Legionnaire Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
From The Producer Of The Crow And The Director Of Rambo III
A fugitive from a killer. A remote outpost. A fight to the death.
At the height of its glory, the French Foreign Legion was made up of men widely regarded as the scum of the earth. It was a mercenary army posted to colonies in Northern Africa and Southern Asia...but its soldiers swore no allegiance to France, only to the legion and to each other. The legion asked no questions about a man's past...nor did it offer much hope for his future. It was a hard way to get a second chance in life...
| Jean-Claude Van Damme | Alain Lefevre |
| Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje | Luther |
| Steven Berkoff | Sgt. Steinkampf |
| Nicholas Farrell | Mackintosh |
| Jim Carter | Lucien Galgani |
| Ana Sofrenovic | Katrina |
| Daniel Caltagirone | Guido Rosetti |
| Joseph Long | Maxim |
| Mario Kalli | René Galgano |
| Joe Montana | Julot |
| Kim Romer | Capt. Rousselot |
| Anders Peter Bro | Lt. Chathier |
| Paul Kynman | Rolf Bruner |
| Vincent Pickering | Viktor |
| Takis Triggelis | Cpl. Metz |
| Peter MacDonald |
4.50 out of 10 (3806 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Great Van Damme Film!
posted on 29 May 2009As I said in my comment above, this is a great Jean Claude Vam Damme film, which he also co-wrote. This proves that he can actually act, and not just be a muscle-bound man who kills everyone. The battle scenes are epic-like, the acting top-notch and the script brilliantly done.Legionnaire is set in the 1920s France about Alain (Jean Claude Van Damme), a boxer who was payed by the French mafia to lose a fight, but he breaks his promise and tries to flee the country with his much-loved girlfriend, but that plan goes wrong, so he's forced to join the French Legion and fight rebels in Morroco. There he meets makes three men he befriends: Luther (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), an African-American man trying to have a better life, Guido (Daniel Caltagirone) a Spainish man trying to prove his bravery to marry his girlfriend, and Mackintosh (Nicholas Farrell) a British man trying to redeem himself. They're under the command of Steinkampf (Steven Berkoff), their commander who will do anything to win. They go to battle with the local rebels, which is hell. Not only this, but mafia hitmen also join the Legion to kill Alain.This is a seriously underrated Van Damme film and is surely his best work. It's a crime that this didn't make it into the cinemas and get all the acclaim it deserves, yet pieces of shit like My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) get in and it's a massive hit. This is a classic from start to finish, even it's brilliant (perhaps corny to some) ending. I hope Van Damme keeps making these types of films and continues showing his true acting ability. Slyvester Stallone was thought to have not much acting ability, but he made Copland (1997), which got him a lot of acclaim. Perhaps one day people will finally see this and let him back into show business.Rating: 5/5
Not bad at all! Who Woulda Thunk It?
posted on 14 Apr 2009Saw this on USA Network one afternoon while home sick with the flu. I was actually surprised. It wasn't half bad and it had an unusually brave ending. It's not an action flick, per-se. You'll see no flying kicks to the face from across the room. No, instead, this is a war film produced and co-written by Van Dam himself. The film takes place in the 1920's, with decent production, set design, wardrobe, etc. While the movie avoids many action cliché's it manages to stumble into some war cliché's. With a little more money, time, and some more script revisions to amp up the movie's already gritty undertones, this could have been a classic. Unfortunately, it *Just* misses the mark. 7 out of 10. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was. I would recommend it for a rental.
Its not good.....
posted on 12 Mar 2009Yeah, simple headline summary. After skimming through the reviews here on Legionnaire, I was surprised to see so many positive comments. Yes, this is quite a change for Jean Claude Van Damme career wise, but even so it does little to impress. These sort of "epic" pictures need some smart writing, crafty directing and even craftier cinematography to capture the viewer's attention......thats not the case here with this B movie. Its a dull film that drags, full of content that we seen and heard many times before...........those who have given this positive reviews, I ask them, would you want to take the time and see it again? Highly unlikely.
Just okay
posted on 04 Oct 2008This movie is a bit different than other Van Damme-movies. Van Damme only has a single fight in the movie, and the action-scenes are mostly battle-scenes. This movie was okay entertainment, not Van Damme`s finest hour, but above average. This movie is not a movie you`d bother seeing twice, but it is a decent rental-option. 6/10
An awesome, but very different Van Damme film there's hardly any kicks or martial arts, so if you want Van Damme action stay away!
posted on 29 Aug 2008Legionnaire is quite the little gem, there's not a whole lot of action, but that's OK cause it concentrates on story and plot, and does a very good job on that, plus Van Damme gives a rock solid performance, and benefits from a great relatively unknown supporting cast!. All the characters are quite likable actually,and the finale is quite gripping, plus the ending to me was great and makes you think in my opinion. There are some good twists and turns, as well, and it's very well made and written, plus some of the gun battles are very exciting!. It actually has quite a few heartbreaking scenes as well, and I loved the setting too, plus this is one of VD's best DTV films as well!. I loved the opening where Van Damme has that boxing match, and then has to run to meet Katrina, and the film is also very old fashioned as well, plus I would have loved to see what happened between Van Damme and Katrina at the end. Overall this is a must see for all Van Damme fans just prepare for a different type of film!. **** out of 5 TheActing is great!. Jean Claude Van Damme is excellent here, he does quite well in the acting scenes, and gives one of his finest performances, i generally cared about his character he is especially cool in the finale I loved his performance here!. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is very good here as Luther, he is very likable and proved he had a lot of talent as it's heartbreaking with what happens to him. Steven Berkoff is good as the tough Sgt. Nicholas Farrell is terrific here as Mackintosh he is likable, but yet does things that are hard to forgive him for, but still he makes up for it at the end!. Rest of the cast do fine.
Unique Van Damme film beautifully done
posted on 26 Jan 2008From the moment you look at the cover and back you think to yourself, well it's Van Damme, probably not going to be that great but whatever i'll watch it. And then wow. What a movie. From the very beginning of the film it has a historical feel with the intro, and then musical score kicks in (which is awesome by the way) and you knew you were in for a treat. Van Damme's character has depth but what makes the movie unique is that Van Damme may be the main actor but doesn't need to go over the top to achieve this. He didn't play the "bad ass guy" from Universal Soldier or the "world's greatest fighter" from bloodsport. He played a hero with flaws, which made him so much more real. Secondly, the supporting cast was great, all with their own back stories to how they ended up in the legion. It was different to see how each character came from a different part of the world, had their own struggles, yet found a way to look past those differences to survive. Again just by Van Damme listening to their stories and getting to know them personally made his character shine. Overall this is a great flick that many people overlook just because Van Damme is in it. If it had been Orlando bloom, Brad Pitt etc. as the lead actor everyone would have rated this movie higher. Don't judge this movie by it's cover.
Van Damme did it!
posted on 28 Sep 2007Oh the humanity! Van Damme does us all proud with his fine performance in this wonderful dramatic/action movie. Great story, top-notch acting, and wonderful directing, it's a wonder why they didn't orginally release this into the theaters. Departing from his usual action/karate persona, Van Damme gets into a serious role and pulls it off. This is a definite one to get, go to the video store now and pick up a copy. Van Damme hasn't let you down. 5 stars.
better than i expected or hoped
posted on 21 Jul 2007for a Van Damme movie,this isn't half bad.there's some pretty good action sequences,and the dramatic scenes aren't too shabby either.it's not a great film,by any stretch,but it is almost good.too bad the general premise is fairly weak and unoriginal,though i admit there were some details that were a bit different.i will admit that i actually cared about the characters,or some of them,anyway.maybe i'm becoming soft.there is a more human element to this film than many of Van Damme's efforts.i was really impressed by Van Damme's flawless French accent.oh.wait,that's his real accent.oh,well,at least his character and his accent fit together for once.also,the movie ended differently than i expected,in a good way.overall,not too bad an effort.better than "The Quest",which is my least favourite Van Damme film so far .for me,"Legionnaire" is a 5.5/10
Oops, We Just Run Out Of Money
posted on 09 Jul 2007I really didn't like 'Legionnaire' at all. First off, who on earth is insane enough to give away $35,000,000 to make a direct-to-video film? Second question, what the hell were they expecting other than a box-office bomb? Were the big-time Hollywood producers really expecting this film to do anything other than bomb? What the hell did the do with all the money? The whole films takes place in 1920's or 1930's France before the outbreak of The Second World War and Van Damme plays a boxer who gets mixed up with a mob boss' girlfriend and has to flee the country. In order to get out of the country, Van Damme's character joins up with the French Foreign Legion, a notoriously "hard way to get a second chance" according to the film's introduction. During the film, Van Damme's character meets fellow tear-aways and forms bonds with them as they fight Bedouin invaders in Morocco and avoid being tracked by hit men working for the mob.OK, first problem I have with this film - why does nobody speak French? When we're in France at the beginning of the film, every single person speaks English with a completely phoney French accent or speaks English with a moderately believable French accent. When we get to the French Foreign Legion about twenty three minutes through the film, not one of the soldiers speaks French, some of them don't even bother to speak with the French accent and just make a complete mockery of the Legion rather than pay homage to it. Stephen Berkhoff for example, speaks in a combination of English and German accents for some reason. From my understanding, officers in the French Foreign Legion speak nothing BUT French (which is one of the reasons why people who don't speak French find it hard to get their grip on it) and yet here we are with people speaking almost perfect English. Second problem I have with this film - why do the none of the back stories hold any relevance to the main story? Yes, we do get caught up in a lot of sentimental flashbacks at the expense of quality, but none of the stories ever amount to anything. Third problem - Van Damme never establishes himself as a leading man in his role. The film is more an ensemble cast rather than an actual Van Damme film, and this is a problem because it doesn't give us the time to get to know the characters as well as we should, as the film is so short. My last problem with this film is the rather abrupt ending. Within about 10 minutes near the end, every single person who was worth remembering in the film dies except Van Damme, and then it's over. The Bedouin leader tells Van Damme that he has courage and has decided to let him live so that he can tell his superiors that death awaits them if they don't stop invading his country. The ending is then left rather ambiguously with Van Damme standing in the middle of the desert.'Legionnaire' is just a film that could have promised so much yet fails to deliver on almost every aspect of the story. I have absolutely no idea how or where they spent $35,000,000 but it's clear to say that this film didn't help with Van Damme's career at all.
What? No kicking?
posted on 18 Jun 2007This has to be one of the oddest, yet best Van Damme films ever. It's not chop-socky martial arts kickboxing crud, and it isn't mindless sci-fi action... it's a war drama. And a surprisingly good one. Van Damme plays Alain, a boxer who is paid to take a dive, but who instead flees and joins the French Foreign Legion, where he learns about friendship, honor, and fighting to the last. Sound like a normal Van Damme movie? Far from it. Sheldon Lettich's script, while somewhat cliche, is very well put together. The acting is surprisingly top notch, with even Jean-Claude Van Damme himself turning in a good performance. What a shame this movie never made it to theaters. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys an exciting, epic war film. I give it 8/10.
Certainly different, and uniquely done!
posted on 26 Mar 2007I bought the DVD off the sales rack at Wal-Mart, thinking I could pawn it off after once viewing it. . . .not expecting much of it, even though I am a fan of Van Damme. BUT, it surprised me as Van Damme expresses his DRAMATIC skills! Not his usuall puncher-kicker film, he tells the story of how it is for a legionnaire watching people he knows being picked off one-by-one in the heated Hell of war! Although it's not a true story, it IS, however, true to the way it is with any heartfull man who joins the Foreign Legion and gets caught up in such Hellish realities of hatred in combat. Leaving behind all he's ever known & felt comfortable with and fighting for a whole different cause, and finding out later the trespasses that happen which can result in hatred. You can feel the loneliness he felt as the Arabs ride away & he's the only one left standing there in the death, rubble, and smoke of what was his fort in Northern Africa. Certainly a welcomed change from Van Damme's usuall martial arts mayhem. It's a keeper!
Jean-Claude Van Damme deserves some recognition for this film.
posted on 26 Jul 2006And who says Jean-Claude Van Damme can't act? Huh? This excellent film of survival and friendship shows all the anti-Van Dammers where they stand. In my opinion, Jean-Claude deserves an OSCAR for this one. I rate this one a definite 10 on my KICK ASS SCALE!
Van Damme
posted on 24 Jan 2006This is the least typical Van Damme film - and his absolute best. really, if you come to this film expecting a typical Van Damme film, please go see Double Impact or Hard Target again.Based on a real incident during the 1925 Morocco campaign (and most of us didn't even know there was such a campaign), and highly suggestive of the many versions of Beau Geste that women have wept over in movie-houses for decades, this is a story about the French Foreign Legion. Viewers should be warned that the slogan of the Legion at this time was "March or die!" The only thing that kept these men from killing each other was that the Berbers were so much better at killing them.The film has an epic structure to it. The cinematography doesn't quite match this, but it is rock-solid. The actors are all very able. Clichés do drift through the film, but the final battle makes up for most of these.And, oh, yes, Van Damme can actually act. Quite well, when he doesn't let it get to his head.
Jean Claude Van Damme literally bears all.
posted on 31 Dec 2005STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsAt first glance,I thought this just looked like a cheap,straight-to-video rehash of the man from Belgium's earlier movie The Quest.They're both set in the 1920's,and both feature the main character getting involved in a fighting force of some kind.But,in some respects,it's one of his better movies,and,without a doubt,the one with his best performance.What is it with Van Damme anyway,is he a pervert or something?He seems to constantly enjoy showing his bottom or other body ligaments off to any sort of members of the audience.Having watched the shower scene,with many men's bottoms,I am now getting mightily suspicious of why he agreed to appear as the gay karate man in Monaco Forever.Speaking of which,there ar'nt very many women in this movie.And,there's a boxing match at the beginning,and a scuffle in the legionnaire fortress,and then there is'nt any more hand-to-hand combat throughout,and from there,there's non of the desert warfare you did'nt see in Lawrence Of Arabia which can define Legionnaire as a drama,not an action.The 1920's setting holds a possessive time trance of the time-and-place on it in impressively handled flashback bits,and the ending is intelligent and unexpected,and is the most abrupt and sudden since No Escape , 6 years ago in 1994.This was denied a cinema release of any kind ,while the abysmal Knock Off was awarded the same sort of limited release pleasure most Van Damme releases nowadays are entitled to.****
Worth watching even for non van Damme fans
posted on 04 Jul 2005Legionnaire is beautifully photographed and contains both an engaging story (loosely based on Beau Geste) and good performances by the actors. Underrated from the start, the picture undeservedly went straight to video. However, it is not a 10 out of 10 as some suggest. The story and characters fall too often into clichés and some of the roles could have been given more depth. Particularly the love story, mostly told in flash backs, is depicted with emotionally appealing pictures and music but remains too superficial to be fully satisfying.This film had the potential to be great with a bit more emphasis on the drama part and toning down the more usual action flick formula (the action scenes are well done, though). However, here is hope that van Damme will make more serious movies, even if they have martial arts and action themes. I always liked him as an actor. There is an honesty and modesty to van Damme's work that is missing in most Hollywood products.
I don't think I want to hear any more whining about Van Damme. The man is the king.
posted on 29 Jan 2005It seems to be the popular thing to do to jump on the bandwagon and badmouth Van Damme for being a bad actor or for making one bad movie after another. I have always claimed to be a fan, but mostly just because when I was a kid I watched movies like Kickboxer and Bloodsport and Death Warrant over and over. To be honest, I hadn't really seen many more of his movies for years, except for Hard Target, which I found less impressive than his early martial arts films.But recently I bought 16 Van Damme movies on two DVDs (for 20 yuan – about $2.75 - thanks to mainland China's total indifference to copyright laws), and as I watch them I have noticed something important. It seems that most of the reason that Van Damme is criticized is because of things like goofy camaraderie or cheesy heroic lines, things like that. But it seems noteworthy that in just about every movie he is in, he is fighting for justice or to be a good father or good husband or to protect his fellow man from criminals or to avenge a loved one's violent death. Van Damme represents good human values in a way that most other action stars don't. I feel like he deserves a lot more credit for that than he ever gets.Besides that, the guy can speak five languages. Did you know? WOW.In Legionnaire he plays a boxer who's paid to take a dive in the second round, but when he, ah, accidentally beats the tar out of his opponent, he suddenly finds himself being pursued by mobsters and police, which quickly dashes his and his girlfriend's plans of getting out of France and going to America. Soon he finds himself an unwilling member of the French Foreign Legion, which employs the psychotic idea of training soldiers to exist solely for the honor of dying in battle, and is run like a prison with racks of guns. They are sent to Africa to crush an insurgency, resulting in more of a war film than a martial arts film.But I have no problem with that. There is a notable appearance of Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, a clearly talented actor who recently wasted his undeniable on screen charm on such backwards TV shows as Lost and Oz, and here is again asked to do something terrible – he takes on an American accent, complete with ridiculous lines like "The only thing that keeps a man livin', you gots ta have a dream…" But there is a friendship that forms between Alain Lefevre (Van Damme) and Adawale's character, Luther, that is pretty good, and allows for the most tense and moving scene in the film.Given that so much of the movie plays like a prison film, since the Legionnaires are generally forced members, some of the scenes are a little strange, such as the one where they argue about the best way to hand wash laundry. Then again, it seems like some of the lines between soldiers were put in for comic relief ("What's the matter, don't like girls?" "Of course not, I'm British!").Speaking of which, for how moving the friendship between Alain and Luther is, Alain has an undeniably cheesy friendship with the British guy, although it is also a very unstable but powerful relationship in many ways, and also allows for some good dramatic tension near the end of the film. Alain is also the good guy that sticks up for the underdogs who can't defend themselves against the more brutish soldiers very well, which doesn't seem to make him many friends. Also, soon after their first battle, he walks around shirtless showing off his chiseled body and making enemies effortlessly.The battle scenes, by the way, are also pretty good, much better than I would have expected from Van Damme, if only because war scenes are not what he usually does. But here they're impressive, although the end of the movie is a pretty significant disappointment. It builds up this remarkably in-depth story and then just stops, like they ran out of money. The leader of the enemy insurgency lets Alain live so he can tell his leader that this is what they can expect if they keep invading their country, and then Van Damme heads back into the sunset. It seems like what happens next should have been considered important, and it leaves me with the feeling that the movie ends just as the real climax was set up.But nonetheless, I remember I was working in a video store in Fresno when the movie was released ten years ago, and for some reason I never watched it, but I'm glad that I have. It has plenty of shortcomings, but it is definitely worth watching.
Van Damme the ULTIMATE 80's / B-movie actor
posted on 06 Aug 2009I do not recommend this movie as it does not follow JCVD's typical formula. As a B-grade actor, one must quickly learn to stick to what they can do (or capable of). There is far too much dialogue in this film to warrant as a martial arts film, and not enough good acting to warrant as an Oscar, yet strangely I managed to finish the movie. I do not think it was out of respect for Van Damme, but his subtlety as an actor. Perhaps he has developed, fine tuning his skills not only with his brawn but, his mind. I would only recommend this if you had absolutely nothing else to do on a lazy Sunday. If you watched this movie on any other day of the week that would be very sad.