 Lundgren next starred in Joseph Zito 's Red Scorpion in 1989 , opposite M. Emmet Walsh , Al White , T. P. McKenna and Carmen Argenziano . The plot centers on Lundgren 's character Nikolai , a Soviet Spetsnaz @-@ trained KGB agent who is sent to an African country where Soviet , Czechoslovakia and Cuban forces are helping the government fight an anti @-@ communist rebel movement . Nikolai is ordered to assassinate the movement 's leader , but eventually turns against his government by switching sides . The film was partly shot in Namibia and it was claimed that Grace Jones joined him during production in Swakopmund , insisting on staying in a $ 3000 a month villa , even though his new girlfriend at the time was reported to be Paula Barbieri . The film was poorly received and has an 11 % " rotten " rating at Rotten Tomatoes . Stephen Holden of The New York Times said as follows : " Dolph Lundgren 's pectorals are the real stars of Red Scorpion , an action @-@ adventure movie set in the fictional African country of Mombaka . Filmed from below so that one has the sense of peering up at a massive kinetic sculpture , his glistening torso , which over the course of the film is subjected to assorted tortures , is the movie 's primary visual focus whenever the action slows down . And since Mr. Lundgren remains stone @-@ faced , rarely speaking except to issue commands in a surprisingly hesitant monotone , his heaving chest actually communicates more emotion than his mumbling lips . " 
