The Russian Specialist (2005)

Spetnaz (Special Ops) veteran Nick Cherenko leaves Russia after his son and wife are killed in a gunfight by drug lord Aleksandr 'Sasha' Popov's mob men. He's threatened with exposure as illegal car mechanic in L.A. by a fellow ex-pat tycoon who offers him $500,000 to liberate her kidnapped daughter. He only takes the job when told the capturers are Sasha's goons again. The mission's long path to find the girl and escape over the Finnish border, where his team is to be paid, is littered with blood and corpses. Unlike the crappy movies that Steven Seagal stars this days or even the days of post 2000 this is another great Lundgren movie and pretty dark if you ask me and the final act of the film was pretty strong it's a great fun for a straight to DVD sequel and for the type of low budget action movie they actually did a pretty cool job.

This to me is one of the better Dolph films to come out of the 2000's. I appreciate the simplicity of it but what makes it stand above the rest id the quality in the acting. Dolph is very good as Niko the mechanic. Ben Cross as well as the other guys are very good. The climax in the film makes it for me. The fact that Dolph directed this makes me wonder why doesn't he direct all the films he stars in. The Defender was good too but I like this one better. This is not your typical wall to wall action film, but the action scenes here as well as the shootouts are very good. Nothing new with the story, but it's crafted in a way that looks as if it was new.

I've never been much of a Lundgren fan, with my preferred viewing being Norris and Seagal, with also Van Damme too. But to my surprise, during a DTV rampage of these guys (The Hard Corps, Shadow Man and also the Cutter too) Dolph's film the Mechanik was by a long, long, way the best of the bunch. I've fallen by the wayside a little in recent years, and haven't kept up to much with the action boys, but when your in the mood, your in the mood. Anyway The Mechanik was fantastic. It's a simple storyline, and a simply delivered film, but it promises something, and delivers. The result is a violent, dirty and damn fun action movie. It's a great little regression to 70's and 80's action films. I also understand it was shot on a fraciton of the budgets of Chuck's, Stevens and Jean Claudes, movies and still manages to look the most expensive too.Lundgren too gives a solid performance and looks in great shape. In fact dare I say it the other guys like either old, tired or overweight (all three in Seagal's case). Lundgren looks fresh and in great shape. Ben Cross was really good. That guy should have been a bigger star, a really good actor if anyone's seen his earlier work.On the negative side, the girl in the movie seems little more than a pointless inclusion to aid the bloodshed, and the bad guy is a little too "hey look at me I'm the bad guy!" After all though, it's expected from this sort of film so it's not a big problem. I also wasn't too sure what was with all the dissolves either, but on the most part this film is directed with assurance and a great sense of pace, and of course directed by Dolph himself! This film really acts as a showcase for Dolph Lundgren. It's the Dolph show, and it's a good show. It brought back fond memories of cool Peckinpah movies. Good work Dolph!

I just viewed "The Mechanik/Russian Specialist". It was a better movie than I expected. The basic plot has been done multiple times and I rate it favorably with other comparable movies. The action was good though in some instances a bit over the top. I would have liked to have seen more character development from the character Nick and the young kidnapped lady. Nick's character was too one dimensional. There were missed opportunities to develop these characters, (especially when they stayed overnight with the family in the countryside. (by the way, Bulgaria seems like it is a beautiful country). I think that the actors that portrayed that family did a superb job. The only real problem I had was during the Early scenes in the movie. The lighting was poor. I could barely see the actors. Overall, I was pleased with this movie.