Command Performance (2009 film)

Command Performance
Directed by	Dolph Lundgren
Written by	Steve Latshaw Dolph Lundgren
Starring	Dolph Lundgren Melissa Smith Hristo Shopov Dave Legeno
Music by	Adam Nordén
Cinematography	Marc Windon
Editing by	Peter Hollywood
Release date(s)	November 3, 2009 (2009-11-03)
Running time	93 minsutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Command Performance is an action-thriller film that was directed, co-written, and stars Dolph Lundgren.

The film premiered at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival on July 18, 2009. The movie was picked up in the US by FirstLook Studios and released on DVD & Blu-ray on November 3, 2009.^[1]

Filming took place between August and September 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria and Moscow, Russia.

Dolph Lundgren wanted to use his drumming skills on screen, and the story was inspired by a concert Madonna did for Russian President Vladimir Putin.^[2]

The movie marks Ida Lundgren's (Dolph's daughter) screen début.

Story

In August of 1991, there was an attempted coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev by ex-communist military hard-liners. The coup failed, and all members of it were arrested; from the ashes of the old Soviet Union, the modern Russian Federation was born.

Russian President Alexei Petrov (Hristo Shopov) has asked for pop sensation Venus (Melissa Smith) to perform a concert in Moscow, because his daughters Anna (Ida Lundgren) and Yana (Robin Dobson) are fans of Venus.

The concert turns bloody when armed men led by Oleg Kazov (Dave Legeno) take the concert hostage. It seems that Oleg has a personal vendetta against Petrov.

Former biker gang member Joe (Dolph Lundgren), the drummer of CMF, the opening rock band, starts fighting back. As it turns out, back in the USA, when Joe was still in the biker gang, some Colombians who wanted to collect a debt went to the apartment that Joe and his brother lived in.

The Colombians fatally shot Joe's brother. Joe hunted the group of Colombians down and killed them, and ever since then, Joe has tried to stay away from guns, because guns remind him of what the group of Colombians did.

Now, basically most of the civilians and staff, including Venus's brother Enzo (Atanas Srebrev), who was her manager, are killed by Oleg's men, all except Joe, Venus, reporter Ali Connor (Shelly Varod), American Ambassador Gene Bradley (Clement von Franckenstein), FSB agent Mikhail Kapista (Zachary Baharov), Petrov, and his two daughters.

As it turns out, Oleg's father was Marshal Dimitri Kazov, a WWII hero in Stalingrad, and former Soviet Minister of Defence. Dimitri was a leader of the failed coup against Gorbachev in 1991. Oleg was part of the coup as well.

After Dimitri killed Oleg's mother and then himself, that was when Oleg, a captain in the Russian army, immigrated to the USA, where he got arrested for some petty crimes. Oleg returned to Russia three weeks ago.

The prosecutor of Sergei and other coup members in 1991 was a young Alexei Petrov, before he became the president of Russia. Now Oleg wants revenge on Petrov, because he believes that the special forces raid on the Kazov house that led Dimitri to kill Oleg's mother and then himself was Petrov's fault. Petrov, who ordered the raid, had followed the troops into the Kazov house.

Now, Joe and Mikhail make their way through the arena, trying to bring down Oleg and his men.

Cast

• Dolph Lundgren as Joe
• Melissa Smith as Venus
• Hristo Shopov as President Petrov
• Dave Legeno as Oleg Kazov
• Clement von Franckenstein as Amabassador Bradley
• James Chalke as Vladimir
• Zahary Baharov as Mikhail Kapista
• Ivaylo Geraskov as Leonid Gordov
• Shelly Varod as Ali Connor
• Katarzyna Wolejnio as Maj. Pavlikova
• Ida Lundgren as Anna Petrov

Music

This movie features the songs "Breakdown" and "Girl" ("6" on the album version) from the band D2, Lost In Love from Melissa Smith, "Ne Gasite Svechu / Keep The Candle Burning" from Piligrim and "September Rain" from Irson Kudikova.

References

1. ^ http://www.firstlookmedia.com/titles/film_details.asp?ProjectID={3BE67F00-3CB1-4736-90DC-2280E8792178}&BusinessUnitID={BC740C00-312C-4641-821A-D46574CD05FB}/
2. ^ Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Article

External links

• Official website
• Command Performance at the Internet Movie Database
• First Look Studios
• Dolph: The Ultimate Guide