Man, what a life Dolph Lundgren has had. It’s interesting to think about his career trajectory and actually see it all laid out in a documentary like Dolph: Unbreakable. If I had to jump in with an early complaint, it would be that the film starts at one point in his life before going back to the beginning and working its way forward. I’m not entirely sure that was necessary, because Dolph’s story is fascinating enough when told chronologically. His life has been a series of unexpected turns, some fortunate and others not so much, and the documentary has more than enough material to work with without needing to tease the audience with what’s coming.

We learn about his difficult home life and the fact that, contrary to what some people might assume about a guy who made his living playing physically imposing characters, Dolph is actually incredibly intelligent. He studied chemical engineering and earned a master’s degree before finding himself working as a bodyguard for pop star Grace Jones, with whom he eventually began a romantic relationship. Somewhere in there is a story that must have secretly inspired The Bodyguard. From there, he started getting opportunities in Hollywood, where his physical stature and athletic abilities made him an ideal candidate for the action movies that dominated the 1980s. This was an era when filmmakers couldn’t simply rely on computer-generated effects to smooth everything over or digitally manufacture an action sequence. These guys had to believably perform at least a substantial portion of their own physical work, and Dolph was perfectly suited for that particular moment in Hollywood history.

Of course, his career truly took off following his appearance as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, which cemented him as one of the defining action stars of the decade. Unfortunately, that level of success wasn’t necessarily sustainable, and it wasn’t long before Dolph found himself descending into what I would describe as straight-to-video hell. It’s something he reflects on rather candidly in the documentary, acknowledging that much of the work wasn’t particularly fulfilling, but that he needed to keep earning money to support his family. There is something refreshing about hearing an actor admit that not every project was a passion project, and that sometimes you take a job because you have bills to pay. Eventually, there would be something of a Dolph Lundgren resurgence, thanks in part to Sylvester Stallone bringing him into The Expendables franchise, allowing a new generation to appreciate an actor who had largely disappeared from the mainstream. And then, just when you think you’ve heard enough about the ups and downs of his career, the documentary brings us into his battle with cancer, which becomes another extraordinary chapter in a life that has already had more than its fair share of adversity.

What I appreciated about Dolph: Unbreakable is that it doesn’t feel like one of those trite pieces of content creation that exists simply to remind audiences that somebody famous once existed. There is actually something to say about its subject, and Dolph seems remarkably willing to say it himself. He’s pretty explicit about his career, the choices he made, the mistakes he regrets, and the personal consequences of decisions that might have seemed reasonable at the time. Several people close to him are interviewed throughout the documentary, offering their own perspectives on a man who was trying to balance an increasingly complicated personal life with a career that required him to be constantly on the move. It’s not necessarily a flattering portrait at every turn, and I think that’s part of what makes it work.

One particularly interesting chapter involves his marriage and his decision to relocate to Spain to accommodate his wife. She reflects on that decision by suggesting that, had he not made the move, he might have spent the rest of his life regretting it. But I couldn’t help thinking that the move itself may have contributed to the eventual deterioration of their marriage. After all, Dolph couldn’t exactly make a living shooting movies in Spain. He was constantly traveling to wherever the work happened to be, leaving him away from his family for extended periods. The resulting strain on his personal life, coupled with his struggles with substance abuse, created an entirely different set of problems that he would eventually have to overcome. It’s one of those situations where I found myself thinking about Robert Frost and the two roads diverging in a yellow wood. Depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at, perhaps either decision could have led to regret. It’s entirely possible that neither road would have taken him where he ultimately wanted to go.

Unfortunately, Dolph: Unbreakable does not have audio description, although I didn’t find its absence nearly as disruptive as I have with other documentaries. Much of the film consists of candid interviews with Dolph himself, along with the various talking heads who appear throughout to help tell his story. There are obviously archival materials and visual elements that I would have appreciated having described, but the documentary is structured in a way that allows much of its narrative to come through in the conversations. I also found it oddly entertaining to hear some of those old straight-to-video trailers for movies that starred Dolph, particularly knowing how cheaply some of them were produced and how far removed they were from the kind of blockbuster success he had initially experienced. There’s something almost nostalgic about revisiting that era of filmmaking, even if Dolph himself wasn’t always particularly happy to be part of it.

If you’re a fan of Dolph Lundgren, a fan of redemption arcs, or just a fan of movies in general, I think Dolph: Unbreakable is worth checking out. It’s a compelling story about a man who more or less stumbled into acting, became an action icon, watched his career take some unexpected turns, and eventually found himself confronting a far more serious adversary than anything Hollywood could have thrown at him. What makes the documentary work is that Dolph doesn’t seem particularly interested in pretending that every chapter of his life was a success. He’s willing to acknowledge the failures alongside the triumphs, and there’s something inspirational, even oddly reassuring, about watching someone use both his intelligence and his strength to persevere through so much adversity. More than anything, it’s an opportunity to appreciate a man who has too often been written off as just another muscular action star, when the reality is that there’s considerably more to Dolph Lundgren than the characters he’s spent his career playing.

Fresh: 8.1/10