Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A Brilliant Conflict

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

More straight-to-video nonsense from action man Lundgren, here ripping off everything from COMMANDO to INDIANA JONES. Still, despite being clichéd and ripping off loads of great movies, SWEEPERS is a low-budget, violent action flick that actually manages to be pretty entertaining and, for once, delivers in the action stakes! The first half is pretty slow, with Lundgren losing his son in a sickening sentimental scene and then becoming an alcoholic. Meanwhile, we're introduced to Clare Stansfield who plays the thankfully tough and unglamorous female lead and love interest. After much to-ing and fro-ing in the outback of Angola (a fresh setting which makes a change from the tired bustling streets of America which figure predominantly in these action flicks), Stansfield persuades Lundgren to team up with her to battle some evil terrorist chaps.The second half is basically one long string of action scenes, with Lundgren battling people in a house, street, in a mine and finally on a speeding train (yep, John Woo's BROKEN ARROW seems to have been a strong inspiration, although this is equally good). The body count is high and the amount of shooting is enough to satisfy any red-blooded male. There are also a requisite number of hand-to-hand combat situations and explosions to enjoy. Lundgren here is pretty good and seems to be enjoying himself; his character goes from being a drunk to an Indiana Jones look alike explorer complete with leather jacket, hat and shotgun! Finally he strips to the waist and becomes Rambo, killing off dozens of bad guys in bursts of violence.The chief villain is the ever-smarmy Bruce Payne; at first his character seems to be on the side of good, but anybody who's ever seen any of his other movies will inevitably guess that he turns out to be the main bad guy at the end. Stansfield is good, the supporting bad guys deserve to die, and the African extras acquit themselves well with their mainly sympathetic turns. Although a cheap, uninvolving action film, this is still highly entertaining if cheesy stuff, surprisingly good for Lundgren.

In this Nu-Image production, Dolph plays Christian "Ace" Erickson, an adventurous former U.S. Special Forces soldier who has found his calling in life as a member of the Humanitarian Order of Chivalry, a group that goes to war-ravaged countries beset by land mines and removes the offending mines. While on assignment in Angola, his young son is blown up by a mine. Distraught, Erickson becomes a drunk and abandons his mine-finding ideals. He resorts to punchfighting in the local watering holes for cash.When a new, American-made super-mine, the "A-6 Butterfly" is unleashed on the populace, it's up to Erickson and Michelle Flynn (Stansfield) to stop the madness and unravel the government conspiracy behind these deadly items, spearheaded by Dr. Cecil Hopper (Payne). Will they succeed? A Dolph Lundgren movie about land mines kills two birds with one stone. Firstly, it allows the viewer plenty of blow-ups with an actual reason behind them, and secondly, it's a fairly original idea, especially for low-budget action movies. Think about it: the issue of mines in these third-world countries is a real, pressing problem. It's a human issue many people care about. So when you add Dolph, who about 2/3 of the way through the film transforms into "Indiana Dolph", complete with fedora-like hat and leather bomber jacket, it makes for a nice night for DTV fans. Dolph ventured back to Africa after his time there filming Red Scorpion (1988), and the rural locations and indigenous music make for a different sort of backdrop to the action. A lot of the action is fairly implausible, but when Dolph dons his "adventure hat" and is chomping on his cigar, who can argue? Especially since he seems a bit more animated this time around, which is always nice to see. Of course, the antithesis to his "adventure hat" is the "evil hat" of nemesis Yager (Roberts). This isn't to be confused with the G.K. Chesterton-quoting baddie Hopper. In their off time, the Sweepers (you didn't think this was a movie where Dolph plays an undercover school janitor, did you?) (because that would be awesome) play what can only be described as "mine games", competitive events where they try not to step on mines. I wonder if this is accurate to how actual humanitarians behave? But then again it probably gets boring when you're out in the country and your mine-hunting is done for the day, especially for a man of action like Erickson.So despite some of its sillier plot flaws, thanks to its important message and its difference in the world of DTV action, don't be afraid to go on a "Mine Walk" with Ace and the gang.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

I was going to give this three stars, but I had to subtract one star for the unbelievably annoying and funny-looking kid who played Dolph's son.******SPOILER ALERT******** So, the kid not only tags along by hiding in the back of the vehicle while his father (Dolph) literally goes into a war zone to sweep for mines, but he runs across a well-marked minefield trying to get away from some soldiers...with predictable results. The worst part is that he has this incredibly goofy grin on his face while he's running across the minefield. To be politically mega incorrect, he runs across the minefield like a girl and with the facial expression of someone who's mentally challenged. It's laugh-out-loud funny, even when the kid gets shredded by a mine. If I were Dolph, I'd have counted myself better off without him.******END SPOILER********* I also got a big laugh out of the super-sophisticated high-tech mines. They can supposedly detect when someone approaches them, but they don't actually detonate at that point. Instead, they obligingly wait 15 seconds, as well as going through all sorts of folding and unfolding motions. Better yet, they conveniently have flashing red and green LEDs on them (pretty low-profile, right?) AND an ON/OFF switch located right on the top. Pretty hard to miss them, especially in the dark.Other than the kid and the mines, everything else is meant to be serious (I think.) Most of the plot is completely absurd, as are all the action scenes. (I also want to know how a missions doctor can find time to do anything else at all when he's in the field managing a hospital.) The final two stars are based on: one star simply because you can't give zero stars; three more stars for having a script, a beginning, and an end, and for not using crappy CGI; deduct one star for poor editing (quite, quite bad); and deduct one more star for the kid, as described above.Check out "Missionary Man" if you want to see a B-movie with less social message but more of Dolph kicking butt.

I respect this movie because it deals with the problem of landmines in Africa (Angola. It starts out slow but ends with lots of action and has a couple of surprises in it. Dolph and his costar (Claire Stansfield) look really good. There are a couple of problems with the film. One is that Dolph's voice sounds like he had laryngitis during the filming. The other is that the landmine they are in search of is supposed to be very sophisticated technology but is really kind of pathetic. Whether or not you like Dolph or his acting, this movie is relevant and politically correct.