Hungary used to be, in terms of economic policies, one of the more relaxed countries of the Eastern Bloc, which allowed it to become a popular location among cost-cutting Hollywood film producers during the later stages of the Cold War. This tradition has continued after the fall of the Berlin Wall. One of such productions, rather rare in using Hungary not only as a location but also as an actual plot setting, was Den of Lions, a 2003 direct-to-video action film directed by James Bruce.
The protagonist, played by Stephen Dorff, is Mike Varga, an FBI agent sent to assist Hungarian authorities who have recently encountered a serious crime problem in the form of Darius Paskevic (played by Bob Hoskins), a brutal Russian mafia boss. Paskevic, who used to be a KGB agent, is not only brutal but well-connected and has many within the Hungarian police in his pocket, which allows him to maintain his crime empire based around drugs, weapons smuggling, and human trafficking. Varga is about to infiltrate Paskevic’s organisation, using his own background as a descendant of Hungarian gypsies, which allows him to speak the local language and use members of his extended family for help. Varga’s task, however, gets complicated when he meets Paskevic’s accountant and daughter, Katya (played by Laura Fraser), with whom he falls in love.
Den of Lions looks like many of the low-budget action films that used to dominate video store shelves in the 1980s and 1990s. Those who suspect that it matches those films’ general quality won’t be very surprised when they watch it. Den of Lions uses all the possible clichés – a scruffy-looking police protagonist who likes to work alone and make his own rules, an evil and seemingly all-powerful Russian mafia, and any opportunity as an excuse for a gunfight, brawl, car chase, act of brutal violence, and even a predictable yet unconvincing romantic subplot. What makes this film somewhat refreshing is the attempt to use Hungarian locations within the context of the story, as well as hints that Bruce and his co-writer Freddy Deane had some general idea to seriously explore corruption, sexual exploitation, and racial issues in Eastern Europe. However, all this is drowned under the inept and often annoying direction, and Stephen Dorff doesn’t help with his not particularly convincing performance. Bob Hoskins, who could have played flamboyant villains with great ease, is obviously enjoying his role, but his enthusiasm only succeeds in turning Den of Lions into something merely watchable.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
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