Dolph Lundgren: ‘Action films have become bloodless’

Dolph Lundgren has dubbed the new generation of action films “bloodless”.
The Swedish actor has appeared in countless fast-paced flicks over the years, the most famous being The Expendables series alongside fellow Hollywood heavyweights Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham. As technology develops Dolph, 58, has noticed a change in the way the movies are shot, as so much of what is seen isn’t real – including the violence.
“There has been a bit of a reaction like that except all of the superhero movies that have been doing so well, they’re very bloodless and full of special effects,” he told Big Issue about the response to computer generated images on the big screen. “There is a movement towards cleaning up action and making it feel that it’s OK to shoot somebody because there’s no affect, no brain splattered over the wall. To me I think computer games and movies may contribute a little bit towards violence because you never see the affect of it. You see a guy pulling a trigger, but in reality it’s not as nice as it was in the movie. It’s always been a tough subject manner but for entertainment value sure there’s always going to be room for more realistic pictures.”
Dolph and Sylvester also starred opposite one another in Rocky IV, with the American star playing the titular boxer. He notes that whereas actor’s bodies are “doctored and retouched” these days, he and Sylvester’s beefy physiques were 100 per cent real in the 1985 flick, and he hopes kids won’t be influenced by today’s “superman images”.
For his next movie, Kindergarten Cop 2, Dolph steps back from the action genre for a comical performance. The project had the blessing of its original star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who worked with Dolph in the latest Expendables flick, released in 2014.
“He (Arnold) thought it was fun that I was going to do it,” Dolph said. “We tried to put him in the picture to do a little cameo but it didn’t work out. But it was great to hear that he was for it.”