in 2000, lundgren starred in "the last warrior" as captain nick preston under director sheldon lettich. this post apocalyptic movie is set in 2006 in the context of a 9.5-magnitude earthquake which kills millions of people, with preston leading a motley military patrol on the island to help survivors in the pole shift-affected world. the film was partly shot in eilat, israel. later in 2000, dolph appeared in damian lee's "agent red" (also known as "captured"), alongside alexander kuznetsov, natalie radford and randolph mantooth. the film is set during the cold war, and is about two soldiers trapped on a submarine with a group of terrorists who plan to use a chemical weapon against the united states. lundgren's character, matt hendricks, must work with his wife, a virologist, to prevent the scenario occurring. after the film was completed, producer andrew stevens thought it was too poor to be released and multiple people had to be hired to at least make the film half-competent. the film was very poorly received, given its "shoestring budget"; the dvd and film guide of 2005 wrote, "low-budget mess stars dolph lundgren as a navy special operations commander trying to keep a deadly virus out of the hands of terrorists. this subpar effort sinks to the bottom of the ocean in a tidal wave of cliche." during an interview on "the tonight show" with jay leno in may 2008, "gladiator" director ridley scott said lundgren had been considered for the part of undefeated fighter tigris of gaul in 2000, but was eventually rejected because "as an actor, he just didn't fit in with what we were trying to achieve".