Plot
Lt. Nikolai Rachenko (Dolph Lundgren), a Soviet special operative, is sent in to Africa to squelch an anti-communist rebellion by assassinating the rebel leader. He is a highly trained killing machine, and has no heart for his enemies, yet somehow he gets involved with the rebels and comes to appreciate their cause. Instead of infiltrating their forces to bring them down he ends up joining forces with them against his orders. With this insurrection his immediate termination is ordered and he must escape through the desert with an American journalist, Dewey Ferguson (M Emmet Walsh), to survive. Eventually he ends up leading the rebel forces, and earns himself the nickname 'Red Scorpion' because of his fierceness in battle.