Wanted Man
January 16th, 2024
MOVIE: WANTED MAN
STARRING: DOLPH LUNDGREN, KELSEY GRAMMER, CHRISTINA VILLA
DIRECTED BY: DOLPH LUNDGREN
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 1 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
At the start of the new year, I told myself that 2024 would be a year for Dolph Lundgren movies. I watched Men of War, Red Scorpion, and Rocky IV in the first week of January and the Year of Dolph was off to a great start. My choice was even cooler when I discovered that Dolph had a new movie arriving this week in Wanted Man. Sadly, what those 80s action movies had, is now a far distant cry from the kind of productions churned out today. Wanted Man is not the worst direct to VOD, where the effort is admirable from Lundgren, but the final result is something less than wanted.
Lundgren is police officer Travis Johansen, someone who does the job by the book, but is recently caught up in a scandal. A video of him arresting a drug dealer and calling them “Mexican scum” goes viral, which of course becomes a PR nightmare for the local Texas police department. He’s given probation, but before his sanctioned break, Travis has one last job. He must retrieve a pair of sex workers who were witnesses to a group of DEA agents that were murdered. The prisoner exchange expectedly goes wrong, leaving Travis shot, and being taken care of by Rosa (Christina Villa), the lone surviving witness. In the process, he has a change of heart about his past assumptions and discovers that there might be some crooked cops behind it all.
Directed and co-written by Lundgren, along with Hank Hugues, and Michael Worth, the first half of Wanted Man is straight out of a primetime hour of Fox News. We get to know some of the other officers on the job, including retired officer Brynner (played by a much too-comfortable Kelsey Grammer), who introduces himself by complaining “that the problem with Mexico is it’s crawling with Mexicans.” This ugly dose of racism is heavy in the first half but when Lundgren’s character is injured Wanted Man is attempting to be an olive branch story, where conservative police can learn to love the struggling immigrant. It’s in this effort where only the foolish would fall for a film that wants to be racist and have its white savior too.
That’s not to place a blanket of judgment on Lundgren himself. Conflicts at the border, crooked cops, and problems with immigration are constantly a part of conversations today. If the director is trying to calm the waters by painting an example of police and civilians getting along, Wanted Man would be better without cheesy backlot sets, and predictable outcomes. I still believe Lundgren is giving his best effort available with the material and budgets provided for VOD action. There is even a genuine chemistry that grows between Villa and Lundgren but he can’t escape the sad look these movies tend to offer.
This won’t stop 2024 from being the year of Dolph. Wanted Man is sadly a painful example of what can pass as an action movie today. It’s a story that is pandering to a small segment of America. One that is obsessed with guns and pride in the country, while forgetting that an action movie needs to look authentic first, and then maybe we can believe what we see on the screen. Wanted Man will have you longing for the Dolph Lundgren of old or maybe this is just a young man’s game.
WANTED MAN IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND & DIGITALLY AND PLAYING AT SELECT THEATERS ON FRIDAY JANUARY 19TH, 2024.
1 ½ STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
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