Paul Andrews Missionary Man starts as a mysterious man (writer & director Dolph Lundgren) rides into town on a motorbike, he heads straight for the cemetery where his old friend JJ is being buried after drowning in a supposed accident. On his way there the man saves a local native Indian man Billy (Jonny Cruz) from some thugs, the man realises that the town is corrupt & local businessman John Reno (Matthew Tompkins) runs it by beating up or killing anyone who stands in his way. Between stealing & selling drugs Reno has a big property deal in development, Reno wants to build a casino on native American land but the local tribe objects to the plans & this may have been why JJ was murdered. The man decides to stay in town & together with his bible & shotgun dishes out some justice...Starring, written & directed by Dolph Ludgren this apparently had the working title Black Chrome & to me while watching it last night I was reminded strongly of the Clint Eastwood western Pale Rider (1985), in fact Missionary Man is a remake & modern updating of Pale Rider all but in name. The two films share virtually identical plots as greedy businessmen terrorise a local community until a mysterious stranger rides into town with religious tendencies & a knack for beating bad guy's up before things get out of hand & some serious firepower is sent into the town to kill the stranger as it becomes a game of Cat and Mouse as the stranger picks those sent to kill him off one-by-one. The plots, themes & character's are almost identical to be honest, the main thing that separates the two films is that Pale Rider is a classic while Missionary Man is crap. For a start the part played by Lundgren is far too mysterious, we literally never learn anything about him to make us either like or care for him. We never learn of his relationship to JJ, where he came from, what he did for a living or the connection he had with Jarfe. The other character's are poor with typical bad guy's & innocent persecuted native Americans who try to defend their land & ways against evil white men. Yawn. At 90 odd minutes not that much happens, it's throughly predictable as we know Lundgren will beat the bad guy's at the end in a showdown & make the town safe once more. The action scenes are dull & forgettable too.Missionary Man looks a mess, the IMDb says there was mistakes made with producing the master or something & the colours were messed up & it show's. Nothing has any sort of colour, in fact sometimes the film looks black and white with a lot of detail missing from the picture & everything seems covered in dark shadows all the time, even during the day. This can look stylish on occasion but usually it just looks dull & repetitive. There's not much action here, a boat is blown up, there are a few fight scenes & a few shoot-outs but nothing else. Better known as an action film star Lundgren has turned his hand to directing lately & I only hope his other films are better than Missionary Man, they can't be any worse surely?Filmed in Texas I doubt this had much of a budget, it looks cheap & with a distinct lack of action it's tough to sit through. The acting isn't up to much, Dolph just sort of lumbers around & tries to look cool.Missionary Man is a slow moving action remake of Pale Rider that didn't impress me with lacklustre action scenes & a plot that goes virtually unexplained. This is the sort of thing I'd expect Steven Seagal to have made to be honest & that is not a compliment.

situation universe No, Dolph, No. That's what I'd tell the Swedish muscle man when he decided upon a career in directing. The actor to Director transfer works if you're Clint Eastwood(Quality Actor and Quality Director). Unfortunately Dolph was never a good actor, so when he turned his hand to writing and directing it could only end one way.A local gangster is strong-arming the Native Indian townsfolk into building a Casino. Anyone who argues with him tends to turn up riddled with bullets. Dolph Lungdren plays Ryder, a bible thumping shotgun wielding maniac who has an axe to grind. He rides into town on his motorcycle to attend the funeral of his murdered war buddy, but quickly starts a one man crusade to free the town.This is a hugely forgettable formula movie with plot points and action stolen from better films. You're left wondering if you actually watched it at all, as it evaporates from memory within minutes. As a director, Dolph is amateur at best. No one bothered to tell him about lighting for a start. All the sets are dimly lit and the characters are in perpetual shadow. With a searing sun above his head there are no excuses. He just had to face his actors in the other direction.As an actor, Dolph reminds us why he barely had any leading parts in movies ( Red Scorpion is the only one that comes to mind). His face only has two expressions; Square jaw angry and a gurning grin that makes PM Gordon Brown's look genuine. You can't help feel sorry for Lungdren. He's obviously not been offered much work and has decided to go it on his own. There's a quiet dignity in that. Buying his DVD makes me feel like I've dropped money in a charity bucket: Save the 80's action stars.Verdict 2/10 It gets two from sympathy.

Claudio Carvalho A mysterious biker (Dolph Lundgren) arrives in a small town in an Indian reservation for the funeral of his friend J.J. and discovers through his family that he was murdered by the men of the powerful John Reno (Matthew Stephens Tompkins). The corrupt businessman plans to build a casino in association with criminals from the North in the town and J.J. opposed to his intentions offering a better option to the locals. The lone vigilante decides to stay in town with his bible and drinking straight tequila and like an avenging angel, bring justice to people.While watching "Missionary Man", I have immediately associated the story as an adaptation of "Pale Rider" and the character of Dolph Lundgren to "The Preacher" and also to "Billy Jack", and I found that others IMDb users had had the same impression. Like in "Pale Rider", the mysterious stranger leaves many open questions that may give a mystical interpretation to his character. In the end, "Missionary Man" is modern adaptation and very decent remake of a classic. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Missionário" ("The Missionary")

Frank Markland Dolph Lundgren stars as Ryder a mysterious biker who rolls into town (and bares an uncanny resemblance to Gary Busey) and defends an Indian reservation from the local mobsters and bikers that show up in the finale. Missionary Man despite what Dolph Lundgren fans will tell you, is not one of his best movies. Indeed in comparison to his last two directorial efforts this one is the weakest. The problem is that the action is badly edited, the bad guy bikers aren't written well and pose little threat and the film is all grainy and bled out of colors. (Why Dolph didn't shoot this in black and white is beyond me.) The climax has its moments and Missionary Man does remain somewhat watchable through Lundgren's typically commanding presence but with such craftsmanship shown in The Russian Specialist and The Defender one can't help but be disappointed with this one. Plus Lundgren borrows heavily from many superior films such as Pale Rider, High Plains Drifter and Billy Jack. The problem is that he just can't fuse enough novelty to distinguish his work. In the end though it's the sped up action and over-edited camera angles which render this one as a forgettable effort. Not a terrible movie mind you, indeed it is superior to most straight to video movies but Missionary Man is nothing special.* * out of 4-(Fair)