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Dolph Lundgren has a heavy cross to bear in 'Fallen Knight'

[ This article is available in full in the March 2000 edition of Impact ]

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Impact meets two soldiers of fortune, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren.

[ This article is available in full in the October 1992 edition of Impact ]

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The martial arts star speaks to Dragon Power about his movies and working with Brandon Lee

[ This article is available in full in the May 2002 edition of Impact ]

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He’s back - but don’t call it a comeback. Dolph Lundgren is about to figure more prominently on the action radar. Impact finds out why...

Don’t call it a comeback, he’s been here for years! Another action hero from the ‘80s and ‘90s who’s in the midst of a well deserved return to form is Dolph Lundgren. Since making his memorable debut in Rocky IV (yes, we know he was in A View to a Kill - but that was a throwaway role), Lundgren went onto headline some classic slices of action including Dark Angel, Red Scorpion, Vic Armstrong’s superb Joshua Tree, Showdown in Little Tokyo and Universal Soldier. Sadly some of his subsequent movies didn’t serve him as well as they might, but recent releases such as The Defender, Direct Action, The Mechanik and, most recently, Missionary man have seen a return to glory. Lundgren recently wrapped work on Universal Soldier 3 and is currently shooting The Expendables as part of the ensemble cast assembled by Sylvester Stallone. So, we thought it was a good time to take a look at two of his most recent projects, Direct Contact which hits DVD this month and the soon-to-be-released Command Performance.

Direct Contact
Directed by Nu Image’s Danny Lerner, this movie hits DVD shelves in the UK this month. Starring Dolph Lundgren and Streets of Fire hero...

[ This article is available in full in the July 2009 edition of Impact ]

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He's apparently about to be one of Stallone's Expendables, but before that the veteran action star is back with a Command Performance.

Dolph Lundgren was born in Stockholm, Sweden and graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology and has a Masters degree in chemical engineering. Lundgren made his feature-film debut in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985) playing a minor role as a KGB henchman. His big breakthrough came when he starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV the same year, which catapulted him to fame. Since then, he has starred in more than forty films, working alongside the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brandon Lee and Keanu Reeves. As well as continuing to star in films, he has turned his hand to directing. I caught up with Dolph when he was in the UK editing his new movie Command Performance at Pinewood studios.

Impact: Dolph, let’s talk about the early days of you growing up in Sweden?
Dolph Lundgren: I was brought up in a middle class family, my dad was an academic engineer and my mom was a language teacher. I was kind of a very shy kid, didn’t have many friends - almost like a cliché story where I had some problems at school. But I was good in the arts and started getting good grades...

[ This article is available in full in the February 2009 edition of Impact ]

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If you thought that he retired from making movies or that the Dolph-in was on the verge of extinction, just think again. Dolph Lundgren, the imposing Swedish born action star returns!

Over the past few years, Dolph Lundgren has taken his career into his own hands, doing more and varied publicity, like being portrayed in the German/French TV show Into the Night with..., featured as the first Hollywood star in a Russian music video and even performing in a boxing match for King of the Ring in Moscow! And he is not ready to stop his comeback yet, so Seagal and Van Damme beware!

After the above average Hidden Agenda, a couple of straightforward Sidney J. Furie actioners (Detention and Direct Action), and a very disappointing sci-fi experience (Retrograde), Lundgren was propelled into the director’s chair, replacing Furie on the helm of The Defender (still awaiting a UK release). One could wonder how the picture would have turned out had it been directed by Furie, but even the decent Direct Action is no match for the big Swede’s directorial debut. Building its plot around the war on terrorism since 9/11, The Defender follows a former American soldier, Lance Rockford, now leading a security team protecting the head of the National Security Agency, Roberta Jones, during a secret meeting with the world’s most wanted terrorist leader, Mohamed Jamar. When both...

[ This article is available in full in the September 2007 edition of Impact ]

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Sony are releasing a whole raft of classic actioners. Impact looks at the brand new brand and offers you the chance to own a massive set of titles.

Action fans may have noticed something a little new adorning the front covers of their latest direct-to-DVD releases of late. A new logo that seems to be associated with some of the biggest action stars out there. Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and all your favourite action stars now all have a spiritual home in the UK. Ladies and gentlemen, The Fight Factory has arrived... A division of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Fight Factory has been set up as a branded outlet for both new releases and their impressive back catalogue of action movies. The Fight Factory, however, is more than just smart company branding. One look at their website (www.fightfactoryfilms.co.uk) and you’ll see that they have created a one stop action shop with everything you need to get your latest fight fix. With features like downloadable Fight of The Month (as I write this - Vinnie Jones from new release Number One Girl), Fight or Not (who would YOU take on?) and a chance to put your image into recent Fight factory releases marketing materials, the site has been created with action fans in mind...

Impact’s Phil Hobden spoke to one of Sony’s key men behind...

[ This article is available in full in the October 2008 edition of Impact ]

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It’s quite possibly the perfect Impact film - a slew of genre stars in an independent, hi-octane actioner, helmed by Sylvester Stallone. Mike Leeder takes a peek at what we can expect.

A few short years ago it seemed as if Sylvester Stallone’s career was coming to an end, after his incredible run of success through the mid ‘70s, the ‘80s and early ‘90s, his career had seemed to stall during the mid ‘90s. And while his solid acting turn in Copland drew him critical acclaim, his subsequent projects didn’t seem to catch with audiences or critics anymore. When he announced his plans to resurrect his two most popular franchises with Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, a lot of people began to take shots at him for being out of touch with audiences. But both films hit big at the box office internationally and, at the age of 62, Sylvester Stallone seems to have no intention of taking it easy. He’s currently directing The Expendables, a high octane ‘men on a mission’ action thriller with a cast that includes himself, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Micky Rourke and quite possibly Arnold Schwarzenegger...
The Expendables, written and directed by Sylvester Stallone began filming on March 3rd, 2009, with a shoot that is scheduled to take in locations including Rio De Janeiro, New Orleans and Los Angeles. The film’s plot follows a legendary...

[ This article is available in full in the June 2009 edition of Impact ]

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As Impact looks to some of the comic-based heavy-hitters of 2009, we take to the streets and the war-zone with the latest incarnation of The Punisher...

In 1989, the first Burton/Keaton Batman probably made more money in one minute than it cost to produce Dolph Lundgren’s oft-forgotten Punisher movie. In it Marvel Comics’ vigilante Frank Castle (who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #129 in 1974) battled the Yakuza to rescue the children of the mobsters who murdered his own; perhaps it will find a new audience when Lundgren co-stars with Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li and Jason Statham in The Expendables.

Marvel pushed the reset button in 2004 with Tom Jane in the title role. This time, Frank was an undercover FBI agent who joined his huge family for a retirement party after a bust that resulted in the death of the son of a crime boss played by John Travolta. After one of the most ineptly written and conceived slaughters in movie history, Frank waged war on the people who destroyed his life. And though the script did its absolute best to defeat him, Jane performed above and beyond the call of duty. He communicated with the fans and promised them a sequel truly worthy of the character.

But the wheels were bigger than Jane, who announced (via Ain’t It Cool News) in May 2007 that he was...

[ This article is available in full in the February 2009 edition of Impact ]

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With the ironic JCVD putting him back on the action radar, what’s next for Jean Claude van Damme? Impact talks exclusively to the man about his career and plans.

The universally positive response to JCVD, has given Jean-Claude Van Damme a much deserved career resurgence. While Impact has long championed the man and his movies, it’s only now that the mainstream media seems willing to acknowledge him and the almost universal appeal of the man and his movies. Jean-Claude has recently wrapped on a very personal project The Eagle Path (originally known as Full Love), which saw him wearing multiple hats as writer, producer, director and star. Impact’s Eastern editor, Mike Leeder, a longtime Jean-Claude Van Damme associate, caught up with the man to talk about JCVD, The Eagle Path and what the future holds...

Impact: Jean-Claude, were you surprised by just how well JCVD movie has been received around the world - did you have any idea when you got involved with the project that it would get such response?
JCVD: It’s been refreshing and inspiring to see the film getting such great feedback, and that people have taken the film to heart. (Laughing.) It’s funny as, for a long time, I didn’t really think we would ever make the movie. The first time the project was discussed was after I’d been interviewed for a documentary a few years...

[ This article is available in full in the April 2009 edition of Impact ]

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Ross W Clarkson shoots people for a living... and they like it. Impact meets one of the most talented action cinematographers in the business...

Hong Kong based Ross W Clarkson has made a name for himself around the world, by shooting people! He’s shot Jean-Claude Van Damme several times in numerous countries, Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren, Lau Ching-wan, Simon Yam, Steven Seagal, Wesley Snipes - he’s shot them all, hell he even shot a Shark In Venice for Nu Image! And let’s not even get into Sex & Chopsticks: The Forbidden Legend! Clarkson has built a solid reputation with such credits as Undisputed 2: Last man Standing, The Victim, The Suspect, The Mechanik, Replicant, Ninja and most recently Undisputed 3, as one of the best action cinematographers in the business. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder caught up with Clarkson in Hong Kong for the following interview.

Impact: Ross, how did you first get involved with the industry and at what level? Were you always interested in being a cameraman/
cinematographer?
Ross Clarkson: I always had some interest in filming and photography, but it was when I was about thirteen or so, I saw a news crew filming and thought that maybe I could pursue a career as a cameraman. I spoke to my teachers and they listened to what I had to say and then...

[ This article is available in full in the September 2009 edition of Impact ]

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Impact profiles Isaac Florentine’s Ninja and celebrates the rebirth of 'shinobi' with scott adkins.

The Ninja returns! The shadow clad warrior was once the mainstay of the martial arts action movie genre across the globe from East to West, but, after an absence of several years, the Ninja returns courtesy of Nu Image’s latest project directed by Isaac Florentine, which also gives the UK’s own Scott Adkins his first leading role. Ninja not only reunites Isaac and Scott for their fourth project together, but also re-teams them with Alpha Stunt’s action maestro Akihiro ‘Yuji’ Noguchi - the man responsible for classic action sequences in such projects as Special Forces and Cold Harvest. Impact’s Eastern editor Mike Leeder - who himself, once donned a Ninja mask and tabi for Hong Kong’s IFD film factory, brings us a first look at this highly anticipated project...

The film stars Adkins as Casey, a westerner studying Ninjitsu in Japan when he is asked by his Sensei to travel to New York to safe guard the legendary ‘Yori Bitsu’, an armoured chest that contains the weapons of the last of the ‘Koga Ninja’. Accompanying Casey is Namiko, the Sensei’s daughter who also happens to be an impressive martial artist in her own right. They find themselves under attack by the...

[ This article is available in full in the August 2008 edition of Impact ]

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The Oscars will be handed out to the great and the good just as this issue of Impact hits the stands. But, as John Bierly points out, the fact that Mickey Rourke was even nominated after so many years in the cinematic wilderness is worth more than any statuette...

One quick glance at the list of 2009 Academy Awards nominees is all you need to see that this year’s contenders draw some interesting lines between films and the actors in them. Or, more accurately, the actors who aren’t in them. Some of the most noteworthy nods have gone to performers whose movies won’t get the chance to gun for the Oscar gold.

Director Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is one such film; though it missed Best Picture, Directing, and Original Screenplay nominations, it did send two of its actors to the gilded ballot. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei headline the cast as two broken people whom society considers past their prime, but who still have good reasons to keep go, go, going for what they know.

Rourke is Robin Ramzinski, who was a household name in the 1980s under his professional wrestling moniker of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson. Though he once sold out Madison Square Garden and had his own action figure, he’s now slugging his way through small, small-time weekend matches at community centers and rundown gymnasiums on the independent circuit in the roughest, dirtiest corners of New Jersey. His day job unloading heavy boxes at the local supermarket barely pays...

[ This article is available in full in the March 2009 edition of Impact ]

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