Can One Man Make A Difference?
Now Playing: DIRECT ACTION
(2004)--Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Stars Dolph Lundgren, Polly Shannon, Conrad Dunn. He may be pushing 50, but direct-to-video action king Lundgren is still capable of belting bad guys as well as just about anyone. His recent work looks even more impressive when you put it up against the DTV films being made by his butt-kicking contemporaries Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Unlike Seagal, who has grown as lazy as he has fat in his middle age, and Van Damme, whose ego has reportedly scared talented filmmakers away from working with him, Lundgren has actually improved with age, growing into a relaxed, comfortable screen performer with great presence.

Working with veteran Sidney J. Furie may have something to do with that. The 72-year-old filmmaker has directed some of Hollywood’s biggest stars--from Frank Sinatra and Michael Caine to Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman. Never a highly acclaimed director, Furie has proven himself to be a talented craftsman who has helmed popular action favorites like THE IPCRESS FILE, IRON EAGLE, THE ENTITY and THE BOYS IN COMPANY C. Yeah, okay, he also made SUPERMAN IV, but we’ll blame Golan and Globus for that one. Furie might have to take the hit on GABLE AND LOMBARD, however.

During the 1990’s, Furie became virtually the only director of his era to segue comfortably into episodic television and direct-to-video features, pumping out one or two films per year. Some of them, like THE RAGE with Lorenzo Lamas and Roy Scheider, have been quite good. His first collaboration with Lundgren, 2003’s DETENTION, was Dolph’s first movie since returning from a shortlived retirement. They must have enjoyed making it in Hamilton, Ontario, because they returned for this Nu Image crime drama.

In DIRECT ACTION, Lundgren is Frank Gannon, an Ohio (though the Ontario license plates give away the illusion) police detective assigned to the Direct Action Unit, which takes the most dangerous cases. At 5:00pm, Frank plans to testify before a grand jury about the massive level of corruption and murder in his unit, which leads all the way up to his boss, Captain Stone (Dunn). Almost all of Gannon’s fellow officers appear to be dirty, as they attempt to prevent him from reaching the courthouse by threatening his life and framing him for multiple cop killings. Partnered with a female rookie (busy Canadian actress Shannon) on her first day on the job, Frank runs the gauntlet of automatic weapons and screeching tires, risking his career and his life to do the right thing.

Furie’s $7 million budget is a pitfall, since he could have used some extra dough for bigger chases and more stunts. The actors shoot off a lot of blanks, but the action is mostly held to some decent martial-arts fight scenes, a lot of shootouts and one exploding van. The action sequences may be medium-scale, but Furie does at least stage a lot of them, fluidly and accompanied by Adam Norden’s energetic score. Lundgren is still in good shape, and has no problem projecting believability as he snaps limbs and thumps heads. He and Shannon have good chemistry, but thankfully avoid a superfluous romance (especially considering the whole film takes place during one day).

DIRECT ACTION is no classic, no matter how hard it attempts to remind you of SERPICO (one character is even made up to resemble Al Pacino in that Sidney Lumet drama), but it is a well-made, straightforward action movie that doesn’t try to bop you over the head with extraneous camera movement, gimmicky editing and loud music. Greg Mellott’s screenplay is routine, but decades of experience have taught Furie how to spice up routine material, turning DIRECT ACTION into capable entertainment. Furie and Lundgren planned to make a third film together, THE DEFENDER, but illness forced the director to drop out, leaving it to Dolph to make his directorial debut.