MVD Entertainment Group has selected Dec. 10 as the street date for the newest member of the company’s popular “Rewind Collection” series of Blu-ray and DVD releases. Classics — cult and otherwise — from the golden age of the video rental store!!
The latest member of these elite physical media celebrations (packed with extras one and all) is none other than director Perry Lang’s 1994 film release of Men of War, starring Dolph Lundgren from a script from none other than John Sayles that was written over a decade early … but never found a home.
John Sayles is a gifted writer who can delivery characters three and four-deep. Most screenplays flesh-out the main characters (backstory, motivation, etc.) and sometimes a nod to the secondary characters, but Sayles delivers memorial details for the three and four-level characters. Just take a gander at Lone Star or Limbo (brilliant)!
The story follows Nick Gunar (Dolph Lundren — after Red Scorpion and Universal Soldier he emerged as bona fide action star … celebrated by Stallone’s The Expendables film series beginning in 2010), a former Special Forces member who is down on his luck. He’s offered a well-paid “mercenary” gig and reluctantly takes it since he needs the money and the action will be in the tropics, well away from the chilly winter scene of Chicago.
Once on the island, Nick has a change of heart — he sees no purpose in the mission — and decides not to kill off the native population to get bat shit (aka: Guano). Half of his men go along with him … the other half are paid off by Nick and told to leave.
End of story, right? Not so fast. A former colleague, Keefer (Trevor Goddard) and “The Colonel” (played by Kevin Tighe), reorganize and with reinforcements declare war on Nick, his men and the locals. To the death!!
Bonus delights included with this “Rewind Collection” release (on both Blu-ray and DVD) include a newly-prepared introduction from filmmaker Perry King, raw footage and dailies of selected scenes from the film and the featurette titled “An Unsafe Place: Making Men of War.”
