed humor, that really balances out the movie beautifully. In the film he plays a loud-mouthed blow-hard and his frequent patterings of expletive-ridden banter, gives the film a great amount angst and loads of off-color humor. Not to be out-done, Dolph takes a side-trip into the bush country and while he's hanging out with the natives, it's here that he experiences several life-changing events, which eventually leads him down the road to a full-blown "spiritual awakening". Ultimately this miraculous transformation of mind and soul culminates in a scene, where his adoptive tribe ceremonially etches "the mark of the hunter" into his flesh - which is, fittingly enough, a scorpion. What could possibly top that? Well... not to leave out this fine detail, one that's central to the movies plot, which is, during Dolphs tribal experience, not only does he acquire a new out-look on life, but also a new pair of sandals to go with it.Red Scorpion was filmed primarily in Africa in 1988 on a fairly modest budget, however when it's all said and done it remains one of Dolph Lungren's best and most memorable action films - which over the years has been a true pleasure to watch time and again. Red Scorpion is well-paced throughout and is rarely, if ever dull even for an instant. As mentioned above, the films violent proceedings are effectively livened up by the cantankerous, foul-mouthed, rantings of one M. Emmett Walsh (endearingly known as "The Fatguy from Red Scorpion"), who is very much so the polar-opposite of Lundgren, in both appearance and personality. In light of such stark contrasts of character, this consequently ensures that he's at odds with the films star every step of the way, in other words the two characters play-off each other beautifully. The casting as a whole is very solid and no actor looks/sounds out of place, it's production values (the Russian military base, helicopter mock-ups, custom-made weaponry, etc.) may not be award-winning, but are strong throughout and I absolutely love how this film was edited and in so doing gives the films many action scenes an extra kick in the pants. The films crew was comprised mostly of young talent, who where still quite green to film-making (especially the films first-time producers) and the enthusiasm that they put into this movie is often palpable, perhaps none more so then the level of excitement witnessed during the chase sequence which erupts about 15 minutes in.Made in the late-80's Red Scorpion is very much a product of the time, because not only does it look and sound like a lower-budget version of Rambo III (consequently that film was released less then a year earlier); but due to how many of the films action scenes were staged and especially in the way in which they were edited. If I were to drop another 80's reference, well, the more you watch Red Scorpion, the stronger the "A-Team" vibe seems to get. As this film packs in lot's of quick fiery/dust-filled cuts of boisterous AK-action and vehicular carnage, which are formulamatically accompanied by such familiar sights, such as: drab military vehicles, flimsy wooden guard-towers (always a favorite target), a spattering of sand-bags, chain-link fencing, stacks of wooden boxes and ammo-crates and of course what 80's action film-set would be complete without some 55-gallon steel drums worked into the picture - still a common part of the equation today, but absolutely mandatory in those days. So even though it's set in the distant desert climes of the African bush country, the film still manages to deliver, a strong dose of familiarity and 80's action movie clichés by the truckloads, which is undoubtedly part of it's charm. If I were to keep score of the films action scenes, I'd say there's at least three major extended battle sequences and a good half-dozen or so smaller skirmishes, ultimately Red Scorpion never stays quite for long. It's a hard-hitting bloodbath, that's predestined to be fought on the hot, arid, plains of central Africa.*Note* If you're a fan of hard-hitting, helicopter carnage, take notice of this film, because it happens to be one of the best movies to fill that niche. Red Scorpion delivers lots of first-rate rotary-action, which is due entirely to the fact that on several occasions the Russian-made Hind Gunship (or a mock-up of one) is prominently featured front and center. This notorious machine of war is ever-ready to wreak death and destruction from above - and as you'll see, it very often does. As the Cold War-era saying goes "never smile at the crocodile", which for those who are not familiar, is a reference to the Hind's fearsome looking shark mouth paint-scheme, which only increases it's already impressively intimidating appearance.Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention it. For those of you who haven't up-graded to the Blu-ray yet, Red Scorpion is simply cooler then ever and now sports some utterly bitchin' flame-throwers! Just why they left that out the first time, I'll never know.

I'm not the biggest fan of action movies. But i love this one. Good action scenes, excellent scenarios, a not-ridiculous story. It's for entertainment, for sure, and that's all. The acting is just enough, no need for amazing acting. I love the "rebirth" theme with the indigenous character, realizing what is "good" and "bad" for those people, for those who lived in that country. Lundgren is just like Scharzenneger was in the early movies. Acting with few words and a lot of muscles. The chasing scene with 50's and 60's rock screaming in the megaphones is excellent. If you want to have a good time, pure entertainment... By the away, a little history lesson. There has been a lot of criticism because the soldiers in Africa speak Spanish. Well, the Soviet forces in Africa many times had Cuban soldiers inlisted. The reason: the weather, the cuban were more used to high temperatures. It's not a mistake.

OK now I'm not going to try and say that this film is by any means a true classic, BUT it is a type of classic.in so much as that it has the man Dolph, mostly half nude, and it has guns, and some really nasty ones at that. so the plot is really weak, nobody is going to buy into the fact that one guy can save a nation but thats not the point, its really just a vehicle for Dolph to do his thing, which is to look tough and sound funny in a monotone kinda way.i really like the torture scene where the guy is sticking large needles through Dolphs anatomy, actually looks pretty realistic considering its not a big budget film, and also i like the scarification that Dolphs little tribesman friend does for him while he is drugged.the highlight of the film for me is probably the goofy relationship that is forged between Dolphs character and the little bushman, its really fun. the language barrier is well played out but the writers and actors have enabled this element to flow very well and their means of communication is really very effective at translating the messages of the relationship for the film.so do yourself a favor and go rent the DVD as it has at long last been released, and sit back and enjoy some cornball action for all its worth.just don't expect any special features cause their isn't any.

This movie was produced and written by none other than Jack Abramoff, recently in the news (and in the slammer) due to being convicted of illegal lobbying and fraud. Eventually, two White House officials (J. Steven Griles and David Safavian) and a congressman (Bob Ney) were also convicted in connection with his activities. You can get an accurate feeling for the "Rules? What Rules?" attitude of Abramoff and his cronies in the Bush White House by watching this bit o' dreck.Although this movie was released during the Reagan Era, when the atmosphere was also "Rules? What Rules?" - see Iran/Contra, the October Surprise, etc. etc. - the Bush Administration has taken this to new and previously unimagined extremes. I am anxiously awaiting a movie (written by Scooter Libby- or maybe a sequel from Abramoff when he gets out) that captures the zeitgeist of stupidity and arrogance that only a true insider can really know. "Team America" comes close (America!! F*ck Yeah!!), but it is intended as a comedy. What we have experienced the last seven and a half years is no joke.