Missionary Man

This is Dolph in his best ever! For you that don't have seen a lot of Clint Eastwoods movies this is a (official or unofficial, don't know) remake of Pale Raider with a influence of High Plains Drifters. Take place in the modern world but with a western, outlaw feel to it.

A stranger drives in on his iron horse to the town in need of help.It's the classic avenger movie with all the ingredients that you would expect. You know what you gonna get and are NOT disappointed. Dolph really shows that he is qualified as a director. The angels are great,the photo of the film and the feeling, it all fits beautiful! I was really surprised at the quality of the picture and I can't wait to see if he can keep this up in the future!

I give it a 10/10 the best action movie I've seen in years!

I've always been a fan of action movies having grown up in the 80's fed on a diet of Sly, Arnie, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. These are the best of the best when it comes to kicking ass. I would include Dolph Lundgren is this category. Granted, he has been in some terrible movies like Cover Up and The Minion, but all the other big action stars also have movies on their CV's that they want to forget about! The thing that struck me about Missionary Man is that is was filmed brilliantly and had an excellent musical score to go with the usual Dolph Lundgren action we expect from him. He directed this movie and it is shot brilliantly. It reminded me of older Clint Eastwood movies, as Dolph plays a stranger in a small town who decides to help the townsfolk fight back against the greedy businessman John Reno and the corrupt Sheriff's Department. It is the closest thing to a modern western I've seen, and I really enjoyed it. Dolph is back people, and this is one of his best!

As Dolph's 3rd directorial efforts, I've watched "Missionary Man" twice and the story plot was good. I'm just disappointed that the camera man who did the film-making of the "Missionary Man" - he didn't make the detailed shooting of Dolph's fighting style except the one in his hotel cafeteria that he punched, beat up the bad guys, and kicked their groins. But, the overall of this movie, we don't see HOW he punched some bad guys with his karate skills and we don't see how Dolph handled with an axe except that we see him holding an axe up in the bad guy's stomach. If you watch Van Damme or Seagal movies, you will see the detailed style of the punches, kicks, they used for their movies. Dolph's movie is too "surface", but the plot of the story is good. He looked so cool on the motorcycle. Also, I liked the story about Dolph's interaction with the Native Americans.

I just saw the film. And seeing it it reminded me of the Clint Eastwood film Palerider. It was sort of the same story but in a modern time. Why I say this is because of so many similarities: - man presumed dead by the gangsters, hired gangster believes he killed him many years ago (just like in Palerider) - holy man with the bible (just like in Palerider) - alone against the gangsters (as many films)

The similarity is maybe to similar. Maybe too similar to call it written by Dolph Lundgren. More like partly written by Dolph Lundgren. The base of the story is 100% Palerider.

But the film it self is good. Like the modern twist of it. But it is Palerider.

Dolph Lundgren stars as Ryder a mysterious biker who rolls into town (and bares an uncanny resemblance to Gary Busey) and defends an Indian reservation from the local mobsters and bikers that show up in the finale. Missionary Man despite what Dolph Lundgren fans will tell you, is not one of his best movies. Indeed in comparison to his last two directorial efforts this one is the weakest. The problem is that the action is badly edited, the bad guy bikers aren't written well and pose little threat and the film is all grainy and bled out of colors. (Why Dolph didn't shoot this in black and white is beyond me.) The climax has its moments and Missionary Man does remain somewhat watchable through Lundgren's typically commanding presence but with such craftsmanship shown in The Russian Specialist and The Defender one can't help but be disappointed with this one. Plus Lundgren borrows heavily from many superior films such as Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter and Billy Jack. The problem is that he just can't fuse enough novelty to distinguish his work. In the end though it's the sped up action and over-edited camera angles which render this one as a forgettable effort. Not a terrible movie mind you, indeed it is superior to most straight to video movies but Missionary Man is nothing special.

* * out of 4-(Fair)