Wether you love the man (every sane person should) or hate him (how dare you!), Lundgren is always full of surprises and bound to stand out in whatever movie you put him in.
Here’s 10 films of his which deserved a sequel or spin-off entry.
10. DIRECT ACTION
A beyond reasonable Action-Crime film, this was essentially Dolph’s Training Day and he had a cool Walking Talk type presence as well as a far more plausible Lethal Weapon rapport with a female rookie officer character. What was to hate? Nothing really as his character Sgt. Gannon was both deadly and believable while on the run from his crooked superiors.
They could’ve moved the action to some other state for a sequel. Maybe have Gannon go all Road House as a club bouncer in New Orleans? How about as a VIP bodyguard on the side and have him try to save a group of drug dealers and strippers after witness protection fails them?
9. MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
Easily the most disputed and rather cheesy (maybe infamous) film on this list. Regardless, no one can tell you that Dolph was wrong for that role. He was still young in his career, and even he took awhile to embrace that cult appeal that came with it over time, but he had the look, wit and stature that the title character deserved.
Even though an equally, just-as-troubled reboot is on its way, it still wouldn’t hurt to see Dolph make a cameo in that film in some fashion. Maybe even voice the character in an Adult Swim type parody?
8. BLOOD OF REDEMPTION
Not every Dolph fan is familiar with this movie but this underworld crime flick, while low-brow, was a rather slick thriller with a reasonable cast and fun plot twists. It wasn’t always organized but it still was brutally efficient (lame pun intended). Dolph’s character Axel could, in John Wick/Equalizer fashion, probably emerge again under a different alias and be guarding a whole bigger row of ruthless mobsters (all played by everyone’s favorite B-movie gallery of actors).
They could do another deadly game of cat-and-mouse or they could do yet another round of seeing which member of the crime syndicate is killing off others to become the next Don. Either way, since Dolph has worked consistently with director Giorgio Serafini since then (to arguably mixed results), he deserves to revisit this world they created previously.
7. THE DEFENDER
Dolph has played just about every federal/covert role to date and it was a joy seeing him play a Secret Service type character. The name, Lance Rockford, alone is arguably just as awesome a name as Jack Traven, John Cutter, Jack Bauer or even MacGyver. It was the first time we saw Dolph be a competent director as well and the Romanian-set embassy action was exciting and had plenty of stakes raised.
If Dolph must return to any character that he helped co-create, it should easily be this one.
6. THE EXPENDABLES
If this franchise wants to take note of what other franchises are doing (I’m looking at you, Fast & Furious! I saw you, Transformers! Damn you, Bourne Identity and Star Wars!), then Millennium Films knows its time to give at least one of their characters a spin-off. Gunner Jensen stole every scene he was in while riffing on Dolph’s previous villain roles (i.e. Universal Soldier, Rocky IV).
Nonetheless, they could easily show all the rage-fueled catastrophes that drove him to became who he was prior to joining Barney Ross’ team. And given the easter eggs contained in this franchise, what’s to stop them from spoofing other Dolph merc movies like Men of War or Red Scorpion? That would just be icing on the cake in all honesty.
5. MEN OF WAR
MEN OF WAR, Dolph Lundgren, 1994, © Dimension FilmsDolph’s similarly named Nick Gunar was a very human character and demonstrated that Dolph had beyond reasonable range as an actor. He had already demonstrated his muscular abilities but here he was saddled with a great script by John Sayles and had Samuel Fuller pupil, Perry Lang, in the director’s chair. Adding to that was sweeping cinematography, a great supporting cast and intriguing themes. In other words, it was anything but cliche and a great modern-day war commando flick.
4. THE PUNISHER
All the Punisher films had hit-and-miss moments, yet they showed that each of their leading men could interpret the deadly character, Frank Castle, and believably take out the trash. If Marvel ever decides to bring back this title character for whatever endless wave of their Avenger films, it would still be fun to see Dolph featured in there somewhere (unlikely as it is). He could even play the signature villain The Russian if nothing else.
3. SKIN TRADE
Easily Dolph’s most personal movie to date and and a great tribute to earlier ‘80s/‘90s films like Rambo II, Commando and even Dolph’s own Showdown in Little Tokyo. Dolph deserves to revisit this still relevant trafficking topic, if not another co-starring role with Tony Jaa.
2. DON’T KILL IT
Another winner from campy action-horror maestro Mike Mendez, Dolph was clearly having fun here as demon hunter “Jebediah” (bonus points to you if you read that in Dolph’s voice). Mendez has had at least one sequel to his work before and this character would not be out of place in the Lavalantula franchise so get cooking on this!
1. SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO
Sgt. Kenner (Dolph does prefer that rank, doesn’t he?) is easily one of the performer’s best and most quotable roles to date. While Brandon Lee is no longer with us now, it still would not hurt to have some throwback sequel to this buddy film. Maybe he could be married now to Tia Carrere’s character and be taking on some other weird mob affiliates.
In a world where every other film is trying to be like Deadpool or the film version of 21 Jump Street, the “break the 4th wall” aspect might actually work here. All I know is that I would come back to this movie any day over endless crappola on Netflix.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
* Dark Angel
Another often-quoted Dolph film that was released as a cash-in on Terminator and The Hidden. Dolph could return to take on some new alien menace. Wouldn’t hurt anybody.
*Universal Soldier
Yes, they’ve released plenty of hit-and-miss sequels to this but what they should’ve TRULY done years ago was have another follow-up where the Unisol company was testing out more reanimated soldiers and it was discovered that some of the soldiers had been cloned as insurance, including Dolph. You know it would be way more entertaining seeing an unnecessary rehash with Dolph once again being sent to kill someone who knew too much.
*Blackjack
This John Woo telefilm had Dolph as a blind bodyguard who uses his other senses to his advantage. While other TV pilots by Woo got picked up as USA Network shows, this deserved to be its own 2-3 season run given the quirky material, smooth jazz and inventive shoot-outs.
*Army of One
Dolph entered Bogart-level Noir territory here and while Army of Two wouldn’t be any creative title, it would sell faster than a typical ballpark game.
*Missionary Man
Another wicked cool Dolph film that he also helmed. Give us more Bible thumping, motorcycle chases, shotgun fights and Dallas scenery please! Could have equally, porn-sounding titles such as as Missionary Man: Reposition or a more positive, mainstream title like Rebirth but Ryder (yes, that’s his name) doesn’t deserve a one-off and done.
Hoped you enjoyed reading this and feel free to sound off on other worthy Dolph films we would all love to see!