Dolph Lundgren actually quit the industry or something (I don’t remember whether if he actually did or if it was just a rumor.), but the best explanation for such can be found in this debacle. The film features the world’s best Swedish import since Bergman, starring as a time traveler who goes back in time to Antarctica, or the south pole (or north pole, I could care less), to stop the spread of a deadly virus that will apparently wipe the world out. Opposing him are some typical bad guys that wipe out Dolph’s team. Of course, there are some scientists who have discovered the virus. They decide to bring it on board, crew members get sick, and then Dolph Lundgren and some random chick shoot it out with the bad guys that wiped out Dolph’s allies, all while boring yours truly to tears.

Retrograde as you can imagine is one of Dolph Lundgren’s worst movies. Indeed I can’t believe this didn’t star Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Jeff Speakman or Gary Daniels who co-stars. Dolph Lundgren is so bored here that you just know he thought to himself, where the hell did my career go wrong? You can see the sadness in his eyes as he realizes he has gone from being Ivan Drago, The Punisher and working with John Woo to co-starring with the guy that would make a career in ripping him off… Gary Daniels. Actually, while this is one of Lundgren’s worst movies (Though not the worst, which would be either Agent Red, The Minion, The Last Warrior, or Storm Catcher.), this is actually one of Gary Daniels’ better movies. Indeed, while it’s not as good as Daniels somewhat enjoyable product from his Rage, Riot,Recoil,Spoiler and Fist Of The North Star days, it still is head and shoulders above such worthless crap like Capital Punishment, Firepower, Delta Force: The Lost Patrol, Full Impact, Black Friday and American Streetfighter, which are all stomach turning in their awfulness.

Watching Dolph Lundgren act side to side with Gary Daniels showcases just who the superior actor and fighter on screen is. Indeed, Daniels only gets one fight sequence, a fight sequence that blows. Lundgren doesn’t look that impressive either, but at least you get the impression that Lundgren is better than the material, which not so much the case with the wholly charisma-less Daniels. Of course even more ironic is that Daniels is probably the second best actor in the movie, which is pretty sad.

The science fiction elements are so inert that you wonder why they even bothered. Retrograde rips off liberally from 12 Monkeys but lacks the urgency, sense of humor, suspense and budget to work in that vein. What is most bizarre is that the film doesn’t even explain how the virus works; it also doesn’t explain why the bad guys would want to keep the virus from being unleashed on mankind. Of course, the true answer remains that it’s simply a hopelessly bad film that is under-written, under-budgeted and made by under-talented filmmakers. Trying to even figure out what is going on becomes a struggle, although an even tougher struggle is trying to keep yourself awake during the film.

Retrograde spent about 5 years on the shelf, which is odd because Dolph Lundgren movies tend to sell relatively fast on the DVD circuit. For instance, 4 or 5 Dolph Lundgren movies came out during this film’s time in limbo. Also, the combined efforts of Gary Daniels make it all the more surprising that this sat in limbo so long, until you realize how awful the final product is. The biggest surprise is that you would think that by casting Dolph Lundgren and Gary Daniels together you would have lots of bone-crunching, martial arts ass-kickings, but it’s not that these fight sequences are lifeless, it is that they are for the most part non-existent. The shootouts revolve around Dolph standing around shooting at random people while stuntmen fall over rails. Pretty lame stuff.

Which pretty much sums up the film. Retrograde is a very lifeless sci-fi action flick, the type that makes you wonder just what were they all thinking. It’s the type of movie that they shouldn’t have bothered to make, given the total indifference by those that made it. Dolph Lundgren and Gary Daniels fans will feel utterly cheated. Avoid this film and rent Universal Soldier, The Punisher, Showdown In Little Tokyo, Rage, Fist Of The North Star, or Recoil instead. At least those deliver on what they promise.

Burning Question: Dolph is supposedly a genius, so what on earth was Dolph Lundgren thinking when he signed on for this?

Retrograde
3/10

Retrograde (2004) - New DVD Movie Reviews, 3.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

Tags: 2004, action, adventure, christopher kulikowski, dolph lundgren, gary daniels joe montana, killer disease, killer virus, latest movie reviews, retrograde movie review, retrograde review, shitty movies