I really had hoped that Jean Claude van Damme had improved with age but the fact remains that the guy just can't act. Instead of improving with age, this film appears to magnify the horridness of JCVD films...and at one time, I was a hardcore JCVD fan. Like Steven Seagal, JCVD appears to be trying to cloak the truth of his age and lack of prowess; much of this movie was very dark (as in lighting not the tone of the film) and the few (VERY few!) fight scenes there were amounted to a couple of roundhouse kicks that seemed to be spliced together in post-editing. If you're expecting a better JCVD and better fight choreography, let me save you an hour and a half: there are none. This movie is about 70 minutes longer than it should have been. I won't say it's "predictable" (unless you count "predictably bad") because it's very unlike early van Damme movies that featured the same horrible acting but at least had some decent fight scenes. This is 90 minutes of wandering, disjointed scenes featuring repeated close-ups of different actors/actresses facial expressions, tears, smoldering anger, rage, etc...all wanting to pull you in (yet failing miserably). The only reason I didn't give this a 1-star review is - quite frankly - because I still don't understand how "weak sauce" is supposed to be worse than "terrible"...so, IMO, 2 "Terrible" is worse than 1 "Weak Sauce"…but I digress. I was very disappointed in this movie because - again - I had expected JCVD to really get better with age, but he still can't act. And again, like Steven Seagal, JCVD needs to stick to movies that are 99% fighting and leave the "romance" totally out of it. Can you say Awkward? The handful of "emotional" moments...well, friends and neighbors, I just don't have the words. If, like me, you are (or were ) a fan of JCVD, do yourself a favor and go watch Bloodsport again. Twice. Three times. Watch all the fight scenes from Lionheart . Just don't watch this (and for heaven's sake, don't watch Kickboxer again! That one needs to stay buried forever.)
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2022-03-11T02:34:00Z
I really had hoped that Jean Claude van Damme had improved with age but the fact remains that the guy just can't act. Instead of improving with age, this film appears to magnify the horridness of JCVD films...and at one time, I was a hardcore JCVD fan. Like Steven Seagal, JCVD appears to be trying to cloak the truth of his age and lack of prowess; much of this movie was very dark (as in lighting not the tone of the film) and the few (VERY few!) fight scenes there were amounted to a couple of roundhouse kicks that seemed to be spliced together in post-editing. If you're expecting a better JCVD and better fight choreography, let me save you an hour and a half: there are none. This movie is about 70 minutes longer than it should have been. I won't say it's "predictable" (unless you count "predictably bad") because it's very unlike early van Damme movies that featured the same horrible acting but at least had some decent fight scenes. This is 90 minutes of wandering, disjointed scenes featuring repeated close-ups of different actors/actresses facial expressions, tears, smoldering anger, rage, etc...all wanting to pull you in (yet failing miserably). The only reason I didn't give this a 1-star review is - quite frankly - because I still don't understand how "weak sauce" is supposed to be worse than "terrible"...so, IMO, 2 "Terrible" is worse than 1 "Weak Sauce"…but I digress. I was very disappointed in this movie because - again - I had expected JCVD to really get better with age, but he still can't act. And again, like Steven Seagal, JCVD needs to stick to movies that are 99% fighting and leave the "romance" totally out of it. Can you say Awkward? The handful of "emotional" moments...well, friends and neighbors, I just don't have the words. If, like me, you are (or were ) a fan of JCVD, do yourself a favor and go watch Bloodsport again. Twice. Three times. Watch all the fight scenes from Lionheart . Just don't watch this (and for heaven's sake, don't watch Kickboxer again! That one needs to stay buried forever.)