In a place where the past and future meet, Dolph will make one of his strangest movies yet. 'Bridge of Dragons' is the closest thing to a fairy tale that Dolph Lundgren is ever going to do. A fairy tale that involves more wasted bullets than John Woo could ever dream of, but a fairy tale none the less.

In a land where time where the past and future are apparently one, the evil General Ruechang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) rules with an iron fist. The King has been dead for some time, but Ruechang is plotting to consolidate his power by marrying Princess Halo (Rachel Shane),allowing him to sit on the throne. Enter Warchild (Dolph),Ruechang's best soldier. When Princess Halo ditches the wedding in a bid to join the rebels, Warchild is sent in pursuit. However, Warchild has a conscience attack, and it may not quite be what Ruechang was expecting.

'Bridge of Dragons' is great fun if you like Dolph and cheese. The movie cheese, not the food cheese. In case you were not instantly able to tell that Ruechang is evil, he conveniently has the number 666 stuck on his helicopters and jeeps, for no apparent reason. On the other hand, the name Princess Halo pretty much ensures her good-guy status, and this fairy tale world gets crazier. We have Asian rulers, Scottish bartenders, and Dolph. Princess Halo's martial arts abilities are matched only by Warchild's and Ruechang's, without explanation of course. Thanks to a crazy past / future time combination, we get to see evil guys trading horses for women, only to have Dolph shoot them and drive off in a four-wheel drive. Interesting. And a princess joining the rebel alliance? Inconceivable!

'Bridge of Dragons' is an action B-movie at its most b-ness. We have a world in which everyone dies an acrobatic death, sometimes getting more acrobatic as the deaths pile up. Dolph does beat up and shoot many people, but leaves a few for Tagawa, Chow, and Gary Hudson. The action scenes are exciting, even if you can plainly see stunt men waiting for their cue to jump from the impending explosion. Awesome.

Don't be fooled by the cover. "The directorial style of John Woo" actually refers to the style of this film's director, Isaac Florentine. You can be excused for never having heard of him, as he seems to direct only action b-movies and episodes of 'Power Rangers'. Nor is 'Bridge of Dragons' Dolph's finest hour, as the package claims. It's like a fairy-tale version of 'Men of War' (which nearly is Dolph's finest hour),just with less of a point.

'Bridge of Dragons' is a fun movie. May even appeal to people who aren't Dolph Lundgren fans (and that doesn't happen very often),and is recommended to anyone for looking for cheap laughs - 4/10

Well, let first things be first: there are no bridges in this whole movie. And absolutely NO dragons. So what the title has to do with this is anybody's guess. Instead what we get is a fast-paced, action-packed B-movie, kind of like the type that Chuck Norris used to make back when he was still fairly young (I'm thinking DELTA FORCE 2 here). The ageing action star this time around is Dolph Lundgren, looking lean, tanned and muscular as a super-warrior and leader of his general's armies. The general is played by none other than Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (the sadistic villain in Dolph's SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO). I would probably pair this film with Dolph's critically-maligned SWEEPERS, another decent flick that everybody seems to hate. For me, these two films act as the highlights in his 1990s career.

Of course, this is a B-movie, and its packed with the usual B-movie style problems. The film is set "where the past meets the future" (or so the STAR WARS text at the beginning tells us) which means that its shot in Bulgaria, with a load of Bulgarian extras, ruined buildings and props left over from some WWII flick – all the soldiers wear Nazi uniforms! The plot is extremely thin and consists of characters running from one scene to the next, but that doesn't matter because every ten minutes there is at least one engaging action scene to enjoy. Starting off with an opening shootout between soldiers and rebels, and moving on to various battles where Dolph takes on numerous bad guys, this is a really fun action flick. Keep your eyes peeled for a cheesy helicopter chase, a bloody and explosive rebel massacre, and the over-the-top finale, which is just sheer movie heaven.

Lundgren is good here. Well, he's not a good actor, but he does okay. He looks great and his martial arts skills (although rarely used) are fantastic, with some wonderful sweeping kicks. Rachel Shane (MORTAL KOMBAT) is also decent, a not bad actress and a great fighter, showing her skills in a decent pole-fighting scene at the start. Tagawa makes for an effective bad guy, with a mean haircut and a constant sneer; truly a guy you love to hate. It's a little disconcerting when you realise that this film was shot without sound and the voices dubbed in afterwards; listening to the range of accents is pretty funny (I love the Israeli-looking guy with the Scottish accent!). British TV regular John Bennett shows up as a registrar, whilst Jo Kendall, as Shane's nurse, seems to think she's in a Shakespeare flick. All in all this combination makes for surprisingly great entertainment, packed with slow-motion shooting, tons of incendiary action and a hard level of violence. Recommended.

At some time in the distant past, or perhaps the remote future, the dastardly General Ruechang (Tagawa) rules the land. His dictator-like tactics have begun to stir a popular revolt. But before Ruechang can have total authority, he intends to marry Princess Halo (Chow). Halo doesn't want to be anywhere near him, so in her off time she puts on a mask and competes in stickfighting matches with the burly guys of the local village. One of those guys is Warchild (Lundgren),a member of Ruechang's retinue. When the Princess runs away, Warchild is assigned to find her and bring her back. Naturally, they fall in love and begin to fight against Ruechang's evil empire.

There's a lot to like about Bridge of Dragons. It's a throwback to the classic post-apocalyptic films we all love from the 80's. But it has the well-choreographed fights and constant violent action that director Isaac Florentine is known for. Besides the VHS-era post-nuke flicks, a diverse array of influences make up the style of Bridge of Dragons: For one, it's hard to ignore the influence of the video game Street Fighter. Ruechang is M. Bison, Warchild is Guile and Princess Halo is Chun Li. Then we have the relationship between Halo and her governess, Lily (Kendall). Any student of 9th grade English can see this was highly influenced by Romeo and Juliet. And towards the end there's a scene reminiscent of The Graduate (1967).

So, to recap, cross Italian post-apocalyptic thrillers, Street Fighter, Shakespeare, and The Graduate, set it in a fairy-tale-like land and load it up with action and stunts and Dolph Lundgren, and there you have it. Does this sound weird? Well, it is somewhat odd, but it's entertaining and not boring. So that's important.

Tagawa returns as yet another baddie, facing off against Lundgren once again (he was also the antagonist of Showdown in Little Tokyo, 1991). You gotta love his "666" logo on his buildings and vehicles. But this time he, and all the other characters, are in a more tongue-in-cheek world, with really wacky sound effects and some silly humor. Bridge of Dragons recalls Raiders of the Sun (1992),in the fact that the hero and the girl are on the run, they fight the baddies together, it's post-apocalyptic, or at least futuristic, and the element of rebels and revolution is introduced amongst all the shooting and blow-ups. One is the Richard Norton take, the other the Dolph Lundgren take on a similar situation.

Like the film of the aforementioned Street Fighter (1994),it all ends in a freeze frame. But don't you think Dolph makes a better Guile than Van Damme? Street Fighter aside, Bridge of Dragons is classic late-90's Lundgren with a few unorthodox twists.

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