Joshua Tree (1993) User Reviews

Routine star vehicle gets by with a good cast and top action

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 July 2015]

A predictable but exciting action vehicle for Lundgren, which plays more like a road movie than anything else. Although we've seen it all before, ARMY OF ONE offers up plenty of action from car chases in the desert (always a good thing) to a huge, John Woo-inspired shootout in a warehouse plus the expected fist-fights and more. All combine to make a satisfying, easy-viewing movie experience.

Lundgren here has one of his better roles and is actually required to act in some scenes, as well as being his usual hardman self. He's given good support by George Segal as the dastardly villain, Kristian Alfonso as a tough hostage he takes who also turns out to be a cop, Geoffrey Lewis as good-natured Sheriff, and the familiar Michael Paul Chan as a slimy, Chinese fellow villain. Horror fans may want to look out for DAWN OF THE DEAD's Ken Foree who is killed in the first scene but reappears throughout the movie.

Although things do take a while to get going, and it takes time to get to know (and like) the main characters, ARMY OF ONE has some excellent action towards the end. The aforementioned warehouse shootout is very violent and well-staged, and most impressive. The "speeding cars through the desert" scene is sufficiently exciting, and the expected showdown between Lundgren and the chief baddie at the end holds the attention. In all, a good time-waster, and one of Lundgren's better movies.

"Just a driver huh."

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 8 May 2011]

Dolph Lundgren is a true action star, one of those one man army vehicles for Lundgren to leave a constant wave of destruction. Watch as things go BOOM! "Joshua Tree" is pure simplicity in its plotting and conventional with the surprises, but the blistering action (gotta love the spectacular set-pieces of Lundgren giving his shotgun a good workout) is extremely well staged and the pacing is high-octane. This is what you ask for and it delivers in spades.

Wellman Anthony Santee is a trucker who's framed for the murder of a highway patrol man that pulled him over in a smuggling job gone wrong. Over a year later escaping an attempt on his life, he kidnaps a lady (who unknowingly to him is a cop) and flees. Now Santee is seeking revenge for those who betrayed him and killed his best pal. However these folks have authority and are using this power to get their man.

For an on-the-run narrative, the momentum is consistent (despite some lulls with some moralistic babble and dramatics) and there are some excitingly dangerous high speed car chases which are expertly shot within beautifully open, baking hot desert / mountainous backdrop. Director Vic Armstrong (who's an excellent stuntman) gallantly engineers a durable actioner, where he packs bloody carnage (slow-mo anybody?) while also chipping in with a sense of humour ("Is there an off switch to your mouth."). While Joel Goldsmith's music score scorches along. Performances are spot on. Lundgren is a hard-shell, Kristian Alfonso looks comfortable and George Segal shows ticker as the corrupt officer who's on the trail. There's also good support by Beau Starr and Geoffrey Lewis.

Black and white action yarn, but effective nonetheless especially when it's romancing us on its violently meaty encounters.

Enjoyable adventure-thriller and one of Lundgren's best

[bellino-angelo2014 · 7/10 · 8 February 2021]

I bumped casually to this movie a couple years ago. It was on a hot summer night and I had problems in falling asleep. So I turned on the TV and I found this movie when it hadn't begun yet. And it was surprised at how much I liked it since it has a score of 5,7 on IMDB.

Wellman Santee (Dolph Lundgren) plays a former race car driver who has turned to a life of crime and one day he is assigned to transport exotic stolen cars with his buddy Eddie. However during the trip they find some policemen and there is a shootout. Eddie is killed and Santee is taken in prison. After a while Santee manages to escape and takes hostage Rita Marrick, without knowing that she is an undercover policewoman. After escaping in the desert and even making a visit to the wife of the police lieutenant that arrested him (George Segal) he'll have the final stand with Lt. Severance and Rita will manage to prove his innocence.

I had previously liked Dolph Lundgren in some of his movies (like the EXPENDABLES franchise) and I was surprised at how much he was good in this movie. He has also a slew of one liners and makes quite a good pair with Kristian Alfonso. George Segal as the villain is very effective and I was surprised since he usually plays comedic characters. There are some very good shots throughout the movie of the Sierra Nevada desert and of the South West of California. The soundtrack is good and it reflects a lot the period the movie was filmed (beginning of the 1990s).

Don't expect a masterpiece or an Academy Award nominated movie if you bump in this one. Just expect one of those ''Turn off your brain and enjoy'' movies perfect for one lazy afternoon.

very good action flick

[actionmoviestar · 24 August 2004]

This undoubtedly, is the best Dolph Lundgren film I've ever seen. You'll have to take into consideration that I'm not a big fan of Mr. Lundgren. This movie had great action scenes. You can tell that John Woo had a strong influence on the producers and directors because one special shootout looked very reminiscent of John Woo's type of filmmaking. This movie also has to feature, I think, one of the best car chases in a straight to home video film ever. It's sad that movies like these don't get highly promoted or promoted at all, therefore they become lost in the film world, where nobody discovers them for the true action movies that they really are. Watch this movie, you will not be dissapointed.

Surprisingly good.

[Metal-9 · 6/10 · 18 May 2000]

This movie surprised me. You don't expect much when you starts watching movie with Dolph Lundgren. But this turn out to be a great action-flick. The thing that is worst (as always in this kind of productions) is the acting. Dolph is bad, he just sits there with his stone-face and looks concentrated. Kristian Alfonson looks good but she can't act so well.

But the moments of action in the movie is good. The shooting is pretty much belieavble, except the shooting of chineses at the end. The car chase is a great piece of work but what can you expect when the director has made action-scenes in Tomorrow Never Dies, Starship Troopers and Total Recall.

See it and enjoy it.

Where's the multi disc DVD release?

[mish17 · 7/10 · 22 September 2010]

What do you get if you cross Dolph Lundgren with a red shirt and a red car? A pretty good movie.

What's the main problem with this movie? It's not available on DVD/Blu Ray.

Why? Your guess is as good as mine. A movie that I've only heard about through a friend, repeated rants about why it should be on DVD and how it's such a good film, I must admit, I had my doubts. But with everything being on DVD these days, it's shocking and a sin, that this isn't. When literally everything these days is available – whether it be dead cheap, or hideously expensive – from your TV movies adapted from books, to your endless TV shows, the question should be, where is Joshua Tree's release? Is it because it comes from the same name as a U2 song? (Hence the name change to Army Of One in places, which makes very little sense.) The rights to this movie are probably floating around somewhere, just waiting for someone to snap them out, and give this film the true release it deserves.

From the opening shots, it starts as an almost peaceful movie. It's mainly set in a baking hot desert, and it stars the very wonderful, genuine-straight-up-tough-guy Dolph Lundgren, as Santee. When he's not speaking, Dolph just steals the film, even just by standing there. He's just driving along, when suddenly, something happens, and he's arrested for the murder of a patrolman. But he didn't do it, and is being set up. He escapes, and grabs a hostage, supposedly for her car, but I suppose she has other attributes that Santee plans to make use of. Kristian Alfonso makes a stereotypical female hostage role her own, by not only giving as good as she gets, but actually providing a lot of chemistry with Dolph. The scene where they are handcuffed together and lying in bed, was so sizzling, that I would have needed a cold shower afterwards.

The only grumble I have with Joshua Tree (and it's a tiny one I promise, and you probably won't notice it) is the storyline. Is that the best storyline in the world ever? No. Is it the worst storyline in the world ever? No. But it's nothing that we haven't all seen before. But I do think the film would have been a lot worse, if it hadn't had the delight of Dolph's on-screen presence. I mean, this guy has faced up to his old nemesis in The Expendables recently, and there's another reason why this film should be released.

The action in Joshua Tree is simply incredible. There's one particular scene where Dolph kills all these Chinese guys, who seem to be never ending, and seem to double in numbers every time two of them get killed. And boy, do they get killed! (The actors also make great use of their very short screen time by overacting their death scenes – it does have to been seen.) There are quite a few well known faces in this, from George Segal to Matt Battaglia (has appeared in every TV show going it seems from Baywatch, to Sabrina The Teenage Witch, to Friends – Phoebe's boyfriend Vince in TOW Ross's Thing – if you don't recognise the face, you'll recognise the voice.) But the only ones you really pay attention to are Dolph & Kristian.

Now, if someone can just cough up the money (literally) for this film to be re-released at the cinemas, and then have a major blu ray/DVD release, with plenty of extras, it would make my friend and me, very happy. And it would get a whole lot of other fans. So … cough up!!!

Dumb

[goya-4 · 1/10 · 26 August 2000]

a stupid action flick with Dolph lundgren who is as one dimensional as one can get..tries to be an Arnold-stallone type but the movie suffers from a bad script bad acting and is just bad.. Army of one should describe how many have thought it was good on a scale of one to ten.. i give it a 0

Full of action

[jcholguin · 7/10 · 29 July 2001]

Dolph Lundgren as Santee does not do much talking but makes up for it with action. Santee is a convicted cop killer who was framed by Det. Severence played by George Segal. Santee manages to escape during transport and kidnaps Rita Marrick who unknown to Santee is an off-duty cop herself. Now the action begins as Santee sets out to get revenge against Severence while at the same time is being hunted by Severence and the whole states police force. Who will get Santee first, Severence & company or Marrick the off-duty cop.

Maybe for a one time watch,...but only if you're bored and want some Lundgren

[breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com · 4/10 · 7 July 2015]

Adventure / thriller movies are always big on action. At some point through the running time, decisions have to be made whether to accept fate or try and change the oncoming outcome. This kind of balance needs to be checked because if not monitored, either the viewer will end up being stuck in an explosive marathon in nothing but action after action without any story, or too much exposition and no action at all. No matter what the extreme, either or will bore its viewer. Unfortunately, that is the case for this action flick and surprisingly, it suffers from both extremes believe it or not. After being framed for murder of a police officer, Santee (Dolph Lundgren) is sent to a penitentiary only to almost be killed by the man who framed him. After escaping, Santee takes one off-duty cop named Rita Marek (Kristian Alfonso) hostage while having Lt. Franklin L. Severence (George Segal) on his tale close behind.

Directed by usual stunt coordinator veteran Vic Armstrong (his directorial debut) and written by Steven Pressfield (Above the Law (1988)), this action thriller is very low on the entertainment and high tension meter. There's only a few good areas to point out. Its strongest element are its cinematography captured by Daniel L. Turrett. Although this is Turrett's ONLY cinematography credit to date, it is decent. The rest of Turrett's work is credited as camera operator and although that is a totally different task, Turrett did what he could. The entirety of this movie is set in the desert and Turrett shot as much footage as he could get to include wide landscape and long running mountain ranges. It sure is nice to look at. The second best aspect to this movie are most of its cast and how they act. Sadly, the cast that is respectable are not on screen as much as the actual main cast.

For Lundgren himself, there is no complaint. He has all the best lines and works well with that alone for this particular film. Aside from him though, George Segal as the Lt. Severence is wholesomely uninteresting because of his sniveling voice. Even the young Kristian Alfonso is remarkably banal in her performance. Yet, audiences will have supporting cast performances from the underrated Geoffrey Lewis as the local Sheriff helping Lt. Severence. Backing up Lewis is a younger Nick Chinlund as a Deputy. He's easy to pick out. Then there's the cameos (not really, but because they show up for all of about 5 minutes. Ken Foree (known from George A. Romero's Dawn of the Living Dead (1978) and Texas Chain Saw Massacre III: Leatherface (1990)) plays Eddie, Santee's partner. Along with Foree is another young Khandi Alexander playing Eddie's wife. Too bad they didn't have longer roles. Finally, the last part that works here is the action (partially). What is meant by partially is that the shootouts are well staged and set up. Those are fun.

But now we hit the bad territory. The bad side to the action are the car chases and fist fight scenes. For sequences you'd think would move quickly and get your attention, does not happen here. This is the movie's biggest problem; pacing. When the sequences occur, it gets old really fast. So quickly, in fact it feels like its drawn out just for padding purposes. Then there's the scenes that involve exposition, which don't even get told correctly. This is said because Lundgren's character says nothing about what's going on the whole time. The only way viewers will understand what's going on is by listening to Alfonso's character - why? Because she asks all the questions that don't get answered and she figures them out on her own. The thing is, the information to understanding this plot is held back for such a prolonged amount of time, there comes a point in the movie where the viewer just may not care anymore and wish for the film to end because they won't understand why things are being done without any reason.

Pressfield's writing is very mediocre here. Another thing that is eye- roll inducing is how cliché the execution is. You have the protagonist (a muscular dude) out fighting the way he wants to and doesn't care if he dies and runs across this hot young chick. There's no guessing to what'll happen between them because it has been seen time and time again in these kinds of action/adventure thrillers. Of course they're going to hookup, why wouldn't they? There's also a subplot that sort of explains Santee's relationship with an old man played by Bert Remsen but it has no effect on the plot so why it was included was beyond understanding. Lastly, bringing the list of bad components to a close is composer Joel Goldsmith's musical score, son of legendary composer Jerry Goldmsith. Here, Joel Goldsmith's score hardly warrants any recognition even with a couple of repeating themes for certain scenes. Much of the score uses the cheap 1 or 2 instruments that would be required for a Richard Band production and its more disengaging than anything else. Thankfully it hasn't been released to the public.

The title correctly portrays what it says and that's Dolph Lundgren mowing down bad guys without getting a scratch. But this doesn't happen that often. Besides good looking cinematography and a few actor cameos that tease the audience more than anything else, this cat and mouse chase is boring half the time with bad pacing, clichéd writing, and poor sounding music.

Enlist in this "Army" tonight!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 13 July 2010]

Dolph plays Wellman Santee, a trucker involved in a shootout with his partner Eddie (Foree). Santee is framed when a cop dies and Santee goes to jail. He escapes and goes on the run with a woman named Rita. Meanwhile, Lt. Severance (Segal) is on the case, trying to track them down. Who is double-crossing who? Will Santee be able to clear his name? Dolph puts in his usual likable performance. A movie highlight is when Dolph takes on the gang of Jimmy Shoeshine (Michael Paul Chan). It is an extended shoot-out sequence and is very well-shot and John Woo-esquire. The scene even includes the slow-motion violence of Woo. It goes on for a long time, showing that this is what the audience has been waiting for, and it delivers well.

George Segal has a bushy mustache and straw hat and is evil. Army of One is pretty much standard fare in terms of the plot, and does go on a bit long at almost two full hours, but Dolph fans will still enjoy seeing their hero on screen.

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Soulless

[Vartiainen · 2/10 · 5 December 2016]

Dolph Lundgren - the character has a name, but it's Dolph Lundgren - a car smuggler, gets framed for murder, but escapes while being escorted to face judgement. The rest of the movie is pretty much him fleeing from place to place and in the process taking a woman hostage. A woman who just happens to be a police officer.

And there's nothing in this film that captured my attention even for a minute. I mean, Kristian Alfonso is hot in a Sarah Connor tough survival chick kind of way, but that just isn't enough. Lundgren isn't acting hammy enough to make it interesting, the rest of the characters are blander than gruel, the action scenes have nothing going for them and the plot is so contrived and/or clichéd that I've already forgotten it entirely.

Not helping the matters is the fact that I apparently saw the censored version. And yeah, having more splatter might have made this film better. In fact I'm certain it would have. But not enough to make it even remotely good.

The only reason to see this film is to watch Dolph Lundgren's face and in your mind replace all his lines to: "I must break you." Plus Alfonso is hot. That is all.

One of the best!

[tp320 · 10/10 · 8 December 1999]

"Army of One" is an actioner obviously made by people who truly love the genre. It was directed and produced by Vic Armstrong, stunt co-ordinator and second unit director on films like Total Recall, Starship Troopers and the two latest Bond-films (Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough). This man is responsible for some of the best action sequences ever made so he obviously knows what he's doing.

The film was written by Steven Pressfield. He co-wrote Steven Seagal's first film, Above the Law, as well as Freejack. Based on this film, he might just be the perfect writer for tough action films. He successfully takes a basic concept (a man convicted of a murder he didn't commit sets out to find the true killers and get his revenge) and elevates it above similar films with his characters, scenes and dialogue. He takes the film and it's subject matter with just the right dose of self-irony but never lets it become a parody. The dialogue flows nicely and occasionally there are some truly classic lines (for example, Alfonso: "You're not a very nice person. You've hurt several people." Lundgren: "I never said I was running for pope").

This is quite a bit smarter than your average actioner. As I said, the plot is formulaic (and fans like myself want an action film to have a formulaic plot), but the characters and dialogue are interesting. Dolph Lundgren has the right stuff for an action hero. He's got the looks and the voice and he knows his way around action scenes. But it's George Segal and Beau Starr as the nagging duo, who really steal the show.

Of course, there's the beautiful woman (Kristian Alfonso) as Lundgren's sidekick but they don't portray her as a helpless victim. Instead, she's a cop and more than able to take care of herself. Luckily, she does still wear tight jeans (Lundgren even notices this and teases her about it!) and there's the obligatory love scene. The scene where Lundgren and Alfonso check in a hotel is a classic! Alfonso immediately takes a shower and even asks if she has enough time to wash her panties(!). Alfonso uses a body double who turns around and around for the camera to the extent that the scene is almost comical. This scene is so gratuitous that it's hard not to like it. Because the film shows so much class in other scenes, it becomes clear that this scene isn't just here to fill time and show T&A. It's here because an action movie like this _always_ has gratuitous nudity. It's one of the trademarks of this masculine genre and if you love the genre, you will include a scene like this.

All this is nice and well but what really counts is the action. And the action here is absolutely breathtaking! The action-scenes are choreographed so beautifully that I'm still impressed while watching them although I've seen the film for over 30 times. First, there's a major shoot-out during which Lundgren kills probably over 30 guys using his fists, a shotgun and two handguns (this ain't John Woo and it doesn't really try to be but the fans of his style will probably still like this). When he runs out of bullets, he just picks up another gun from the floor. Once again, this scene is _not_ a parody but it _is_ so over-the-top that it obviously isn't meant to be taken too seriously. Anyway, there are some great stunts here and Armstrong has directed the scene flawlessly. All this amounts to one of the coolest shoot-outs in recent history and one which has since been copied in countless b-actioners. Then there's the car chase with a red Ferrari and a black Lamborghini. Phenomenal!

The score by Joel Goldsmith is brilliant. There's a strong theme, atmospheric background music for the opening scenes and really energetic music during the action scenes. Also the cinematography by Daniel L. Turrett works well. And even the acting is pretty good. As I said, Dolph Lundgren makes a good hero, Alfonso has the looks and Segal and Starr are responsible for the film's class and laughs (there aren't that many laughs in the film but when there are, they work).

"Army of One" is a film which might seem like just another action movie but as a true fan of the genre, I recognize when the director is just filming something for money and when he's passionate about his work. And this is clearly a film made with passion for the genre. This isn't "a story that needs to be told" nor is this anything original or groundbreaking as far as the story goes but this is definitely one of the best action films made in the 90s and a must-see for fans of the genre. I can't recommend this highly enough. I give this a full 10. Kudos for everyone involved!

The film is available as R- and unrated-versions. The unrated-version adds one fight scene and has a slightly different ending. Otherwise they're the same.

One Man Army...

[fmarkland32 · 7/10 · 7 April 2007]

Dolph Lundgren stars as a wrongfully accused stock car driver who escapes from prison (During a botched attempt on his life) and disappears into the desert to exact vengeance on the crooked cop (George Segal) who set him up while taking a police woman (Kristian Alfonso) hostage many fight sequences and high energy shoot-outs occur. Army Of One is the type of action flick one would expect an 80's Schwarzenegger would've starred in, not the B-grade Dolph Lundgren. Still this action flick moves with such force and delivers so much action, Army Of One works as one of Lundgren's best straight ahead actioners. With this and Men Of War, one wonders why Lundgren didn't obtain a bigger following in theaters. Both of these titles offer far more than their generic titles would indicate and their overall punch in the action sequences easily showed up Steven Seagal in On Deadly Ground. In fact with Lundgren putting out credible action movie output, one is ultimately disappointed that such a movie could probably not be duplicated by Dolph Lundgren today. This is an extremely intense movie that needs a widescreen transfer on DVD to really get the action fan to appreciate the fun Army Of One offers. Only real flaw is some flabby padding but aside from this, this is as good (Entertaining) as Lundgren flicks get.

* * * out of 4-(Good)

A real masterpiece

[zsiga-53201 · 2/10 · 12 September 2020]

I like action flicks, but this is just really dumb if you take it seriously. After a few drinks one can enjoy and laugh, especially the last scene in the factory with the Chinese it's just hilarious how Lundgren slides on carts and conveyor belts while shooting everyone without taking a scratch.. brilliant choreography! Guns never run out of ammo, a shotgun can have about 100 rounds in its magazine. As another reviewer already commented, the action scenes are indeed very realistic. The acting is also top notch, I would be surprised if the movie wouldn't win an oscar soon. If not this year, then next.

Entertaining!! !!!

[sixsixsix · 21 July 2000]

I really enjoyed viewing the unrated US Laserdisc of ARMY OF ONE. Dolph isn´t as cool as in THE PUNISHER but he´s doing quite a good job when it comes to those great shoot-outs. They sometimes reminded me on those John Woo-flicks.if you have the chance watch the unrated version, gives you more detail and is much more exciting.

"I never said I was running for Pope."

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 26 August 2013]

From a technical standpoint, this film doesn't disappoint. It marks the theatrical first unit directorial debut for Vic Armstrong, a longtime veteran of stunt work and second unit direction. This is one man who knows how to deliver action on a grand scale, and he does so here. He makes sure that this always energetic thriller never stops moving. The story isn't anything special, and there is some bad dialogue, but at the same time there are some good lines such as the one mentioned in this review summary. "Joshua Tree" isn't quite wall to wall action, at least not to begin with, but it definitely kicks into another gear in its second half, starting with an homage to John Woo, an over the top massacre of bad guys by our stoic hero Wellman Santee (Dolph Lundgren).

Santee ain't no angel, which is refreshing. He's been a runner of exotic cars, but things go very wrong when a highway cop pulls over him and his partner Eddie (a much too briefly seen Ken Foree). Soon he's in jail, framed for murder, but gets his chance to escape. Knowing he was set up, he embarks on a mission to find the man who he knows was responsible - and get paid. Exhibiting some ruthlessness, he's willing to take a hostage, Rita Marek (Kristian Alfonso). It turns out that he's actually abducted a sheriffs' deputy who's a pretty tough cookie, and Rita decides to stick by his side when she's convinced of his innocence. Hot on Santees' trail are cops (including Geoffrey Lewis as Sheriff Cepeda) and a pair of detectives, Severence (George Segal) and Rudisill (Beau Starr).

If one is partial to scenes of very cool cars driving very fast, "Joshua Tree" does deliver the goods, especially in an intense climactic chase that also shows off the beauty of the desert vistas (the movie was smartly shot using the 2.35:1 aspect ratio). But the aforementioned massacre of assorted Chinese goons is a beauty, with all of the bloodletting going on, the hammy acting of the guys getting shot, and Santees' acrobatics.

Dolph's never been that much of an actor, but then he doesn't need to be in this sort of thing. He just needs to be totally bad ass, which he does succeed at. Alfonso is very good at both providing the eye candy and playing a sidekick who can take care of herself. Lewis is under utilized, but Segal and Starr are fun, and the supporting cast features a number of familiar faces that add to the enjoyment: Bert Remsen (who's a hoot in his one scene), Michael Paul Chan, Matt Battaglia, gorgeous Khandi Alexander, and Nick Chinlund.

Fans of this genre should be more than satisfied. As testosterone-fuelled escapism goes, this is pretty good and above average.

Seven out of 10.

Lundgren's best?

[SJGII · 6/10 · 23 June 2020]

This movie was never gonna win any Oscars, but that was never the point. This movie does everything you would want to see in a good Dolph Lundgren movie. It's entertaining, sexy and the action is grade A. I was never bored. Sure, the acting and the writing isn't nowhere near the level of what you'd expect from a Tarantino movie for example, but you probably weren't expecting that anyway. If you're a fan of Dolph Lundgren, you will love this. If you miss the early '90s and those cheesy action flicks they used to make back then, you will love this. However, If you're all about production value and flawless performances, you will probably turn this movie off after ten minutes.

That....was.....stupid

[KHayes666 · 4/10 · 16 December 2007]

Oh Dolph....what the hell was that? This movie is about a truck driver who is sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting a police officer in a raid of the truck, but there's something about him we don't know......OK enough of the BS, Dolph plays a man framed for a crime he didn't commit and losing a friend in the process (Ken Foree of Dawn of the Dead fame). After escaping from prison he kidnaps a woman to use as a hostage, what he doesn't know is the woman is actually a rugged cop who's basically your Steven Seagal "beat up the bad guys by any means nessicary" type. The thing is, Dolph was framed by 2 crooked cops that blew away the officer Dolph was framed for killing and Ken Foree so Ivan Drago spends the whole movie lugging around Rita and plotting revenge on the crooked cops.

The reason this movie is stupid is because 1. If Sgt Scott was framed, why didn't he say something in court, after all forensics can match up the bullets fired with the guns of the crooked cops 2. She's supposed to be a cop, you would think she would have tried to escape more often than she did. I could go on and on but there are just too many holes for me to deduce logic. Here's something else, one scene Ivan Drago is up against 25 or so Chinese mobsters and takes out all of them...singlehandedly of course. The thing is every time he shot a gun he'd hit whoever he was shooting, 5 minutes later the cops surround the area and suddenly when Dolph shoots at them he can't hit anyone. Where'd his perfect aim go? Another funny thing is after Sgt Scott gets shot in the leg, he gets involved in a hell of a fist fight and starts doing karate kicks with the bad leg, landing on it like nothing was wrong with it.

The coup di grace...make it coup Disgrace is the ending where Geoffrey Ross discovers the crooked cops are the real murderers and has them AND Dolph arrested as the credits roll. We are left not knowing what happens to the cops, what happens to Dolph, the female officer...nothing.

Sorry Dolph, this was not Universal Soldier. 4 out of 10

Surprisingly enjoyable...

[K3nzit · 7/10 · 3 January 2020]

Surprisingly enjoyable Lundgren flick with good action and car chase scenes. I also like how it plays tribute to Bogart's 'High Sierra'.

Dolph Lundgren as always

[acfrinke · 3/10 · 19 December 2004]

I watched this movie on TV last night. Because of Dolph Lundgren I did not expect very much and so I was not disappointed. He does some sort of acting. But similar to Schwarzenegger, he should not play roles with much lines (except of self-ironic roles). Kristian Alfonso looks nice as his sexy female hostage, but is not very convincing as an incognito police officer. And from her first scene (when she canceled the liaison with her former nice boyfriend) is was obvious she would fall in love to such a 'manly' man like Lundgren.

For me, the only explanation for the happy ending is not to frustrate the typical viewers of such action movies. Basically I should have switched the TV off earlier and go to sleep. But once I watch a movie, I want to know how it ends up, regardless how bad the plot and acting is.

However, the only reason which made this movie worthwhile watching was George Segal acting like Groucho Marx. This made the movie still funny for me, I started laughing each time he appeared on screen! It was just a pity he was featured so bad! It was almost impossible to recognize him, but maybe this was his intention...

Because of Segal for me the movie is still worth 3/10

Decent 90's action

[dworldeater · 6/10 · 15 December 2018]

Army Of One is a pretty decent time passer and 90's action vehicle for Dolf Lundgren. This is not one of his best efforts, nor is it his worst. Somewhere in the middle I think. Dolf plays antihero criminal who is set up and betrayed by his corrupt cop partners and they kill off his buddy(played by Ken Foree) which gets Santee(Dolf) in all out revenge mode for the rest of the movie. So expect car chases, explosions, fights and some John Woo styled shootouts for most of the film. I would say this does come across a little dated, but considering I like B action movies from the 90's, that is not necessarily a bad thing. While I can't quite say Army Of One blew me away, I did enjoy rewatching this after all these years as I saw it initially on its original run on cable. Unfortunate that movies like this are extinct. For straight up action Army Of One delivers.

All in all a forgettable movie.

[Rob_Taylor · 5/10 · 20 January 2003]

This movie was predictably silly. It had Dolph Lundgren as the lead role, for a start. Now, Dolph can carry a lot of things, I'm sure, but a movie ain't one of them. Then there was Geoffrey Lewis and George Segal. Lewis is always comical, no matter what he's in and Segal....well, what can you say about him in this film. I sometimes wonder if George Segal was a prototype for Tim Allen. They act very similarly sometimes.

I was expecting a serious thriller, right up until Segal started to overact (which was early on). The guy was just so hammy that I wondered if there would be a pig wrangler in the end credits. Any seriousness the movie might have had went straight out the window because of him.

And Dolph. As an actor, Dolph is not good. But at least he didn't ham it up like Segal did. And the final punch up between Dolph and Segal is not very believable. Segal is older and woefully out of shape compared to Lundgren. It was just silly.

As mentioned elsewhere, the car chase is nicely done. The stunt drivers must have thought they'd died and gone to heaven getting to drive cars like that around in the desert.

All in all a forgettable movie for a rainy day with nothing else to do.

So Underrated!

[doneil4 · 9/10 · 22 November 2020]

Now let's be clear, it's no secret that Dolph Lundgren wasn't given much of a chance in Hollywood after Rocky 4. And that's a damn shame because Joshua Tree (or Army Of One, whatever title you're familiar with) is the movie where he proves he belongs there. And I think it's fair to say that this movie wasn't promoted enough back when it was released. And that's really unfortunate because this is what you call a good action movie.

This is without a doubt Dolph's best leading role film. So don't dismiss it if you're lucky to find it on DVD or Blu Ray or whatever people use these days, again it just goes to show how underrated this film is since it's difficult to find on a physical format. Now Dolph has done some other decent films when playing the lead, like Showdown in Little Tokyo and the original Punisher movie, but Joshua Tree is actually in my opinion a lot better as it is more action packed and suspenseful. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Joshua Tree aka Army of One

[allmoviesfan · 6/10 · 20 August 2023]

A kind-of modern day western starring Dolph Lundgren and George Segal. Dolph is very fresh-faced here as a former desert racer framed for the murder of a highway patrolman who ends up busting out of jail - as you do, apparently - and heading off on a quest for revenge. He takes himself a hostage along the way, but has no idea she is a sheriff.

Lots of graphically and bloody violence (what I want to know is, who keeps on coming up with these gruesome ways for people to shuffle off the mortal coil?), some impressive car chases and the spectacular backdrop of the Joshua Tree National Park (the desert setting actually makes the film better than it might have been in any other environment) for a little bit of dusty, desert atmosphere makes for a pretty good, very 90's B-grade action film, which was released by two different names back in 1993.

Rather Dolphin than Dolph!

[redkiwi · 4/10 · 28 May 2001]

Dolph is a bad actor. Of that there can be no doubt. At least he's not paired with Van Damme this time, that is the ultimate in quality dialogue material!

As the criminal wrongly convicted of killing a cop, this is as predictable as action US films get. Pretty much a yawnfest from start to finish, but harmless enough in late night TV terms I suppose.

One for video. Someone else's video - not yours!