Bridge of Dragons (1999) User Reviews

Oh my, this does taste like cheese

[AwesomeWolf · 4/10 · 21 May 2005]

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

A good 'bad movie'

[BigGuy · 6/10 · 24 July 2000]

There are lots of people out there who cannot appreciate a 'bad movie'. When the plot is thinner the air at the top of Mt. Everest and reality doesn't affect the physics/physiology (i.e. kicks that send people dozens of feet and recovering from being shot in a day) then you have a 'bad movie'. This was a good 'bad movie' in that if you can get past the plot problems and cliches, it is a very enjoyable movie.

Oh, and if you are the type of person who notices (and are annoyed by) things like the ruling people being asian (the general and princess) and everyone else being white, or the fact that injuries heal miraculously, then you probably want to steer clear. But if you can rise about such things (or better yet laugh at them) then you will enjoy this movie.

Hit and Miss B-movie.

[Neil-46 · 6/10 · 16 August 1999]

This is a strange one. It starts with a Star Wars style statement telling us its a future/past type deal! That's exactly what you get, large military vehicles, guns and the evil general with a sword. The story has Dolph eventually leading the "Rebel" forces against the evil general and his horde of nazi uniform wearing baddies. Most people don't watch this type of movie for it's story, the action is the attraction. This movie certainly has plenty of action but most of the gun fights are boring, loads of baddies getting machine-gunned and blown up. Where this movie starts to really shine is in its martial arts fights which are excellent. They have the now almost required Hong-Kong flare to them and are surprisingly well filmed and edited.

To sum up, I would recommend this film to B-movie fans, although some of the dialogue/acting is awful who cares. Enjoy.

Hilarious from start to finish.

[tenten76 · 3/10 · 13 May 2003]

Imagine if the entire production crew of the A-Team were told to use the same 30 minute budget for a 90 minute film - only without any of the main characters. Well, here it is.

Let's go into the film a little more - it's not really spoilers, since watching the film will spoil your afternoon anyway. Do not watch sober.

Opening scene - Dolph (Warchild, ho ho) and his elite unit of grubby stuntmen creep up on a rebel base. In bright sunshine. Over flat ground. In jeeps. Chaos ensues, if by chaos you mean 'gunfight on a budget'. By now I was already having to hold my sides - every man does the exact same shimmy (as if to simulate getting hit by automatic fire), but it appears they could only afford 1 squib per 2-3 people! Apparently, Dolph and his invincible crew are using bullets that cause people to backflip, trampoline and somersault like a Russian gymnast when hit. A few people die, then die again (nice editing!), and there's some explosions (or rather, damp smoke grenades - probably bought cheap on Ebay due to water damage).

With the base incapacitated, the bad guy (Cary Takawa (sp?)) arrives, and goes a bit hand-to-hand kung-fu on the rebel leader to show how deadly he is, before slitting the guy's throat with his trademark samurai-style sword. Or rather, he likes to gently wipe the paint off his sword onto the guy's throat before throwing him face down, off-camera. Cary is Dolph's boss. A-Ha we think, so Dolph is a baddie.

Then, for a little R&R, Dolph and his chief monkey go to the kind of bamboo-bar you only see in medieval Samurai films, where big-D takes on all-comers in a kind of Iron Monkey / American Gladiators pole-fighting rip-off (fighting with big cotton buds, standing on poles 2 feet above a floor covered in pig's muck. Not noticing the slight figure, breasts or eyeshadow of his opponent, he tricks and beats up the disguised princess (who's engaged to his baddie boss). Did I mention that the princess - although very pretty - has a Home Counties maid straight out of Blackadder (think Nursey)? And that bad-guy Cary has an army made up of - and I kid you not - WW2 era Nazis, complete with tin helmets, motorbikes & sidecars and jackboots?! Then again, as the intro reminds us, this whole film takes place in a 'land where the future meets the past' or some such nonsense.

As the film goes on, we see consistently appalling acting/costumes/sets. From about 1/2 an hour in, some truly spectacularly funny dubbing (which bears no relation whatsoever to what the actors are saying). And some of the funniest, most low-budget helicopter explosions I've ever seen (helicopter damage not in your budget - no problem - fly it below a hill, and set off a cheap petrol bomb on the grass in front. Edit to emphasise the fake-ness of it all. Keep future shots aimed well away from the supposedly ruined helicopter!). I'm wetting myself by now.

I know I've forgotten other good stuff, but that's yours to find out.

Problem is, I picked up this film hoping it would at least show Dolph kicking a lot of ass, but he doesn't do much if that either. It's not as though he's getting Steven Seagal fat, because he's not - we just don't get very much from him (not even in his occasional fight scenes). Nobody watches Dolph for his acting or emotions - so you'll be relieved that he doesn't try any of that here either. One bit you will belly-laugh at is when he recognises the Princess's eyes as the person who he beat in the bar. Never mind that he might wonder why she's staring straight at him all through her wedding! And his 'thoughtful' expression - head to one side, eyebrows working overtime - is much like when a big dog is puzzled. Utterly hilarious.

Even when compared with the canon of Dolph Lundgren films, this one is a pretty fat turkey - but it is at least side-splittingly funny, provided you're in the right frame of mind and didn't pay too much to see it. If you buy the DVD like I did (HEY - it was cheaper than renting it!), you also get four hysterical trailers - including the one for this film.

Strange Comic book film.

[supertom-3 · 5/10 · 4 January 2002]

This film is weird, just like another Isaac Floorentine film I have seen, Cold Harvest. Bridge of Dragons has cartoon action sound effects and a real comic book style and was quite entertaining. The action is filled with exaggerated stunts and Mr Florentine makes great use of Dolph Lundgrens martial arts ability with some good slo-mo and the fact there is some good fight choreography that require the big Swede to use his Karate which is surprisingly rare in his films. The style is very much a cheap sub standard copy a certain mr John Woo and there are some good moments as well as some superbly over the top stunts. The acting by Dolph and Cary Tagawa is decent although they are both wasted on rubbish like this. Rachel Shane (or Valerie Chow) does not have the acting ability to much her prettyness, mind you she is that good looking she would really need to be a good actress to match her looks. The rest of the cast besides Gary Hudson range from bad to very bad or simply dubbed Bulgarian extras. This film also has a problem about when and where its set, the people, places, costumes, weaponry and Vehicles all contradict each other as was the case in the other Florentine film I mentioned, Cold Harvest. This is reasonably entertaining but only for the action scenes of which there are quite a few. 5/10

Dolph doing what he does best

[bd119-2 · 31 January 2003]

This is a moderately entertaining action film starring Dolph Lundgren as a mercenary in the post-apocalyptic future who goes against his mentor, an evil emperor, and teams up with the rebels. The film could have been better but it is saved by some spectacular fight scenes and stunts. Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa (who was also the bad guy in Dolph's 1991 movie Showdown In Little Tokyo) is a great villain, he is very believable and very menacing as the emperor Reuchang. This film is Dolph back to what he does best, it is full of machine gun battles, and Dolph kicking ass the whole way through the movie. Rachel Shane is good as the princess, and in the movie she is a mean fighter too. Not a very believable movie, but then hardly any of these type of movies are, and it is a Dolph movie. I would recommend it to action fans and Dolph fans alike, who will definitely get a kick out of it. This movie was meant to have a proper release in the US but for some reason it never did and instead got a cinema release elsewhere before it came out in the States. Overall, a great action movie, and a fine return to form for Dolph.

Another ho-hum action movie

[Gideon40 · 1/10 · 24 June 2001]

I simply cannot believe the huge percentage of individuals that gave this movie a 10. Bridge of Dragons is an action movie so cheesy its quite hilarious. Simple and small movements result in hokey sound effects. For instance, the bad guy turns his head to the left, and a loud ZOOM accompanies the movement.

I cannot understand how Dolph Lungren can fire hundreds, if not thousands, of rounds from a makeshift and puny submachine gun, kills over a dozen bad guys armed with automatic rifles who can't shoot for s$!%t. The story is quite ridiculous. I never knew the story took place in a post-apocalypse future because nothing seemed very futuristic at all, and the fact that the guards carry WWII submachine guns that are now obselete today further complicates things. Also, check out the princess's nanny. Her acting is so bad that if everyone of her lines was accompanied by laughter from a studio audience it would seem very appropriate.

However, Bridge of Dragons certainly does better than American Ninja V and Interceptors because it has some(if not none)realistic and believable scenes, aside from the cliche bullet-proof hero.

"All men are killers. He just made me a good one"

[ExpendableMan · 5/10 · 27 February 2021]

Bridge Of Dragons' biggest appeal is the setting; a post-apocalyptic world which bears little resemblance to your Mad Maxes and instead, resembles a medieval/feudal society, only one where everyone is armed with machine guns.

Dolph Lundgren stars as Warchild, the loyal soldier to the villainous General Ruechang (Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa). Keen to become King, Ruechang has arranged a marriage with Princess Halo (Valerie Chow), but she's not exactly infatuated with him. When she skips town on their wedding day, Warchild is dispatched to find and bring her back, but he winds up falling in love with her. Soon, he's questioning his loyalties and wondering if perhaps Ruechang is more villainous than he believed. And to be quite honest, it's a miracle he didn't notice how evil his boss was earlier, given that all his soldiers are dressed like the Wehrmacht and fly around in helicopters with '666' printed on the side.

This medieval-with-AK47s setting and the well-executed fight scenes are enough to make Bridge Of Dragons worthwhile. It's definitely a low-budget movie; most of this new world resembles the countryside in Eastern Europe, the camera cuts away from the all important helicopter-explosion and I'm fairly certain the same stuntmen were killed about three times over. It also gets a bit contrived; Warchild recovers from a bullet wound in a single day, Jeeps are able to sneak up silently on rebel encampments and I don't think anyone ever needs to reload a weapon.

However the fight scenes are well executed, the setting is unique and action junkies will be pleased to know the body count is massive. Bridge Of Dragons reeks of cheese, but seeing Lundgren rampage through an army of goons is always worth a watch. He's been in some stinkers in his time but this is one of the more interesting films from his direct-to-video offerings. No idea why it's called Bridge Of Dragons though, there isn't a bridge or dragon to be seen.

The definitive direct-to-video movie

[Maniac-9 · 3/10 · 29 January 2013]

This is the type of movie that you can only find in the bargain bin at your local Wal-Mart or K-Mart type of store. The production values of this movie are pretty amateurish and it's the type of movie where you have a feeling it didn't take much more then a week to film the entirety of it all.

The movie stars Dolph Lundgren and Valerie Chow in the leads. Lundgren is best used as an actor when his characters isn't expected to be the protagonist and speaks a bunch. His best roles have been Rocky IV, Universal Soldier and The Expendables movies.

The movie has a lot of fighting and death scenes, none of which ring true at all. Just not the job done here by what you would call prime time filmmakers.

Top '90s action, Lundgren-style

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 13 December 2015]

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.

Asian Nazis and Satan and Dolph, oh my!

[cognitoergosunt · 3/10 · 10 July 2006]

Wow, I am amazed.

How can anyone bring together Enfield rifles, NAZI uniforms and helmets, working helicopters and FWD vehicles in the post apocalypse all under the general unit designation of Satan? Because they are Satan and Satan was an Asian silly! Dolph does his best to express Keenu Reeves like emotion in this action packed thriller drama comedy sci-fi horror of post apocalyptic Asian NAZI dominance by supermen who are definitely not Asian, except Satan in a communist uniform of course, and antique weaponry.

If this is any guide to the apocalypse, be prepared to dive when something explodes, use antique firearms from WWII and fight cheesy action heroes dressed in who knows what (I'm hoping drag).

Dolph scores again!

[crystalart · 8/10 · 12 June 2010]

Before ordering this movie, I read a number of reviews and decided it would be perfect for a warm summer evening. I was right.

After watching it tonight, I feel compelled to comment.

Yes, this is a mindless action film, and it's pure Dolph Lundgren! The villains are exceptionally villainous, and the heroine is exquisitely beautiful and dangerous! I bought it on line for $2.65 in a VHS version, and after watching it, I've decided to look for an economical DVD. I want to watch it on wide screen.

There are plenty of explosions, and and more than the usual number of bad guys getting shot and falling onto things.

As I said, "pure Dolph Lundgren".

Buy it cheap and enjoy it well!

Dips into "so bad it's good"

[charleservin · 7/10 · 6 May 2019]

This is an action movie with so many absurd choices that it becomes hilarious only a few moments in. The sound is insanely over the top, with booming punches and swishes every time someone walks or turns their gun. Every choice made by the characters makes no sense. The acting is horrible, like the friar tuck-esque maidservant for the princess, but what really sets it apart is hinted at in the opening text, which says "Someplace, where the future meets the past...".

Basically this is free rein for them to raid their production offices and costume department for anything and everything that they can get their hands on. After all, they had a lot of extras to dress up. For example, one character looks like he's from the middle ages while another standing next to him is wearing khakis and a dress shirt. This happens constantly throughout the movie. Also many "newsies" make their appearance.

The technology is inconsistent as well, with ATVs and helicopters mixed in with horse-drawn carts. The movie was shot in Bulgaria, and most of it is either in old beat up buildings or in the woods. All of the evil general's military vehicles have "666" taped on the side.

I believe that they added the "Someplace, where the future meets the past..." line in editing, because there was literally no other way to have the movie make any sense at all. It's fun to try to piece together how and why they made the choices that they did.

Overall it's a hilariously acted, hilariously produced gem of a trash movie and it kept my attention the entire time. It's so dumb and so laden with cliches that it's almost painful, but that's the hallmark of a really good bad movie.

* *1/2 OUT OF FIVE

[bronsonskull72 · 5/10 · 17 July 2003]

Dolph Lundgren stars as Warchyld a killing machine who is torn between honor to his leader Ruechang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa)and his growing love for the Princess Halo (Valarie Chow) who runs off when she finds out her father was killed by Ruechang, Warchyld tries to track her down and finds himself drawn to the rebel's cause in this surprisingly well made straight to video actioner. Bridge Of Dragons may have a silly plot but this actionpacked martial arts actioner is more entertaining then it had any right to be.

I liked it

[Psi-Phi · 23 September 1999]

the story is good it could have been better but the fighting action made up for any lags in the plot. I like that the princess kicked butt and of course had a strong will. See it your self then judge it.

What in the world?!

[thesavant · 1/10 · 9 January 2006]

This movie amazed me. It amazed me that I was even able to watch it. How in the world did this movie get any sort of funding? A video game obsessed eleven year old boy must have wrote it. The adult entertainment industry has come up with better plots. The random Nazi uniforms are the best. I think I saw a stage hand but I couldn't tell. He might have been a character. This movie gave me the stigmata. I would rather wipe my rear end with rotting garbage that is on fire than watch this movie again. To make someone watch this movie is torture. The worst kind of torture.

I give this movie four turds out of five stars.

Laughably bad – worth watching only for cheap laughs

[Maziun · 1/10 · 28 December 2014]

Compared to some other terrible Lundgren films this one is at least funny. It would be a total waste of money to rent or buy the DVD , but if you have a chance to see it on TV and you like good comedies – watch it.

This movie is some nonsense science fiction movie set in times "where past meets future". It seems like they were planning to make a "Mad max" rip-off , but they didn't have enough costumes . So they decided to use what they had – a World War II costumes ! So the end result is that half of the cast wears "Mad Max" style costumes , while the other half wears Nazi uniforms. Same goes for the weapons. It doesn't make any sense (this is supposed to be a futuristic world) , but it looks hilarious. Did I mention that Lundgren's character is named Warchild in this one ?! The action is so low budget that it's comedy gold. The editing is so bad that you see the same people getting killed over and over again. When somebody gets shot he back flips like a Russian gymnast. When you kick a table it keeps spinning in the air. It's like "Matrix" before "The Matrix" ! All the explosions come probably from cheap smoke grenades . I guess the crew didn't have enough money for real TNT.

The direction is hilarious. Simple and small movements result in cheesy sound effects. Do I have to mention that there is no suspense or excitement here. Well , at least the pacing is good.

There is some truly amazing funny dubbing. The acting is so bad that everyone with depression should see it. I wonder why this movie was dubbed in first place. I'm pretty sure that Cary Takawa ("Showdown in little Tokyo") knows English well. Oh well.

Good for some cheap laughs. I give it 2/10.

No Mercy! The movie shows none to the audience...

[hurlcode · 2/10 · 22 September 1999]

I registered with this service just so I could slam this movie. Ignore the minor details, such as Valerie Chow taking a rifle butt to the face without so much as a tiny bruise. This thing just did not hang together for me - I never really understood what they were supposed to be doing, and I was completely lost on the why. I guess I can understand in principle her not wanted to marry the guy who killed her father - I just was rather unconvinced she was all that upset. Strong action violence? Well, they do seem to shoot and blow up a bunch of things. I'm not sure I understand WHY they blow things up. I actually appreciate that when they blow some guys brains out, the director didn't find it necessary to show the details (the effect was, however, very cheezy). So I guess I did have one good thing to say about this movie. Dolf wants to be Ahnold - don't give up your day job on the basis of this one, buddy. All things considered... don't consider watching this one.

This movie should be called Bridge of Crap!

[arkanis50 · 1/10 · 8 January 2001]

This movie sucks really bad, even for a B Grade action movie. Dolph Lundgren needs to get some decent roles, I don't mind the big fella, but his recent movies are terrible.

This movie is supposed to be set in China, but it doesn't look much like China, and most of the people in the film aren't even Chinese. Then you have Dolph Lundgren and friends working for the Chinese as Soldiers of Fortune or something? Who knows?

Basically there is a evil General (is there any other sort?) who wants to marry a Princess (who is a bit of a hottie) and the evil General killed her father the King. So the Princess, with the help of big Dolph, saves the empire in big Dolph fashion by killing the General.

The two things that really annoyed me about this movie:

1) Set in some country that you can't work out... is it China or what?

2) The props. It appears the Chinese army in this movie shop at the Nazi Army Surplus... everything the soldiers used was straight from a WWII movie, i.e. Nazi helmets, sub-machine guns, Lugers, those Nazi bike with sidecars... the props department just stripped off the Swastikas and used them in the movie.

Avoid this movie at all costs if you have any sense.

Nice Locations, awful movie

[rosemann-1 · 3/10 · 18 August 2005]

The only thing I liked on this movie was the location. It was shot in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Main scenes took place in the National Theater "Ivan Vasov", but also in some of the Bulgarien Mountains. The story, however, was disgusting. The uniforms of the soldier were obviously purchased on one of the flee-markets in Sofia, where all sorts of old and not so old military "Haute-Coulture" is sold (lot of Nazi-junk and all kinds of Warshaw-Pact stuff). It was obvious that the only thing that was brought from Hollywood to the location were the four or six main-actors. Everything else, starting from the candles over the guns, the cars and ending with jewelery of the princess came from Bulgarien stocks. It's amazing that for a movie that claims to play in the post-nuclear US not the slightest effort is made to camouflage the original location of the plot.

A Strange Lundgren Vehicle That Mixes Crazy Action with Dystopian Fantasy

[monkeysgalore · 6/10 · 11 April 2020]

Glorious garbage. This is a wholly mindless B action movie, but it's tons of fun. Even in its badness it's charming.

This movie is just bizarre. It's like a John Woo fever dream, with lots of slo-mo gunplay and violence, but with an almost medieval backdrop. Part action, part romance, part weird dystopian fantasy, it just felt really, really strange. But it's super fun. Totally awesome sound effects for every little moment, often times misplaced as well, and horribly cheesy lines, are only a few ingredients in this delicious cocktail of OTT 90s action.

The performances are sensationally mediocre, with Lundgren predictably being the best actor here. Even if he is a little wooden and unseasoned, his persona and charm carry him.

Cult-favorite B action movie director Isaac Florentine helms the project, and even in 1999 his wide-shot style of filming action scenes without tons of cuts was beginning to take shape. You really have to respect his vision here. It's so out there and weird, and the fact that he actually managed to pull it off is great.

With Isaac Florentine directing, you at least know that the action won't disappoint. There's a great opening battle scene, a village shootout, the base shootout , helicopter chase, village massacre, second village shootout, and final battle were all deliriously OTT. While not on the level of visceral brutality of Florentine's later action films, it's still very entertaining, even if it is cheesy. Lundgren has lots of good and crazy fight scenes, managing to showcase his martial arts, and the movie also benefits from unlimited ammunition and huge explosions.

The insanity and almost drug-induced enjoyment this movie brings is worth it. Ignore the hate and know what you're getting into, which is one of Dolph Lundgren's best vehicles. You might even like it more if you do some drugs before watching.

Good action about rebels overthrowing an evil government.

[johaneide · 4/10 · 13 June 2005]

Dolph Lundgren does one of his best appearances since Rocky IV. He sparkles in the role as Warchyld, an though soldier who struggles with inner motions when the princess of his country rebels at the evil general Ruechang.

The movie is quite entertaining, with an fun ethnic mix. you meet both Chinese, English, American, Spanish and Arabic people. sivil cars and buildings are from the 1930's America, they ride horses and flies helicopters,the evil soldiers have second world war Nazi uniforms and weapons are both old and new. This fictionally country seems interesting too bad the movie don't explain too much about things as name and where this country would be in the real world. Effects such as explosions and choreography are good.

if you expect a Dolph movie, you are in for a treat!

i could't find a bridge thou, and neither a dragon for that matter...

Like bad action movies? You'll LOVE this.

[beefeathers · 9/10 · 17 December 2005]

I caught this movie somewhere around 3 in the morning on late-night television. Bleary-eyed and unable to go back to sleep, I decided to give it a chance. And I fell in love.

Here's my summary: The plot is basically nonexistent. The action is good. The acting is... well, it's fairly standard B movie acting. Bruce Campbell would be proud.

Go in expecting a bad action movie, and you'll enjoy this to no end. Go in expecting a Hollywood blockbuster, and you may as well gouge out your eyes, 'cause you're going to get just as much pleasure from that.

God, I love this movie.

Not bad, not good

[SeanMike · 6/10 · 20 September 1999]

BoD is a not-bad, not-good untypical post-apocalyptic movie. Whatever has happened to society is never explained, nor is the reason explained that most of the vehicles have "666" on their side. Society is feudal again, with many old-fashioned elements, but weaponary seems to be at a 20th-century level.

The movie is interesting, though somewhat slow at times. The fight scenes are decent and sometimes kind of over-the-top. Of course, some parts of the movie will make people groan and complain, but it's a good "beer and pretzels" movie to watch if you don't want to think about it too much.

What happened to Dolph?

[bth2004 · 5/10 · 28 November 2005]

I've seen several of Lungren's films, and he has the ability to make an entertaining action star. He did some great work in things like "Showdown in Little Tokyo." This, however, is between a poor attempt at making an action film and crap-on-a-stick.

The plot is clichéd and not too well done. Lungren is Warchild (WHAT a name!!), a soldier who works for a general who turns out to be evil (played by Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, the only decent actor in the whole film). When the living princess (the very attractive but severely untalented Valerie Chow), who is engaged to the general, learns that he killed her parents, she flees, and Warchild is sent to find her. When he finally gets it through his head that the general, who raised him, is evil, he joins the resistance and fights against the general.

Lungren pulls off some decent action, making good use of his feet in his fights (he really could do that more, but oh well); his acting is what you'd expect if you've ever seen him before. The gunfights are half decent, half corny. Valerie Chow, I'm sorry to say, could not act her way into a children's theatre, which is a terrible testament to her, considering how lovely of a woman she is.

You might watch this if you are either extremely bored, desperate, drunk, or have kids who are old enough to start seeing action films. (there is nothing in this film you could not show a decent-aged kid). Don't approach this thing if you place high value on the use of your brain matter.