This was a movie I had never heard of until I bought it on video for a pound under its UK title of ‘Joshua Tree’. For this review, I’ll just refer to it as ‘One Man Army’ because it sounds cooler, and neither name suits the movie more than the other in any great way to warrant a decision on that basis.

The movie follows Wellman Santee (Dolph Lundgren - Masters of the Universe), a man who was smuggling sports cars across the US illegally with the help of two crooked cops, a Chinaman and his friend Eddie (Ken Foree – Sleepstalker). When he is betrayed by the cops and framed for the murder of a highway cop that got caught in the cross-fire, he mounts an escape from prison to enact revenge on those who stabbed him in the back.
He begins by stealing a pickup and taking hostage its owner Rita (Kristian Alfonso – Day of Redemption), who just happens to be a deputy sheriff. Needless to say, Severance (George Segal – The Cable Guy) and Rudy (Beau Starr – Speed), the two cops that betrayed him, take over the case, and with a squad of deputies and the Sheriff helping them, they chase Santee across the desert as he tries to track down the Chinaman, Jimmy Shoeshine (Michael Paul Chan – Rapid Fire) and the two crooked cops to gain revenge. But on the journey Rita realises the truth, and the Severance declares that she is now his accomplice and is now also up for arrest. On the run from the cops and out to get revenge, will the duo be able to take down their enemies and clear their names?

The acting in this movie isn’t all that great, even by Dolph Lundgren movies usual standard. The man himself does well enough, and Alfonso is pretty good as the love interest. Its just that the rest of the cast doesn’t seem to be all there. Segal and Starr actually make their character’s a bit too likeable for villains, and the rest of the cast was just bland. Michael Paul Chan actually did a pretty good job as well, but he was in the movie for so little an amount of time that you feel he was wasted.

The music in the film is pretty poor, even for an action movie. To be honest I don’t think one song from it stuck in my head, which is pretty disappointing, considering these movie’s usually at least have a cheesy but cool theme tune.

The only real special effects are the explosions and gunshot wounds, which are all handled very well, if not being anything to shout about.

The action scenes don’t come often, but when they do they are very good. The chase scene with the two Ferrari-esque motors is really cool and well shot by director Vic Armstrong. The other awesome action sequence is a battle in the warehouse where the cars are stored, which sees Dolph taking on Jimmy Shoeshine’s henchman in a variety of bloody and cool looking ways.

But that is the problem with the movie, it just doesn’t have enough action in it, and the fact that the few scenes there are were handled so well aggravates you further.
The movie seems to really want to spend a lot of time on the plot, but the fact is that you know almost exactly what it going to happen right from the start. Only an idiot would not twig to there being crooked cops and who they were from the minute Severance and Rudy were introduced. The film also starts to bring in a lot of plot points that it never expands on. Severance often says that Santee was like a son to him. What? They don’t say anything about how their relationship was so close in the movie. On a similar note, when he visits his real father, the movie makes it clear that there is no love lost between the two, but doesn’t make it at all clear why.

At the end of the day, the movie is pretty entertaining, and fans of Lundgren should give it a shot, because it makes for a decent rainy day’s viewing, but it isnt anywhere near the colossal Swede’s best work, and had it not been for the excellence of the action scenes, would probably have been a bit closer to his worst.

But Army of One isnt a dire movie at all, it’s just not very good. Those who like action movie’s should give it a shot at a low price, rental or on TV, but it really isn’t a movie to get excited about.

The movie is supposedly heavily cut in the UK, and that is my version of it, so some things may have been absent from my version that appear in others.
With a bit of work put into the plot, a few more action scenes and a better supporting cast, this could have been a really good action picture, but as it is, it’s a watchable but average action flick for fans of the star and or the genre to watch when there is nothing better to do.

Other Dolph Lundgren Reviews

Agent Red
Cover-Up
I Come in Peace
The Last Patrol
Masters of the Universe
The Peacekeeper
The Punisher (1989)
Red Scorpion
Sweepers
Universal Soldier

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS