Not what I expected from the film The Tracker starring Dolph Lundgren, but if there’s nothing else action oriented playing at your theater that you haven’t already seen, it’s worth the few thrills. It’s similar to the movie Taken, but not with the non-stop fierceness that Liam Neeson brought to that movie. Film budget may have been a factor in its lack of energy.
Aiden Hakansson (Dolph Lundgren) and his wife and child are attending a big affair in Taranto, Italy. It’s a big dance with a lot of people. Suddenly a woman grabs the Hankansson’s child and starts to run away with Aiden’s wife in pursuit. The woman and child are both pushed into the backseat of a vehicle and whisked away. Aiden isn’t far behind but misses his chance to intercede having noticed the abduction too late. Days later the Italian police find his wife and child dead. After some time and with no luck in the investigation, Aiden returns to the USA.
A year or two later he gets a call from one of the Italian police that he has some evidence that may point to the killers. Aiden flies to Taranto, but due to the sudden death, finds himself working on the clues that the policeman had found. Director Giorgio Serafini does a fair job of putting the story together. But, for English speaking viewers he neglects to insert subtitles for the Italian discussions and interrogation scenes leaving us to speculate what is going one. He also moves his film along at a slow pace using unneeded scenes to push the length to a full feature.
Except for a few good action scenes the rest of the film has Lundgren investigating dull leads. It’s really not the character that Lundgren is noted for and what we get is taught drama instead of thrills. And for American movie goers, that’s not really a good thing. Instead we get a character that’s more of a bystander than the person actually affected by the kidnapping and killing of his family. If the filmmaker had used his familiar persona like in The Expendables 1, 2, and 3, then we would have enjoyed a better show.
The Tracker has been rated R by the MPAA for some violence and language.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A good idea, but needed more power. (2 out of 5 stars)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Marco Mazzoli, Bruno Bilotta, Bruce McGuire, Cosimo Fusco, Marta Gastini, Elizabeth Kinnear, Vito Facciolla, Anna Falchi
Directed and co-written by: Giorgio Serafini
Genre: Action
MPAA Rating: R for some violence and language
Running Time: 1 hr. 27 min.
Opening Date: August 9, 2019
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Released in: Select Theaters and VOD, Check local listings and other media for time and locations.
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
