''The Defender'' is a 2004 British-German

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

starring and directed by

Dolph Lundgren Hans Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker and martial artist. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he starred in ''Rocky IV'' as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, Lu ...

in his directorial debut. The film also co-stars

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show ''Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

Shakara Ledard Shakara Ledard (born February 21, 1979) is a The Bahamas, Bahamian-born model and actress based in New York City. Biography Ledard was born in Nassau, The Bahamas on February 21, 1979, to Dennis Ledard, a businessman from Normandy, France, and Ma ...

, Thomas Lockyer and Caroline Lee Johnson. The film was released on

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

in the United States on October 18, 2005. Dolph Lundgren plays Lance Rockford, who must set aside his values and patriotism to protect the life of the world's greatest

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

so that he doesn't become a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

for his cause.

Plot

The global war on terror rages on. The United States will not give an inch against terrorists, especially Mohamed Jamar, who is considered to be the worst of them all. Jamar has been missing for months, but his network continues its functions. The President stands firm before the world, but behind the scenes, his teams are working to find the final solution. Jamar represents a paradox: he can never be killed, because if he was found dead, he would become an instant martyr. If caught he must be tried. If he is found guilty he would become a martyr and further inspiration to acts of terror. If acquitted, the policies of the entire western world would be destroyed. So he must remain invisible. Roberta Jones, the head of the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

, is working to ensure he remains invisible, forever. Under the guise of attending an Eastern European conference on Terror in Romania, she attends a secret meeting with Jamar at a secluded hotel outside Bucharest. No one knows about this meeting, and her goal is to buy his invisibility. Her only companions are her security team of six, headed by her personal bodyguard, Lance Rockford. They are the best of the best, former military special forces personnel capable of anything. When they arrive at the hotel for the secret meeting, they are ambushed. No one is supposed to know about the meeting, but someone wants it stopped. They have to fight for their lives against an unknown attacker. Lance, a man of highest integrity with an impressive record of service for his country, is forced into a situation which challenges his very beliefs. Throughout the crisis, it is revealed that Jamar and his loyal bodyguard were actually undercover agents from the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

who have uncovered evidence against high-ranking military officials involved in a conspiracy to topple the President to continue

war profiteering A war profiteer is any person or organization that derives profit (economics), profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term typically carries strong negative connotations. General profiteering (business), ...

, and Rockford's trusted agent, Kaye was the mole involved in the conspiracy. With all of the members of the team, as well as the undercover agents dead, a wounded Lance kills Kaye with a thrown combat knife. The conspiracy is toppled by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

as well as

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...

, while Lance voluntarily leaves his bodyguard duties.

Cast

as Lance Rockford *

as President of the United States *

as Kaye * Thomas Lockyer as Stevenson * Caroline Lee Johnson as Mrs. Jones *

Gerald Kyd Gerald Kyd (born Gerasimos Avvakoumides in 1973 in Pretoria, South Africa) is a half-Greek, half-Scottish actor. Kyd starred as Sean Maddox in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from 1998 until 2000. He later reprised the role for a few episo ...

as Morgan * Ian Porter as Newell * Howard Antony as Parker * Geoffrey Burton as Jamal * Iddo Goldberg as Scripts * James Chalke as Lee *

Leigh Zimmerman Leigh Zimmerman is an American actress, singer and dancer. She has appeared on Broadway in ''The Will Rogers Follies'', '' Crazy for You'' and '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' with Nathan Lane and created the role of Go-To-Hell ...

as Reporter * Steven Elder as Tech #1 * Radu Florescu as Aide * Ovidiu Niculescu as Officer

Production

Filming

The film is set and filmed in Bucharest, Romania and Washington, D.C. on January 5 and February 4, 2004.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Defender, The 2004 films 2004 action films 2004 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films American action films Films about terrorism Films directed by Dolph Lundgren Films set in the 1990s Films set in Romania Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Bucharest 2000s American films