Masterful Movie

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Charles Napier plays Robert Zorkin, a man who travels to Russia with his wife Susan (Kates), supposedly for a vacation. But it turns out he has a VHS tape that shows the Russians dealing in nuclear warheads with the mob. It seems Zorkin was the mentor to one "Rod Armstrong" (Zagarino). Armstrong is an ex-Navy SEAL who now trains people in Russia and is "very expensive". Joe Lara, appropriately enough, plays "Ponytail", the head of the gangsters who is menacing everyone in sight, not the least of which is Susan, who he chases all over Russia. Richard Lynch is the Russian General Zukov, who is a major part of the insanity. Will Rod Armstrong be able to stop the gangsters and evil Russians from stealing the nukes and perhaps launching them, and save the kidnapped Susan in the process? I know action movies don't have to be intelligent, but Armstrong is just so dumb it's really unbelievable. Zagarino usually brings the dumb, and here is no exception. In fact, if anything, he's outdone himself in the dumb department. He's beyond wooden. Rod Armstrong is stupid, unlikable, arrogant and annoying, and he usually has some sort of "shirt problem". Either his shirt is ripped, comes off, becomes unbuttoned, or he just plain forgets to wear one. It seems the filmmakers wanted very badly for him to be Dolph Lundgren, as his hair, makeup, and what's left of his outfits strongly recall Dolph. But Zagarino is not Dolph. Not by a long shot. Also he has numerous pictures of himself on his wall. Armstrong makes Project: Shadowchaser (1992) look like a masterpiece.One of the better things about Armstrong is its cast of familiar faces. Joe Lara goes over the top as Ponytail, but his unfinished beard really left a sense of incompleteness in the viewer's hearts. He resembles a mid-90's Dennis Miller. We liked him better as the good guy in such films as American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993) and Hologram Man (1995). Napier gets slightly more screen time here than in Center of the Web (1992), and he even gets to do some "Napier-Fu", but the extreme sweatiness is unpleasant. Kimberley Kates was a great choice for the eye candy, and Richard Lynch proves he's the most versatile guy in DTV cinema, here living it up as a drunken, carousing Russian military general, the next day playing an Italian gangster with aplomb.But sadly, try as they might, even the mightiest DTV cast cannot overcome the inanity of Armstrong. Whoever wrote the dialogue, you'd think they would be satisfied by the fact that is completely mind-numbing, but no, it's incredibly repetitive too! Many things are said more than once. I don't know which is worse, if it was unintentional, or if they were so proud of their great writing, the writer thought we should hear it multiple times. Or they could have assumed their audience is just stupid. Big mistake. The dialogue alone detracts major points from Armstrong.Because of the dialogue and dumbness, not to mention how irritating Rod Armstrong is, almost in a Sloane (1984) sort of way, you really don't care about the characters and situations. Add to that a jumbled and unclear plot and you have a serious mess on your hands. Perhaps the ultimate "turn off your brain" movie, unless you are a die hard fan of any of the actors here or DTV movies themselves, it might be wise to steer clear of Armstrong.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

You can take a boy out of his exploitation studio, but you can't take the exploitation spirit out of a boy. I was really interested to see what former Cannon studios head Menahem Golan could crank out years after making so many memorable schlocky movies from there. What made it especially interesting was that he here was working for Nu Image, what I consider to be the equivalent studio of this day and age. Plus, with B movie stars like Richard Lynch and Charles Napier, it looked like the movie would be a fun time.Sadly, ARMSTRONG isn't that much fun to watch despite all that promise that I described above. The look of the movie is pretty cheap - we have sloppy hand-held camera use, and although the action is supposedly taking place in Moscow, it sure doesn't look like Moscow (I suspected this was filmed in Bulgaria, and the end credits confirmed this.) In fact, the movie feels very much like a cheap '80s movie with its look and musical score, suggesting Golan hasn't learned more modern filming techniques.But the biggest sin the movie makes is that it's pretty dull. The movie is very slow-moving, with a lead who's very dull and surprisingly off camera for long chunks of the movie. The action sequences, where the movie should really deliver, are sluggish and lacking zip.I will admit that there are a few laughs in the movie. Menahem Golan's script has some mind-boggling bad lines of dialogue. There are also some hilarious continuity errors. The biggest laugh comes from the clothing the female lead puts on after stepping out of the shower (and keeps this hilarious outfit on for a long time afterwards.) If the movie had more unintended laughs like these, I might have recommended it, but the few laughs there are aren't worth the long periods of boredom you'll have to suffer.

Direct to video action flick king, Frank Zagarino stars as the eponymous hero in this fairly entertaining outing set amidst the scenic splendour of Moscow.Although sadly not containing nearly as much action as I might have liked this nonetheless serves as a pretty good way to spend ninety or so minutes and includes a great assembled cast of recognisable faces including Richard Lynch, Joe Lara and Charles Napier, some good stunt work, an entirely exploitative nude shower scene featuring a particularly HOT woman and the requisite, satisfying explosive finale. Special mention must go to Lara who portrays a decidedly suave Mafia leader and who furthermore gets all the best lines in the film!Best scene? Another reviewer summed it up perfectly; Our hero jumps through the upper story window of his apartment to avoid a grenade and mysteriously loses all his hair on the way down only to miraculously regrow it upon landing safely upon the roof of a conveniently parked van(!!!) Well, I know that this was apparently filmed on a low budget but you'd think that someone would have at least forked out some cash on a wig for the stuntman eh?

cheaply made i only watched originally because Joe Lara was in it. not his best performance.Kimberley Kates does a great nude scene. that girl is worth watching this film for.i picked this dvd up at a local second hand shop for only £2.99 so i am happy i got it.will not go into the plot as the last person to review it said it all.