The Defender

Plot synopsis:
At Friendship Field, Carman, Manitoba, aircraft restorer and self-taught engineer Bob Diemert and his friend Chris Ball are working on an unusual project which had its origins in the late 1970s. Taking shape in one of the airfield hangars is a new type of close air support or COIN aircraft designed to take on Soviet Union tanks. Christened the "Defender", the unusual design is a throwback to the heavily armoured Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik close air support aircraft of the Second World War.
In order to raise the funds for the Defender, Diemert began to restore one of the rare Japanese aircraft he retrieved from Balalae, Solomon Islands, a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter, one of very few of the type still in existence. In the past, he had made his mark in the ranks of aircraft restoration when he rebuilt a Hawker Hurricane XII and flew it in the 1969 Battle of Britain film.  The sale of the Zero to the Confederate Air Force in Texas has to await the painstaking restoration of the Japanese fighter aircraft. As it is readied for a test flight, Diemert runs afoul of Canadian aviation authorities, who refuse to allow him to fly the aircraft. Trucking the restored aircraft to Midland, Texas is the solution and after successful test flights, the Zero is passed over to its new American owners.
Completing the Defender becomes the sole preoccupation of Diemert and his friend. Trying to ensure that the aerodynamics are properly established leads to a curious use of a bathroom scale mounted on the back of a pickup truck, an example of the unorthodox engineering that is employed in the project. Another example of Diemert's out-of-the-box thinking comes when his children ask him to build a swimming pool. His wife comes back from work to find a swimming pool in the living room, complete with wall-to-wall carpeting.
When the Defender finally emerges from its hangar, Diemert prepares for the all-important maiden flight, but things do not go as planned.

Tags: violence, murder, romantic

Review:
Dolph Lundgren takes up directing duties for the first time here and scores a hit!
The Defender is a film which remarkably for a B-movie offers some thought provoking ideas.
The plot involves political intrigue and corruption but the basic gist is that America wants peace with the international terrorists against them.
A secret meeting is set up between the head of NSA and Mohamed Jamar a kind of Sadam/Bin Laden character.
Dolph plays Lance Rockford bodyguard and leader of a team of highly trained operatives who look after the head of the NSA.
The meeting takes place in Romania in an empty hotel, a fantastic setting.
What happens is that initially Dolph doesn't know who Roberta's Jones (NSA head) is meeting.
So there is now a hotel with a terrorist and the head of the NSA meeting up with bodyguards for each.
They want the meeting to fail, become public and in essence to oust he president and star a war at the same time.
This is an interesting concept in itself but the movie take in an extra interesting twist which you'll have to see for yourself.As a director Dolph does well, raising the question: Why work with so many b-grade hacks in recent years?
He does the best directing job since he had the good fortune to work with John Woo in 98 with BlackJack.
Lest we not forget that Dolph has worked with some good directors, Woo, Russell Mulcahey, Roland Emmerich, as well as some veterans who although past their best when they worked with Dolph, still must have been useful for picking up tips, for example Sidney Furie, Ted Kotcheff and Bruce Malmuth.
The Defender with all it's political intrigue and so called acts of patriotism are comparable to the Bourne films.
This is essentially the low budget sibling to those films and although this is inferior, this is still good work.
Dolph handles the action well and the action is plentiful with the entire last hour essentially one long action scene.
The camera keeps moving creating a real vibrancy and kinetic energy that works well and the action is reality based putting the audience right in there with some great use of sound.
The sound design is the best part of this film, strange as that may sound, but it is so well done it really enhances the action.
At the same time the editing is tight and this gives the films action a great sense of rhythm and pacing, particularly with some excellent hand-to-hand moments.
Cast-wise, Dolph is good in the lead, giving a solid performance.
He is ably supported by Caroline Lee-Johnson as Roberta Jones, as well as Shakara Ledard as a female member of Dolph's security teams.
The rest of Dolph's team are also good.
Particularly good in support is the one and only Jerry Springer as the president!
Anyway Jerry is surprisingly good in fact because acting his not his first profession.
The film is also blessed with a good score from Adam Norden whose subtle synth based score does not try to recreate a full orchestra, but instead plays to the strengths of the synthesiser and he creates some interesting themes.
Also the cinematography from Maxime Alexandre is excellent, making the film look far more polished than Dolph's more recent efforts and giving it the gloss of one Seagal and Van Damme's latest efforts the considerably more expensive Into The Sun and Wake Of Death respectively.
The Defender it must be said is also far superior to those films and is a film I would certainly watch at the cinema, even without my main man Dolph in it.
It has interesting concepts and is a good action film.
I have seen some abysmal films at the cinema like A Man Apart and Collateral Damage, Driven.
All with big action stars, yet Defender is a hell of a lot better than those films.
Adding to their excitement, Dolph is taking up directing duty in his next film too, with him playing a Russian hit-man in The Mechanik, co-starring Ben Cross (Chariots Of Fire).
The Defender is a good watch for any action fan.
I don't like action movies all too much but I got this film and it was very good.
I haven't seen many Dolph Lundgren movies except Rocky 4 and He-man but El Protector was a very good film.
If all his films are like this I shall watch more.The idea is quite good, involving terrorists and quite brave for todays current situations.
The film has a strong plot which helps because it is almost all action.
This is good fun.Dolph Lundgren is quite a good actor for the genre he works in I must admit.
I am a musician myself and would like to get into the movie industry through that, and the score in this film is interesting.This is overall a good movie, worth your time..
And the time has shown that the movies both directed and starred by Lundgren are usually better than those he just starred (with the exception of Rocky and The Expendables, however).
And Lundgren just likes East, whether the Far one (South Asia), Middle one (Arab countries) or the closer one (so-called Eastern Europe)...
And a political mess in the background.Dolph Lundren is good as always, but it was a surprise to see Jerry Springer as the US president.
The other characters were not especially catchy.Watch this 1'20" minutes creation if you like Lundgren, nothing to be ashamed about..
Boring and unoriginal action movie.
I did not like that movie.
Probably because it did not offer anything new or interesting  just shooting  there wasn't even a good scenario.
As far as the soundtrack goes  it sucked as well with exception of the song they played at the very end.At first I thought that the movie will be interesting as is started with an operation in Iraq  and you know all these terrorist references which seem to be modern these days.
But as the story unfolds I have lost my interest and was hardly keeping myself awake till the end of it.I guess I am not really into action films, but even if I was  I doubt that I will like the way the Defender is filmed.
That's why I am going to give two pints for this movie and a warning that seeing it can be a waste of your time..
I'd read somewhere that Dolph Lundgren got into directing a few years ago, when the next in a long line of straight-to-DVD cookie cutter action movies had its director get sick, so Ivan Drago himself just stepped in and took the reins.
Then I forgot about the movie for four years.I'm flipping channels today, and see the first two names in the credits: Dolph Lundgren ...
I make a bet with myself to watch it until Springer shows up, and Springer is playing the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.With all this going for it, it should be one of the grandest movies of the 21st century.
Except, no.While not the worst movie I've ever seen, nor the worst action sequences I've ever seen, the action is still choppy, shot from entirely too close a range to see what's going on.
The acting isn't terrible (except Dolph, though he's only required to stand there and look chiseled), but the plot is telegraphed in every scene.
Every good guy that turns out later to be shady, acts shady the moment they come on screen.
And Dolph's character is named "Lance Rockford." Seriously.
I am not making this up.Every action sequence is essentially the same, just a whole lot of bullet sound-effects and nothing interesting to look at or remember.
By the time Lance Rockford is faced with a crucial moral dilemma, I honestly don't see how anyone watching it could care.There are better places for your action fix, and better places for your Dolph fix.
Guns fire, people shout a lot, and you'll find yourself getting bored when you're not studying the scars from Dolph's face-lifts.
But hey, Jerry Springer plays the bad guy, so that's worth a bonus point.5/10.
For the tight schedule and budget he had, Lundgren does a really good job.
Here's the reason to watch the flick: It has Jerry Springer as the President!
Dolph Lundgren stars as Lance Rockford who is assigned to protect the prez from terrorists.
Wished he had more screen time though....but the movie has a lot of action.
The Mechanik also directed by Lundgren is awesome!Worth Watching!
Dolph Lundgren stars as Lance Rockford, a secret service agent who protects a politician from a terrorist group called "The Patriots" who see the President's view on terror as underwhelming to say the least.
I actually rented The Defender because I saw that it had Jerry Springer in it and the thought of him as the President of the United States had me curious to say the least.
I was expecting a movie of magnitude ineptitude and was indeed surprised to see that Lundgren was a competent director and that the action sequences were fairly well staged and suspenseful.
The story was (As expected) stupid and full of plot holes but I for one found this to be far better than I expected it to be.* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good).
Dolph Lundgren's directorial debut almost put him in the same category as Orson Welles and Ed Wood, namely those who wrote, stared and directed their own movie.
Dolph saved his word processing skills for the sophomore effort, namely the Mechanik.The porn-named hero (Dolph) of this movie is Lance Rockford.
This is a low budget straight to DVD (Seagal-like) movie.
Actually, most of the movie is quite boring.The scenario that ensues is part Assault of Precinct 13, part conspiracy, part Steven Segal and a whole lot of predictability.
Don't even waste your time on this movie.
For example, Jerry Springer plays the cigar smoking, workout-while-I-talk-on-the-phone President of the United States.
The other surprise is to find out that "the Dolph" was still alive and kicking.
Steven has taught Dolph the proper way to shoot a gun.
This movie also gives us the duel between Dolph's 9mm Beretta and a Sniper rifle.
Dolph's return and directorial debut is atrocious and boring.
I was going to give this movie a 1 or 2, however, I have to give a little credit for filming and some production that occurred in Romania.
Until my review of the Mechanik, I highly recommend seeing Red Scorption, Rocky IV, Universal Soldier, Masters of the Universe or Showdown in Little Tokyo for your Dolph fix..
Dolph Lundgren's debut as movie director is bad.
Two interesting facts – it's Lundgren's first movie as a director and Jerry Springer plays the president of United States.
Dolph has to protect the president from the terrorists.
Well , not really , the movie makers do try to tell us some kind of story , but is just boring and predictable .
Some people want to keep war going because it's a good business .
Also Lundgren's back story seems to be made only to make the movie longer.
It doesn't have any connection to the main plot whatsoever.The movie is mostly one shootout after another in big castle.
There is plenty of action but it's so empty because the meager plot that exists makes such little sense.Only for die-hard Lundgren fans.
Defending President Jerry Springer.
Dolph Lundgren wears two hats in his 2004 action-thriller "The Defender." Not only does he star as the hero in "The Defender," but also he directed "The Defender." Mind you, the Swedish straight-to-video star would have starred in this international intrigue actioneer anyway, but original director Sidney J.
The great news is that Dolph pinch-hits a home run with this non-stop, $6-million dollar, shoot'em up that comes packed with surprises galore.
No, Dolph has done better movies, principally Hong Kong director John Woo's made-for-cable action epic "Blackjack," but "The Defender" does qualify as one of Dolph's better direct-to-video action-thrillers.Scenarist Douglas W.
In "The Defender," a bespectacled, cigar-smoking U.S. President (Jerry Springer of TV's "The Jerry Springer Show") dispatches his African-American National Security Adviser Roberta Jones (Carolina Lee-Johnson of "The Saint") to meet with an international terrorist, Mohamed Jamal (newcomer Geoffrey Burton of "Inn of the Damned"), ostensibly a Bin Laden type to seek a peace initiative.
Jones warns longtime security chief Lance Rockford (Dolph Lundgren of "Detention") that nobody must know that this meeting is being held because it could be political dynamite for the President.
well, you'll have to see for yourself because this constitutes one of the many surprises that occur throughout "The Defender." Meanwhile, as director, Dolph doesn't waste a moment in this bullet-blasting gunplay.
The action occurs largely in a hotel in Europe with Dolph crosscutting to the President meeting with his advisors, etc., in shots set in Washington, D.C. Of course, in faraway Romania, the cameo-clad villains pour out of the woodwork like angry fire ants, and our heroes are constantly have to duck fusillades of machine gun fire.
This is just one of the surprises that Dolph springs on us near the end of the movie.
"The Defender" is a lot of fun and the ensuing surprises in the storyline should hold your attention throughout its 90 minute running time.
The performances are adequate and the production values look good for this straight-to-video thriller.
Dolph Lundgren fans should get a kick out of this tidy spy versus spy saga..
Dolph's best work in years!.
Okay, confession time right off the bat - I like Dolph Lundgren movies.
I know there are other people out there just like me.
He will occasionally sneak in a good film but the bad weigh down the scale.
So imagine my shock when this film, his directorial debut, is his best work in years.
The President (Jerry Springer...yes, Jerry Springer) has set up a clandestine meeting between his NSA chief and a Bin Laden type terrorist leader to call a truce.
Lundgren is the leader of Secret Service assigned to protect the female NSA head.
The film has a real ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 feel as Lundgren and his crew fight off mercenaries at a remote hotel.
Lundgren is actually a better director than half the guys he's worked with in the last 10 years.
There are plenty of situations such as this one in the film, but still, the acting wasn't bad and the story kept you going, hence 5/10..
Dolph is the best.
This movie is one of the best movie Dolph has made.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
It look so good.
Why am I hooked on Dolph Lundgren movies?
I have this strange and unhealthy fascination with Dolph Lundgren's terrible films.
There probably is a reason he's never broke into main stream films and The Defender is another example which he not only stars in but helms the picture as well.
Frighteningly this was his first directorial film and I kind of thought it might be worth seeing being that he has always had this passion for action flicks that maybe he could direct his way into a great action flick.
I mean The Defender is not the worst movie I've ever seen and if you like guns well The Defender might be the greatest film you've ever seen.
Sounds like a Dolph Lundgren movie.The aforementioned Mr. Lundgren stars as former Armed Forces soldier Lance Rockford who was held and tortured as a P.O.W. and now works as a Secret Service bodyguard.
His back story is half decently interesting and there isn't any problem with his acting per se but the story or lack thereof doesn't support any good characters really so it's all about him shooting people...and is it just me or does he hold his handgun really weird in this film?
Jerry Springer, yes THAT Jerry Springer, has a small role as The President of The United States.
It's unfortunate that the plot made no sense because it might have made his character even more important.
I lump them together because whether or not they have talent as actors you wouldn't know from this film because none of them have any stand out moments or even personalities.
I mean there is plenty of action but it's so empty because the meager plot that exists makes such little sense.
Even if you are a Dolph Lundgren fan...for the few of you out there or if you're like me and just can't look away...like a car wreck well do your very best to skip over this one because it's one big long shoot out with nothing in the end to satisfy you at all.
I usually like Dolph Lundgren movies (Universal Soldier, Rocky II, The Punisher, Masters of The Universe).
It has a great premise: the head of the NSA goes to Romania for a secret meeting with a mysterious party, who turns out to be the head of a terrorist organization.
Lundgren plays the Secret Service agent who is leading the team that protects her.Most of the major points of the story take place in the first 20 minutes and the the final 10 minutes of the movie.
Most of the rest of the movie can be summed up like this: 10-15 minutes of shooting, 5 minutes of talking, 10-15 minutes of shooting, cut scene of the president, 10-15 minutes of shooting, cut scene of a group of men standing in the middle of a circle of SUVs in the middle of the night talking, 10-15 minutes of shooting.There is a great plot twist near the end.
And it's pretty obvious who the terrorist and president are supposed to be.Overall, I would not recommend this film unless you are really bored and there is nothing else on TV.