Agent Red is a much-hated movie. Its been said that there was actually hours of material shot with no real purpose, and lots had to be chopped in order to make a semi coherent movie.

Its all about Major Matt Hendricks (Dolph Lundgren - Red Scorpion)one of America’s best soldiers, he is put in charge of the transportation of the deadly chemical Agent Red from Russia to Baltimore via Submarine. Agent Red was created by the Americans in the 60s, but they realised it was too dangerous and scrapped the project. The Russians found information on this and stole it, fearing the Americans would use it on them. While in their possession, it leaked to a small village and all its inhabitants were killed. Naturally they now want rid of it.
Also on board the sub is his ex-fiancée Linda Christian (Meilani Paul – Call Girl). But a group of Russian terrorists led by Kretz (Alexander Kuznetzov - Space Cowboys) hijack the sub, killing everyone but Hendricks and Linda. They plan to launch missiles loaded with Agent Red at Moscow and New York. You see, they all had relatives in the village that was exposed to Agent Red, and they believe they will be doing the world a favour by showing them how dangerous it is. But, they weren’t planning on Matt Hendricks, and the fate of those two cities, and everyone in them, is down to him, as the US Army prepares to blow the sub, with him and Linda in it, out of the water…

Now, Agent Red is by no means as bad as everyone says. But it is still pretty crappy.

The acting isn’t the problem really, Dolph plays his role with Dolph style efficiency, while Meilani Paul is sexy and can act to a passable degree.

The music is straightforward direct to video fare.

It’s just that the movie is incredibly boring that destroys it. There are no dramatic action scenes at all. Either Dolph kicks someone in or he shoots him or her. No big fights, nothing impressive.

While this review being quite short could be put down to me being lazy, the truth is that there isn’t much to say about the film. Most of the story happens in the first half hour.

Seeing as the special effects of boats ships etc is ALL stock footage, I refuse to give it a good mark on that.

The whole chopped up story is quite clearly true as well. There are plot pieces totally unexplored, eg the radio thing Dolph receives. So, he tries it in one scene and it doesn’t work. You cannot tell me after they spent minutes introducing it that that is all they planned it for.
Also, the character ‘Ziggy’ (Allan Kolman – Scanner Cop 2) is introduced in a way that would indicate that he would play some further part, and not just Dolph’s Taxi driver for a minute. Kolman’s relatively high cast billing also indicates this. But no.

To be perfectly honest, there isn’t much more I can say about Agent Red. It isn’t very good. The only reason I still own it is that it is part of my Lundgren collection. And the fact it features Stephen Macht, who was in the Monster Squad, even if it is a tiny role.

Maybe had they made it properly, Agent Red would have been an entertaining movie, but as it stands, all it has going for it is Dolph Lundgren and a bit part from a Monster Squad actor. It isn’t the worst movie ever, but it might be Dolph’s worst.


Year: 2000
Titles: Agent Red
Captured

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD