As I watched Dolph Lundgren films, I came across many characters that simply didn’t have enough screen time to count as being in a Dolph movie. Most of these Dolph characters could fit into much larger universes that would make for a great film series or TV show. Without further adieu, meet my five favorite Dolph characters who simply deserve better.
Andrew Scott in Universal Soldier Day of Reckoning
Most people might remember Andrew Scott as the ear collecting PTSD suffering lunatic in Universal Soldier. That was a great unhinged villain performance by Dolph. The newest films of the Universal Soldier franchise skip the happenings of the three films that did not have Dolph: Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business, and Universal Soldier: The Return. Dolph plays a similar clone version of Andrew Scott when the film series picks back up in Universal Soldier: Regeneration.
When Andrew Scott reappears in Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, it is almost like a switch flips. You see him out of uniform in a sequence that you would swear is a hallucinogenic dream. Rather than the “for the country” Andrew Scott, we have an upgraded enlightened liberated Scott who is helping free UniSols from government control. Dolph is completely feeling himself in this role, which has a little bit of comedy to go along with the badass. This group of separatists also has a version of Fight Club and is choosing the best of the best as they prepare to take on the man. The only shame here is we don’t get more of this version of Andrew Scott!
This clone of Andrew Scott regrettably dies in the film, but he deeply needs to be brought back. This storyline of freed clones was extremely intriguing and would be great for expanded subject matter. I want the Universal Soldier TV series that allows us to finally see the UniSols getting freed / converted, killing each other to prove their worth, and eventually fighting the man for control. Bring on the whole cast and have a bunch of action stars and stuntmen come on as guest stars as UniSols and foes. The best part is that Dolph can shine as a star in this series, since Andrew Scott is the primary recruiter of this merry band of separatist UniSols. This would be a great “foe of the week” action show for any cable network.
Gunner Jensen in The Expendables Franchise
When I first heard about The Expendables, I was really hype. I truly love Dolph, Jason Statham, and Jet Li. The concept of them altogether in a film was truly exciting. Then the movie came out, and I was truly underwhelmed. While the film is billed as more of an ensemble cast endeavor, the spotlight only brightly shines on Sly and Statham. The rest of the cast is struggling to gain any screen time while Stallone and Statham always seem to be present.
The character of Gunner Jensen is sparsely used in the first three films. Gunner is the kind of character who gets the first kill, and he is a universal badass who has no problem sniping or doing hand to hand combat. While he is a quasi bad guy in the first film and has some great action sequences across the three films, overall Gunner is used as comedic relief. This is one of the few roles that allows Dolph to use his underutilized comedic timing. They even added some of Dolph’s real life experiences as a nerd into Gunner’s background. This is especially in full force in The Expendables 2, when he attempts to use his chemical engineering background to unsuccessfully build a bomb.
The character they have built for Gunner is truly going to waste on screen. I would love to see Gunner get more screen time in future Expendables endeavors, especially if there is ever a spinoff. He especially pairs well with Randy Couture’s Toll Road and Terry Crews’ Hale Caesar. The three of them light up the screen when they are together. However, given the cast list of the The Expendables 4, I am not getting my hopes up that we will see Gunner (or Toll Road or Hale Caesar) getting a large share of screen time in an Expendables property any time soon.
Aleksey Andreev in One in the Chamber
If you ask many people what their favorite Dolph Lundgren role is, most people will probably cite popular film roles like Ivan Drago from Rocky IV /Creed II or Adam from Masters of the Universe. While it is a smaller role, I would say Dolph’s best role is as Aleksey Andreev from One in the Chamber. I genuinely enjoy Dolph in his Russian roles, and this one is no exception. However, Aleksey has very little screen time.
The best way to describe Aleksey is as a Russian hitman who goes on Spring Break to Miami Beach and decides to keep working for the mob in the USA instead of going back to Russia. In accordance with his loud shirts and stylish hats, this character is full of light and whimsy and is at times laugh out loud funny. One of the dirtiest things about this movie is how they try to sell that Cuba Gooding Jr. could take on Dolph. That’s just hysterical.
This Russian hitman would be great on any spy and hitman filled TV show. As I wrote earlier, I would love to see Aleksey in a Burn Notice crossover. Bring back Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell. Hell, let him even flirt with Sharon Gless and Gabrielle Anwar. In any case, Aleksey can kick more ass, and I am here for it.
Jebediah Woodley in Don’t Kill It
Don’t Kill It is an underrated treasure. Laying somewhere between the plot of Fallen (“I wanna tell you about the time I almost died”), 28 Days Later rage zombies, and the black-eyed demons from Supernatural, this movie is chocked full of bloody chaos demon realness. It opens with a bang, and it ends in a fantastical manner. (I would write more about it, but that would involve giving away the end.)
Jebediah is the kind of character you could just imagine grew up in the backwoods somewhere and was constantly getting into trouble with his pa. He is always attempting to lock the demon back up, but it always has a way of escaping. Along the way, he makes friends, tries to warn people, and is constantly stuck in terrible situations. This makes for a great premise for weekly TV fodder.
Jebediah Woodley would be a fantastic character on a typical monster of the week show. This TV show could help fill the MotW format void left on The CW by Supernatural, on Fox by The X-Files, or on SyFy by Warehouse 13. Given how fun the concept of this character is, it would also work well in something like The Asylum did with Z Nation. We need more cheesy action sci-fi horror. Make it happen network executives!
Street Preacher in Johnny Mnemonic
I don’t think this character fits easily into another world, but I did want to put out a word on Street Preacher in Johnny Mnemonic. I remember when Johnny Mnemonic came out that people lost their minds over it. I have never liked this movie, but I decided to give it another shot just for Dolph. In some ways, watching this movie again later in life made me appreciate just how much The Wachowski Sisters borrowed from it to make The Matrix. However, I still feel Johnny Mnemonic is uninspired and the equivalent of cyberpunk for college freshmen.
Upon my rewatch, the only things I wanted to remember were Dolph as Street Preacher and Jones, the cyberpunkest dolphin of all time. Sure Beat Takeshi, Ice-T, and Henry Rollins are great, but they weren’t as awesome in this film as they are in others. (I blame the script / director / movie, not them.) The only human actor who absolutely destroys this movie is Dolph. Street Preacher is one of those whacked out characters you would expect to be like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Monster Shouter in The Stand. Instead, he is a badass bounty hunter hellbent on making people feel god’s love.
My only question is: why was this character not in more of the film? He is billed second yet only appears in approximately 15–20 minutes of the film, and every minute he is on screen is hands down the best part of the film. Let me see Street Preacher killing someone right as we meet him. Rather than wasting time on all of Johnny’s boring comings and goings as he tries to understand the puzzle, he should have been running from Street Preacher the entire time. Give me the extended cut, where Johnny is running from Street Preacher in night markets and barely escaping. There are so many ways to make this movie more enjoyable, and all of them involve it having more Dolph.
