Wanted Man

This reminded me a little of John Wayne's "Mc Q" (1974) only this time it's Dolph Lundgren who is the curmudgeonly old cop who bends the rules to suit the investigation. That's caused his bosses a bit of an headache, so they want to put that frankly rather odious "Johansen" out to pasture. A trip to Mexico is organised so he can retrieve and escort a vital witness in a double-murder case back to the USA. "Rosa" (Christina Villa) is no shrinking violet and the couple don't exactly hit it off, but gradually that all changes as the pair begin to realise that they are being played. By whom, though? That's the six million dollar question. I'm afraid the presence of Kelsey Grammer in anything (except maybe the early editions of "Cheers") never bodes well for me, and his mediocrity rather sums up this whole thing. It hasn't an original bone in it's body as it follows well established plot lines, constantly escaping from hellish scenarios against overwhelming odds and firepower. It's as if his dark sunglasses gave him a degree of immortality. Rapid healing powers at any rate. Duplicity, police corruption, betrayal - you name it and it's been squeezed into this bland and repetitive thriller that's very short on thrills. Television fodder at best, sorry.

Disgraced, hard-line detective Mike Johansen (Dolph Lundgren) is given the redemptive task of going to Mexico and extraditing Rosa (Christina Villa) who witnessed the slaying of two DEA agents during a fubar'd drug heist. Not long into Johansen's ostensibly straight forward trip when things quite literally, and figuratively go dangerously south, as Johansen becomes the target of rogue cops from north and south of the border! I will be generous here and simply say that the rudimentary plot is comfortably familiar, and leave it at that, happily, the dynamic presence of the grizzled, hugely charismatic Dolph in front of, and behind the camera gives this gritty crime actioner a dopamine boost! Pacy enough, with some decent squibbage, Wanted Man is a more than credible, dramatically compelling shoot 'em up, eminently watchable fare for action junkies, and a no-brainer for Dolph fans! It must also be said that the Clint Eastwoodian tropes are hella strong in Dolph's exciting Wanted Man, being 2 parts The Gauntlet and one part Gran Torino, and certainly no worse for it! There's lovely chemistry between the beautiful Christina Villa and Mr. Lundgren, and I was rootin' for 'em all the way to the border, man!!!!!

Certainly not a bad movie nor a particularly good movie. Rests somewhere in between but, a massive improvement over Dolph's previous directorial effort 'Castle Falls'

Dolph is solid in this and casts himself in a brave role. (Think Eastwood's Gran Torino) He's pretty unlikable in the early scenes as a grizzled racist old cop

But, for me Kelsey Grammer is the one standout in a small role...

Probably a film more for Dolph Lundgren fans but, a vast improvement on his recent output and for a one time watch it will pass the time.

It is well directed for being shot on a shoestring budget. (I presume)

it's a slow burn...it just doesn't quite have the payoff it needed to elevate it.

In my opinion.

**4.8/10 on Imdb seem like a fair rating**

I probably give it 2/5 stars.

Lately I have been so into looking got just a good Hollywood movie that I am down to watch anything. So I rented this off Amazon Prime. I will admit, I was not disappointed with this film. It is dark and gritty, but still very enjoyable. The film takes place I believe a time of body cameras where a veteran cop is caught on tape saying racist things to a Hispanic person. There's no denying it's him. His chief sends him on a special assignment at the border where he uncovers more trouble after a attempted assassination. He then learns very quickly that he cannot trust anyone. This isn't a high budget film but it's still good.

Of course I opted to sit down and watch the 2024 action thriller "Wanted Man", when I happened to come across it by random chance. And seeing some familiar faces like Dolph Lundgren and Kelsey Grammer on the cover just helped to sweeten the deal.

Writers Dolph Lundgren, Michael Worth and Hank Hugues put together a rather enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. It was interesting to read that Dolph Lundgren had been working on fleshing out the script for the movie since 2006, so it must have been fulfilling for him to finally get it to the screen. One might argue that the script and narrative is generic for an action thriller, but I have to admit that I was genuinely entertained by it, and thus the movie did the job it was supposed to do - entertain.

The script has a twist to it along the way, of course it does. And I will say that I definitely enjoyed the twist of events that the writers implemented into the storyline. Predictable? Perhaps, but entertaining nonetheless.

The acting performances in "Wanted Man" was good. Of course you know what you are getting when you sit down to watch a movie with Dolph Lundgren in the leading role, and he does what he does best here, no doubt about it. It was a shame that Kelsey Grammer didn't have a bigger part to play in the movie. Michael Paré and Roger Cross also shows up in the movie, also in lesser roles, unfortunately. I wasn't familiar with actress Christina Villa, but she definitely put on a good performance alongside with Dolph Lundgren.

There is a good amount of action to spruce up the storyline. And it works, because it is adequately choreographed action sequences that compliment the storyline nicely.

If you enjoy a good old action thriller, then give "Wanted Man" a chance. I was genuinely entertained by the movie, and it is a movie that I warmly recommend to fans of the action thriller genre. This is an action thriller that is well-worth sitting down and spending 85 minutes on watching.

My rating of director Dolph Lundgren's 2024 movie "Wanted Man" lands on a six out of ten stars.